In order to maintain an enjoyable pool in a healthy way, swimming pool owners need to do testing of its water regularly especially the level of pH and acidic. If you decide to lower the pool’s pH level, you can simply use or add hydrochloric acid. According to the research done by North Carolina State University, they recommended that we should always maintain the pH level on the alkaline end of the spectrum with at least the ranging is between 7.4 and 7.6. This range of pH levels is considered the most comfortable especially to the human eyes. It also allows the chlorine to work accordingly and also to its full potential. To do a proper swimming pool maintenance using any of the commercial store-bought testing kits is a wise action for every owners of swimming pool and it should be done at least once within one week.
To troubleshoot your swimming pool acidity level, you need:
- pH testing kit
- Sodium bicarbonate
- Hydrochloric acid
Troubleshoot the Level of Acidity
Troubleshooting the level of Acidity in Swimming Pool
- First thing that you need to do is to determine which testing kit is suitable for you to use in your swimming pool.
- You will find that there are two types of testing kits available for testing the levels of pH and acidity in your pool.
- The first type is the paper test kits method which is not so reliable due to its capability of only testing the pH levels. Another disadvantage of using paper test strips is that it might also go bad and provides you with incorrect reading of the acidity level. Apart from that, the paper test kits should always be kept in a cool and dark area whenever you are not using it.
- The other type is the Combined-tablet test kits. It is designed to test several items which include your swimming pools pH level, calcium hardness, cyanuric acid levels, along with total alkalinity.
- You will find that there are two types of testing kits available for testing the levels of pH and acidity in your pool.
- The next thing to do is to always follow the product’s manufacturer’s instruction of your testing kits whenever you want to start testing the water level of your pool.
- For those of you who like to use the paper test strips, make sure that you take extra precautions by using at least two or more strips just in case one of the strips does not work as expected and also enables you to get a more accurate results and reading of the acidity’s level.
- If you use the combined tablet test, you should always compare your sample against the sample provided together with your testing kit.
- For those of you who like to use the paper test strips, make sure that you take extra precautions by using at least two or more strips just in case one of the strips does not work as expected and also enables you to get a more accurate results and reading of the acidity’s level.
If you want to raise the level of pH in your swimming pool, you can simply make use of baking soda which is a common household sodium bicarbonate product that can be found in every household.
- The most important thing that you should bear in mind is to add an appropriate amount of chemical into your swimming pool.
- If you notice that the levels of acidity are less than 7.4, you need to add a sodium bicarbonate, while for reading which is over 7.6, you need to add a hydrochloric acid.
- If you notice that the levels of acidity are less than 7.4, you need to add a sodium bicarbonate, while for reading which is over 7.6, you need to add a hydrochloric acid.
- The reason behind the adding of hydrochloric acid into your swimming pool when its pH level is more than 7.6 is because the water consists of too much alkaline where you need to add more acid in order for the chlorine as well as other chemicals to work accordingly.
- For the level that ranges between 7.6 and 7.8 in a swimming pool that can accommodate at least 10,000-gallon, you can use approximately 12 oz. of the chemical. As for the same amount of gallon but having the range of between 7.8 and 8.0, you should be using 16 oz of the chemical.
- If your pool is less than 5,000-gallon, that number is cut in half which is 6 oz while for 20,000-gallon pool, you need to use at least 24 oz.
- For the level that ranges between 7.6 and 7.8 in a swimming pool that can accommodate at least 10,000-gallon, you can use approximately 12 oz. of the chemical. As for the same amount of gallon but having the range of between 7.8 and 8.0, you should be using 16 oz of the chemical.
- If you notice that your pool water pH levels are below 7.4, you can simply use sodium bicarbonate.
- This is because the pool’s water consists of too much acidic and you should be balancing the water level with an alkaline product.
- If the levels are between 7.2 and 7.4 in a 10,000-gallon pool, you can use 6 oz. of sodium bicarbonate, 3 oz for a 5,000-gallon pool, 12 oz for a 20,000- gallon pool, and if the levels are ranging from 7.0 and 7.2 for a 10,000-gallon pool, you should use at least 8 oz of sodium bicarbonate.
Always remember that whenever you want to troubleshoot your swimming pools level of acidity,
- The rule of thumb of using an acidic chemical into your swimming pool is to always bear in mind that you are adding acid into the water and not water to acid. Make sure that you take extra precautions whenever you start pouring acid into the pool water.
- This is because the pool’s water consists of too much acidic and you should be balancing the water level with an alkaline product.
