JAM

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, today, even with an alkalinity of 40, my pH continues to rise within 4 hours. I can put acid in and it will drop to 7.2. By noon it shoots up to 8.0+. My bromine level is about 5. It just seems like I am adding a heck of alot of acid. I put so much in one time that the water actually turned green from the heat exchanger. I was able to correct this with metal remover. I am being told by local professionals that because my spa is new, it is leaching from the new plaster making the pH rise and that I can expect this for months! Honestly, I have never had this much trouble and it is very aggrevating. Chem geek, have you ever helped someone offline? Email: Kiam4u at AOL.COM

I have a fair amount of experience with pools. I have always been told that spas are a completely different animal and I am now understanding why. I am taking responsibility for a 2500 gal commercial spa from new construction. I know what alkalinity does but am baffled by the contradictions I have read on this board vs. information in the NSPF CPO textbook about the alkanitiy. In the text it says Pools and Spas alkalintiy should be 100-120 (using Bromine). What I am reading on this board is most keep theirs around 80. What is the official alkanitiy level for a spa using bromine? Here is just a few of my issues: When I started to take care of this spa, the brominator was empty, so I went out and bought some bromine tablets. I tested the CH and it read good at around 160 I tested the Alkanitiy and it was 60. So I dosed the spa (bicarb) according to the calculations. I gave it a few hours and came back and it tested around 110. I then tested the pH and it was extremely high, so I put in about 16 ounces of acid and aerated the water. After a few hours, the pH tested 7.6 and the Alkalinity dropped to about 80. I thought I was Ok, but the next morning, the pH was again off the scale around 8. So again i put acid in and aerated. A few hours later, I was back at 7.6. Next morning it was above 8 again. And this is basically the way it has been for the last 4 days. The spa has not yet been used by anyone and I am due for inspection but frustrated at the pH's insistant rise. I understand that when you aerate water that the pH will rise but should it be this much maintenance? This morning while walking with the one of the pool builder workers, when I mentioned the brominator on the spa, he said it was a chlorinator. I litterally had to show him that it was in fact a brominator. He said that when HE started the spa a few weeks ago, he put chlorine sticks in there! He also said it didnt matter and that they essentially do the same thing! It then occured to me that maybe this is why I was having problems getting the chemicals to adjust. If he was using Chlorine sticks then it was leaving cynauric acid in the spa. Am I wrong in thinking this is really bad? Especially since I introduced bromine to the water? Could this be causing my pH problems? Should I dump the water and start over?

I have a 37,500 gal. pool and a 2500 gal spa that share a Pentair 400 Gas Heater. It is newly constructed and the pool builder piped it with bypass valves to get each to heat. In other words, only one will heat at a time. A series of valves are turned on and off to direct the water from the pool OR the spa to the heater. I also have to go to the heater and press the button that changes to Pool or Spa mode. Question 1 is more a statement. Is is quite annoying having to make these changes to get the heat where I want it and when I want it. When the pool is heating to 90 Degrees, the spa of course will loose heat from evaporation, aeration. Seems like a horrible design. Question 2. I use chlorine in the pool and bromine in the spa. I am certain that brominated water enters the pool from the residual piping and heater core when I switch over. Like wise, I am sure chlorinated water is getting into the spa. Anyone see any issues here? There is about 10 feet of 2" pipe on both the return and inlets from each bypass. Thanks for your comments, JAM