Help, I Can't Get My Ph Under Control

[jasontjames]

Our new pool was started up on July 23rd of this year. The pH has been and still is off the charts high. The pool guy told me that it is normal and that it just takes time for the water to settle down. The TA is 180 ppm. I have been dumping the max amount of acid into the water daily for 2 months and the pH and TA will not come down. I need some serious help fast. What sort of damage am I potentially looking at if I can't get this under control?

[JRM75]

Our new pool was started up on July 23rd of this year. The pH has been and still is off the charts high. The pool guy told me that it is normal and that it just takes time for the water to settle down. The TA is 180 ppm. I have been dumping the max amount of acid into the water daily for 2 months and the pH and TA will not come down. I need some serious help fast. What sort of damage am I potentially looking at if I can't get this under control?

Well, I can give advice or you can ask the Super-Pool-Chemistry-Experts (S.P.C.E.) like Richard or "Chem Geek"--- if you want to PM him.

Your worse possible damage is stains and severe water cloudiness, if not intense eye irritation for anyone who swims in your pool.

As for the acid, if your adding too much in one spot or in a shallow region, you can seriously damage the pool floor or bleach the paint.

First, what is the volume of your pool (how big it is) ?

Second, How much acid are you adding at once?

Third, How high (specifically, in terms of ppm) is your PH?

Finally, what type of pool system do you have? Are there any waterfalls and/or do you have an SWG system?

[EDIT]: As the subject you mentioned it being 8.2? Well, I've seen higher PH for others that had worse problems, but it's mostly because they have an SWG system or a waterfall/cascade causing the water to aerate and release carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide is a weak acid that usually keeps the PH somewhat low, most of it is from the bicarbonates in the water converted to CO2 when the water has a PH below 8.3 ). In other words, all the acid in the pool is in form of CO2 when the PH is below 8.3, so if something is aerating the water, then the PH will rise constantly. This is what I understood from this link, if not Richard can just correct me.

For pools that average to 12,000 gallons...

It's probably the acid your using, since the TA didn't lower either, or your using too little. Try with 48 ounces of Muriatic acid (31.45%) diluted in a few buckets of water (I would say 12 ounces of acid per bucket) and distribute it across the pool. This will not only lower the PH, but keep the TA from reacting with the acid as much (although, it will still lower the TA a bit). Now, about your TA, if you want you can add 32-48 ounces of Muriatic acid directly into the pool (no dilution), at the deepest end and aerate the water to release carbon dioxide in order to accelerate the process; this link provides all the details and a complete summary. Note: you should do one of these options one at a time, if not one step every few hours to let the water settle, so you can re-test your PH and TA and give us your readings after.

[chem geek]

Basically, the high TA is causing your pH to rise. TA is mostly a measure of bicarbonate in the water and that's a form of carbon dioxide in the water. Pools are essentially intentionally over-carbonated. You need to follow the procedure that was linked to and lower the TA through acid addition and aeration at low pH. The key is not how you add the acid, which should normally be done slowly over a return flow at the deep end with the pump running to ensure thorough mixing, but rather that the overall pH of the pool is low (7.0 or 7.2) and you aerate the water as much as possible (turn returns up, use a fountain, air compressor, splash a lot, etc.). The procedure is also described in this post.

Richard