I’ve been buying my pool acid (the regular muriatic acid stuff) by the gallon at Pinch A Penny. Since I use 2 gallons a month, the cost adds up fast. Do any of you know of a cheaper place to buy it? I don’t mind buying a case or two at a time for a quantity discount.
Cheapest place for pool acid
- Thread starter edogg
- Start date
Ace hardware has full strength for $9.99 by me. Paint stores/aisles have it too but the Sherman Williams I checked was $25.99 for full strength so shop around. HD/Lowes have half strength in their paint ailes for $11/$13.
Sorry what do you mean by full strength? The stuff I get at Pinch A Penny is 31.45%. It’s about $10/gal too.
That's great. Many brands are half strength and they're fine but you need to buy twice as much. Look for any buzz words on the label like Eco / Green / Low fumes to know its half strength. Typically they won't list the % either.
Gotcha…so I assume the stuff I’m getting is considered full strength then?
31% is full strength 
And they'll usually call attention to that fact on the ingredients list. The others list 10% to 30% 'trade secret' buried deep in their MSDS and you can assume they're watering it down as much as they can. Lol.
And they'll usually call attention to that fact on the ingredients list. The others list 10% to 30% 'trade secret' buried deep in their MSDS and you can assume they're watering it down as much as they can. Lol.
jsygrls
Gold Supporter
LOWE'S $15.00 two gallons .
Unfortunately, that’s not available in my area. I only get the $20 for 2 gallons version which isn’t any cheaper.
- Dec 13, 2020
- 798
- Pool Size
- 19600
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
I use Home Depot HDX. But it's up to $20 for 2 gallons, too. Side note: What's your TA? I went fairly crazy trying to maintain "ideal" values until someone here said let the TA drift down to wherever it wants except not below 50, and pH anywhere in the 7's is fine. So I keep TA around 60 and only add MA at pH 8.0. 3 pints every 7-10 days is much better than every 2-3.
Of course if your fill water is high TA, forget all above
If you're buying a bunch at once, please store carefully. That stuff is scary.
Of course if your fill water is high TA, forget all above
If you're buying a bunch at once, please store carefully. That stuff is scary.
Last I measured it, my TA was 90. It might be a little lower now as we’ve had some rain but I wouldn’t expect it to be down to 50.
My usual routine is to test chlorine and ph on Sunday or Monday, where the ph is almost always 8.2 or so. I pour in about 1/4 gallon, which drops it to about 7.6 when I measure the next day. Then I test again on Thursday and the ph is back up to 8.2 so I add another 1/4 gallon. If I don’t do this, my ph will get sky high.
The pool builder and our pool guy (before I took over doing my own maintenance) said this is pretty normal for having a SWG and spa spillover.
My usual routine is to test chlorine and ph on Sunday or Monday, where the ph is almost always 8.2 or so. I pour in about 1/4 gallon, which drops it to about 7.6 when I measure the next day. Then I test again on Thursday and the ph is back up to 8.2 so I add another 1/4 gallon. If I don’t do this, my ph will get sky high.
The pool builder and our pool guy (before I took over doing my own maintenance) said this is pretty normal for having a SWG and spa spillover.
Hi I am a Noob but have been testing a lot to learn since we bought a house with a pool 4 months ago. I have two water features and pool / spa combo with a spa spillover waterfall. I was not happy with muriatic acid addition level in July (1/3 to 1/2 gallon per week?) but I am barely adding 1/4 gallon a week now, 1/8 is almost enough. What’s changed? Weather, pool water flow and chemistry In my view. My FC loss is nearly zero starting in mid September As the crazy summer heat has left us. I did increase Calcium a lot, allowed TA to go down to 50, holding CYA in the 50 - 60 range. This chemistry is helping. IC40 Pentair running between 10% and 15%. Also optimized the water flow of the features, plus VSP running time. Finally with help from robots, system is better cleaned. Dolphin E70, Betta solar powered skimmer. Various filters of the pool system on schedule.
it took a few months but with help from TFP, plus lots of testing to learn, I am pretty happy now. It’s a long list of things the pool maintainers did wrong for a few years it seems, I had to battle it for a few months while learning and making a mistake or two. Good luck!
it took a few months but with help from TFP, plus lots of testing to learn, I am pretty happy now. It’s a long list of things the pool maintainers did wrong for a few years it seems, I had to battle it for a few months while learning and making a mistake or two. Good luck!
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PoolBrews
Well-known member
- Oct 16, 2019
- 555
- Pool Size
- 6750
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite Pro (T-15)
Rural King in our area had a 50% off sale. I got 4 gallons for $16.
They have consistently been the cheapest, and Ace is 2nd behind them.
They have consistently been the cheapest, and Ace is 2nd behind them.
Ahultin
Bronze Supporter
- Aug 19, 2021
- 1,431
- Pool Size
- 17700
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I get the 31.45% at home depot , 2 gallons is ~20. In our area HD keeps it outside so there are almost always water damaged boxes (with perfectly intact jugs) which they sell for 50% off.
Ahultin
Bronze Supporter
- Aug 19, 2021
- 1,431
- Pool Size
- 17700
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Is your spillover constant or do you have it scheduled in the aqualink?
edogg,
You are using Wa-a-a-y too much acid for a 9800 gallon pool, regardless of how much you pay for it.
Please post a set of test results if you can so we can help you lower your cost by lowering your usage.
You are using Wa-a-a-y too much acid for a 9800 gallon pool, regardless of how much you pay for it.
Please post a set of test results if you can so we can help you lower your cost by lowering your usage.
- Jan 7, 2012
- 1,596
- Pool Size
- 21000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Does this work? It’s from the pool math app and gathered using my TF PRO kit. Looks like my chlorine is high (it’s been cloudy this week so I just turned my SWG down).
------------------------------------------
Test Results 09-30-2023 @ 01:56 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 13.0
pH: 7.2
Total Alkalinity: 70
Calcium Hardness: 475
CYA: 60
------------------------------------------
Maintenance 09-29-2023 @ 01:58 PM
------------------------------------------
Cleaned Filter, Brushed
------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 09-29-2023 @ 01:58 PM
------------------------------------------
+ 0.25 Gallons of Baume31
------------------------------------------
Test Results 09-29-2023 @ 01:57 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 6.0
pH: 8.0
------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 09-26-2023 @ 12:29 PM
------------------------------------------
+ 0.25 Gallons of Baume31
------------------------------------------
Test Results 09-26-2023 @ 12:29 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 5.0
pH: 8.5
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Thanks for those tests. I don't see consumption of 2 gallons weekly as in your first post. The report of pH = 8.5 looks funky.......how can you measure pH that high?......let's solve that first. then talk about the spillover