I read a couple posts about the irritating smell of Muriatic Acid but never noticed it. I also had difficulty lowering my PH with the acid i purchased. Looked in the Taylor Kits reference guide for adding chemicals and thought I was adding the correct amount for my size pool. Putting two and two together I noticed that the Taylor reference guide was using Muriatic Acid at 30% while the acid I purchased was only 15%. Thats why the acid I'm using isn't particularly irtitating I suppose. At half strength, I've been adding half the amount of chemical I should have. Does that make sense? Correct me if I sound a bit goofy.