Does warming up the water distort chemical readings?

[NoPool4U]

I once read that levels such as CH are best read when the water temp is around 70-80F. Since the water is currently colder than that, I put my test sample out in the sun for a little while until the water was warmer. Will that distort any readings? (the bottle is not clear btw, so I assume it won't break down the chlorine levels in just 30min?).

Reason I did this is because my CH reading seemed way off when I tested it the other day (cold water). It seemed out of line with previous readings, so today I tested it again but with the water warmed up a bit and the reading was back to normal.

 

[Richard320]

That's been my experience, too. I think it's the reaction between the reagents and whatever you're trying to measure is slower when cold.

 

[chem geek]

The sun or other sources of warming won't affect the CH level so that's fine to do to get the sample closer to room or normal pool temperature.

 

[NoPool4U]

Thanks guys!

 

[mynewpool]

To make it a little quicker, could you put the water in the microwave for about 20 seconds to let it warm up a little. Maybe even like 10 seconds.

 

[NoPool4U]

To make it a little quicker, could you put the water in the microwave for about 20 seconds to let it warm up a little. Maybe even like 10 seconds.

I was thinking the same thing but was wondering if the radiation would screw up the chemicals?

 

[chem geek]

The microwave would only heat up the water. It won't change the chemistry or readings except that it could increase outgassing which would raise the pH. Actually, the pH should be tested on actual pool water at its real temperature anyway because pH will vary somewhat with temperature. So you could test the pH and probably the TA, FC and CC using cold pool water and then heat it up to around 80ºF or so for doing the CH and CYA tests.