Muriatic acid vs. dry acid

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guamguy

guamguy

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LifeTime Supporter
Feb 26, 2010
388
Guam, USA
I've read that using dry acid can harm SWG cells somehow. I've installed an Intex SWG on my pool, and sometimes it's tough to find MA in my area. Home depot always has dry acid available, and the pool store sometimes has MA, but not very often. What are the risks of using dry acid, and how could I mitigate them? If it just means more frequent cleaning of the cell, then so be it. It's been about a week and so far, my pH has been stable at 7.5, but I've been using dry acid for most of the time I've had the pool.
My current test results:
FC=5
CC=0
pH=7.5
TA=60
CH=300
CYA=50
 
I'm sure someone else knows but I don't see how it could harm your cell more than MA would. It does however add sulfates to your pool and the buildup of those might cause a problem, but no more acid than you'll be adding it would take a very long time to build up.
 
The risk of using dry acid is only in the long term and can be avoided by minimizing the amount of acid you are using regularly and by doing regular water replacement. Dry acid contains sulfates, which accumulate slowly over time. If you use lots of dry acid over a long period of time and have minimal water replacement the sulfate level can eventually get high enough to pose some risk to the SWG cell. This is mostly an issue for people with cartridge filters who don't winterize, and so have minimal water replacement, and/or for people who keep their TA level too high and thus use substantial amounts of acid on a regular basis.
 
I bet you can find MA if you look in the right place, and for way cheaper than the pool store. Try paint stores, and especially places that sell tile, grout and cement for home construction/renovation. I haven't been to Guam, but I've spent time in South America and Africa and MA is widely used in those places.
 
I'd say I have a fair amount of water replacement, mostly due to splash-out. I don't need to backwash very often, every couple of months or so. I'll try and look at some paint and tile places. It just bothers me that Home Depot doesn't carry it, in the mainland they always have plenty of the stuff, and I'm usually in Home Depot at least twice a week :cool:
 
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