I have been reading several posts about how adding borates to a pool affects pool chemistry. I am confused about the logic of a statement I have seen in several posts which says that adding borates slows down the rise in PH but has no affect on muriatic acid consumption over time. It would seem to me that if ph rise slows down, acid consumption would have to go down as well.
I will use my pool as an example. i have an 11k gallon plaster pool. I try to keep my ph in the 7.5 to 7.8 range. I measure ph daily and when i get a reading of 7.8 I add 24 ounces of 20 Baum muriatic acid (per pool math) to reduce it to 7.5. If as a result of adding borates it increases the length of time for the ph to rise from 7.5 to 7.8 from 3 days to 5 days how could that not result in a reduction of acid consumption? Instead of adding 24 ounces of acid every three days I am adding 24 ounces of acid every 5 days. Instead of adding 240 ounces per month I would only add 144 ounces per month as a result of adding borates to my pool. Where am I going wrong in my conclusions?
I will use my pool as an example. i have an 11k gallon plaster pool. I try to keep my ph in the 7.5 to 7.8 range. I measure ph daily and when i get a reading of 7.8 I add 24 ounces of 20 Baum muriatic acid (per pool math) to reduce it to 7.5. If as a result of adding borates it increases the length of time for the ph to rise from 7.5 to 7.8 from 3 days to 5 days how could that not result in a reduction of acid consumption? Instead of adding 24 ounces of acid every three days I am adding 24 ounces of acid every 5 days. Instead of adding 240 ounces per month I would only add 144 ounces per month as a result of adding borates to my pool. Where am I going wrong in my conclusions?