Aeration recommendations for a noob

[kchacker]

It's getting hot in Phoenix and the pool is now uncomfortable. Water temp is at 90*. I'm a new pool owner and am not sure the best way to go about trying to lower the water temp a few degrees.

I tested pH, Chlorine and TA this morning. The other tests are from last weekend. Over repeated tests I have had no CC so I did not include that.

TC - 3
CYA - 60 or 70, right between the two (I tested twice!)
TA - 80
CH - 380
pH - 7.4

I was running my pump for six hours in the late evening/early morning but I think I am going to split that into three hours in the late evening and three hours in the late morning. I haven't had any issues with algae or cloudiness at all. I do have to add ~1/2 gallon of MA each week to keep the pH in check. My chlorine levels have been dropping a bit so I'm also going to increase the SWG 10%. CH has also increased from 300 to 380 in just a couple of months which is starting to concern me. I drained and filled the pool in late March but didn't have a CH test kit until the beginning of May.

Onto aeration - my pool is basically a rectangle, with an aerator spout on the long side (meaning it blows a fan of water across the shorter distance at roughly a 40* angle). It is controlled by a manual diverter valve. Wide open it can blow water across the entire pool with a small amount landing on the cement decking. I have an in-floor cleaning system so the amount of water tossed by the aerator varies based on the current location of the water being pumped.

My questions:
What concerns should I have in running my aerator, especially regarding the fact I already have to watch the pH very closely? Is it going to get completely out of control with me tossing water into the air?

Is it OK if I blow a little water out of the pool, or is that a bad idea for concern of the concrete decking considering it's 110 degrees here? A little part of me thinks it might help my CH numbers, but I doubt enough water will get blown out to impact it. And there's probably 10 other things wrong with that thought.

Anything else I should be concerned with or think about? Any other recommendations on just about anything? As a pool noob I'm open to all suggestions.

 

[zea3]

To take advantage of evaporative cooling for the pool you will need to shoot a fine spray of water up high in the air and back into the pool. Pool fountains attached to a return do a great job as evaporative coolers. Just keep an eye on the pH and adjust it as needed.

 

[kchacker]

To take advantage of evaporative cooling for the pool you will need to shoot a fine spray of water up high in the air and back into the pool. Pool fountains attached to a return do a great job as evaporative coolers. Just keep an eye on the pH and adjust it as needed.

What does "high up in the air" mean? My aerator is built into the pool and I can only adjust the pressue. It throws the water in an arch that reaches 3 or maybe 4 feet at the apex. I don't have dedicated returns to hook something into - all of my water is returned via pop-ups in the floor.

I could rig up something from my water feature or spa that tosses water into the air that falls back into the pool. Was going to do it anyway but for wow purposes. Guess it could be dual feature!

Does anyone have any examples they could show me?

 

[zea3]

You can use the search feature to pull up threads about "pool coolers". Most of them are fountains attached to an in-wall return. One or two threads talk about pool chillers. Another way you can cool the water is with a heat pump or by running a solar heater at night.

If your water feature throws a stream up in the air it may provide some cooling effect, but the rule of thumb is the finer the water droplets the more cooling effect on the water. Do you have any pictures of your water feature in action and where the water feature originates in the pool?

 

[kchacker]

I checked out some of those other threads, thank you. I was looking for the wrong thing.

Here are some pics of my aerator. After trying to run it for a few days, I'm not convinced it is doing much. It also looks like I'm not throwing the water around enough compared to some of the other pics I looked at.

Sorry the pics are so crummy, my phone doesn't take a very good photo.

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- - - Updated - - -

Based on some of the other threads, I've been playing make believe plumber. I was goofing around with this, but I haven't yet glued it together.

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[kchacker]

Jeez, those pictures stink. I put a pipe in my water fountain that throws ~25 1/16" streams of water about 12 feet high, landing back in the pool. I'll give that a shot. I've been tossing water around both with my built-in aerator and this. My pH jumps around, but I can keep it under control. Cost me a little under $2.50, and it's fun to play with. I'm considering building something that comes from my hot tub and throws it the long way of the pool instead of the short. My hot tub has two returns that come from the fountain pump, everything else inside of it runs on the pool/spa pump.

My bigger concerns is water on the decking. There's very little on the opposite side of the fountain because I can control the pressure. There is some water from drops and mist that fall onto the concrete around the fountain. Considering the temps are over 100* every day, should I worry about the water damaging the concrete/cool decking? Or am I overthinking this?