pH 8.1 - OK?

[ptbrunet]

My pool has always wanted to be above pH 7.8 and after having the pool for two years I found this article:
http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/hiphpool.html
which says that might be OK. Is it? I haven't added MA for a couple months now and it's staying at 8.1. What problems should I be on the lookout for? I use 50 ppm Borates if that matters.

Pete

 

[JasonLion]

The issue with PH above 7.8 is that it is prone to metal staining and calcium scaling. Both of those can (at least potentially) be controlled in other ways, so relatively high PH level can work out, but if you have one of the risk factors they can be very problematic. Certainly this isn't something a novice should try, as the risk is simply too big. But if you know what you are doing and have taken metal staining and calcium scaling into account you can go that way, though I still don't recommend it.

 

[prs]

My recent post pretty much asks the same question:

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/86317-Borate-buffering-and-high-pH

I guess as long as PoolMath gives you a good CSI there should be no problem with calcium scaling.

I'm not sure what to do to figure out if there might be a metal staining issue.

 

[pooladdict]

Regular use of expensive metal sequestering can work, I have done this but once I got my Alk around 60 I found the Ph stayed stable.