CH is high, but so are temperatures

[zcmack]

Hello,

I have been procrastinating a drain for far too long this year and am not sure how to proceed. My overall pH / FC /CYA balance is doing ok this year, but I did not drain in March as usual and have reached a CH of 675. Pool math says I should drain 33% of the pool, but from my reading here it seems like draining and exposing my pebble tec surface in temperatures >100 are potentially worse for the pool than running with high hardness. Any thoughts on how best to proceed?

 

[mknauss]

Keep your pH in the 7's and control TA in the double digits and you can wait until next winter to do a drain and refill.

Do you have a water softener?

 

[zcmack]

thanks @mknauss! I do have a softener for the house thats not plumbed in a convenient way to get to the pool. I was considering running a hose from my first floor bath tub but I'd have to leave a door cracked for quite awhile and in this heat that'd be a bit silly.

I was doing some research on portablewatersoftener.com to see if I could install a unit that could be easily toggled on my autofill line, this seems like it would let me get away with draining less frequently.

 

[mknauss]

I have a RV water softener for my pool. You have to manually regenerate it. This time of year I do it every two weeks or a bit less. I can process about 700 gallons of fill water before it needs to be regenerated. I would take a hard look at trying to tap into a cold water line from inside the house so you can use your existing softener.

 

[zcmack]

the manual regeneration process would take about an hour every two weeks? i definitely see the value in plumbing the fill valve to my softener. i'll get in touch with a plumber and see what i can do. if this gets me to a situation where i only need to drain every other year it pays for itself in time savings rather quickly.

 

[mknauss]

Takes about an hour for the manual regeneration. I have an RV dump spot in my garage so I can use that to run the flush water during the regen.

I last fully drained my pool in Nov 2020. Did a small drain / refill with soft water last fall. My CH stays in the 400 ppm range. With a proper water softener, many have their CH level stay constant. Thus you should very rarely have to drain and refill.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I have the larger model of the RV water softeners. You can check the link in my signature. I flush mine at about 1500 gallons. It's kind of a pain and not the greatest solution. If I was in your situation, my first choice would be to plumb my existing softener into the fill line. Second choice, standalone water softeners can be purchased for under $500. Depending on your situation, you may be able to install a dedicated softener for your pool. You would need some type of shelter for the system, a water source, electrical, and a way to dispose of the effluent. An RV softener would be my final choice.