Conflicting ideal CH ranges

[mdavis00]

I'm trying to reconcile the various ideal CH ranges shown on TFP (plaster/LC)

Pool Math says 250<->350 target
Pool School blog says 350-550 ideal What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?
TFTestkit instructions show a different ideal range (Don't have instructions in front of me at the moment)

So the top of the Pool Math range stops at the bottom of the Pool School range. Perhaps Pool Math takes into account the levels of the other chemicals and adjusts suggested CH accordingly???

Normally I'd aim for the middle of the suggested range but that could be 300 or 450 depending on which suggestion I use.
Is water balancing so insensitive to CH that anywhere between 250 and 550 is equally ideal? With CH at 300, my CSI is always between +/-0.25 so maybe I shouldn't worry about adjusting CH.

 

[ajw22]

With CH at 300, my CSI is always between +/-0.25 so maybe I shouldn't worry about adjusting CH.

Bingo!

300 is enough CH for a plaster pool. Anything over that makes no difference to the plaster.

Calcium Hardness - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[KevJB]

I'm trying to reconcile the various ideal CH ranges shown on TFP (plaster/LC)

Pool Math says 250<->350 target
Pool School blog says 350-550 ideal What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?
TFTestkit instructions show a different ideal range (Don't have instructions in front of me at the moment)

So the top of the Pool Math range stops at the bottom of the Pool School range. Perhaps Pool Math takes into account the levels of the other chemicals and adjusts suggested CH accordingly???

Normally I'd aim for the middle of the suggested range but that could be 300 or 450 depending on which suggestion I use.
Is water balancing so insensitive to CH that anywhere between 250 and 550 is equally ideal? With CH at 300, my CSI is always between +/-0.25 so maybe I shouldn't worry about adjusting CH.

I went through this with my Pebbletec pool. In particular, Calcium Hardness. TFP recommends 350-550 and Pebbletec recommends 150-250 In their maintenance procedures. So I called Ptec (800-937-5058) and they stated if I didn’t maintain the 150-250 range it would void my warranty.
I have too much investment in this new pool to jeopardize my warranty. Bottom line, if you have a Ptec warranty, do what they say.

 

[mknauss]

So I called Ptec (800-937-5058) and they stated if I didn’t maintain the 150-250 range it would void my warranty.

So Pebbletech does not install their product in the SW USA? With fill water having a CH of 250 ppm or greater, it would be impossible to maintain those levels.
Balderdash.

 

[Bperry]

I went through this with my Pebbletec pool. In particular, Calcium Hardness. TFP recommends 350-550 and Pebbletec recommends 150-250 In their maintenance procedures. So I called Ptec (800-937-5058) and they stated if I didn’t maintain the 150-250 range it would void my warranty.
I have too much investment in this new pool to jeopardize my warranty. Bottom line, if you have a Ptec warranty, do what they say.

I suspect you’ll find that if you have a problem, anything and everything will void the warranty. there’s a “Tommy Boy” reference appropriate here.

 

[Newdude]

In FL and GA you guys will be struggling to keep the CH up with the 50+ inches of rain you get. Some pockets of both states get more, there's a couple small spots in northern GA getting 78+ .

But yeah, you guys will be frequently low versus the southwest where they struggle to keep the CH earthbound, hence our wide range reccomendation. We always fine tune it for the OP per their locale when it comes up.

 

[an1vrsy]

You got that right about the southwest. If we got 50+ inches of rain a year we’d fill Lake Mead back up. If we did get rain (what’s that?) I wouldn’t worry about evaporation and topping up my pool. Just to keep CH down around 350 with our hard water, I had to tap into my whole house water softener for my pool fill line. Great piece of advice which is just one of the multiple pieces of advice that came here on TFP.