How much Muriatic Acid do you keep on hand?

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Vital Signs

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Jul 27, 2020
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Portland OR
New pool owner. Had some initial work done on pool right away (new tile and pump) and after the work was done and we filled the pool he came back and put all the chemicals in the pool to get things balanced for a starting point. He also left me with some chemicals....Muriatic Acid (four gallons) and a partial bag (the first half he put in the pool) of calcium chloride that he said I'd need eventually.

We've got a wooden shed in the backyard (the kind you buy at home depot with siding and shingles) that we just put all our gardening/landscaping type stuff in. Well when I went to put the pool chemicals in it I saw the previous owner also left some Muriatic acid so now I've got 6 gallons of the stuff. At the time I thought it was good to have a stockpile but I was reading some threads on here about the leaking gas from even sealed containers causing rust on anything metal nearby. So now I'm not so sure I want this stuff in my shed at all and I've got small kids so I don't want it in my garage m. I kinda just want to go with an as needed basis...when my pool is showing it needs some I go buy it at the store and use it.

Am I being overly concerned?
 
The MA will not go bad out there, but you don't want it around anything that can rust that's for sure. Door hinges and stuff can rust quickly - yep, it happened to me. I would use a seperate plastic-type container (i.e. Rubbermaid) to keep those gallons of MA stored in. I have my MA in a Rubbermaid-type storage container, then that container in another larger non-metal storage mini tool shed so that kids and pets can't get to it.
 
I have same Rubbermaid storage container. About 48inches wide 30inch deep and 36inch high. The top lifts open and it does have a place to put a padlock if needed. All 100% plastic. I have it in corner of my yard behind some bushes. I keep the acid in there along with a small container of chlorine pucks (for when I go out of town) and manual pool cleaner head (wrapped in a large ziploc bag. I have a separate smaller storage container for my liquid chlorine. I was told that I need to keep liquid chlorine separate from solid (puck) chlorine and acid.
You definitely don't want acid and chlorine stored in garage or in a tool shed. Everything will corrode. I had to replace a garage door opener (at a house with my first pool some 15 years ago) because the control board completely corroded due to the pool chemicals. An expensive lesson.
 
How often are you guys using this stuff? If it's something seldom used (a couple times a year) then I'd kinda rather just get rid of the 6 gallons I have (looks like about $40 worth of MA?) rather than have to buy a new storage container to put in my backyard.

If it's being used a couple times a month then I'll make the investment in one of those Rubbermaid storage containers
 
How often you add and how much depends on your water chemistry, fill water chemistry, evaporation rate, pool volume, etc.
 
If your fill water has high alkalinity then you will likely need a lot of it. Given that your pool builder left you with 4 gallons, I suspect that you may have high alkalinity water. I feel like he wouldn’t have just randomly left you with acid otherwise.
 
Brett S said:
If your fill water has high alkalinity then you will likely need a lot of it. Given that your pool builder left you with 4 gallons, I suspect that you may have high alkalinity water. I feel like he wouldn’t have just randomly left you with acid otherwise.
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Well, he wasn't the pool builder (pool is 30 years old) he was someone I brought in to do some tile work on it and installed new pump. So we had to dump the pool and refill. And he technically sold the MA to me as it was on his invoice.. price was a little high for the acid but his tile cost was lower compared to another bid so I didn't mind if he was trying to recoup a bit of money.

I did my first alkalinity test yesterday on the pool water and it was either 90 or 130 ( not sure if test is done when color flashes red or stays red).
 
I keep 2-4 gallons on hand, as I go through it relatively quickly. I store it outdoors behind the equipment screen. Have some landscaping stones that I sit the bottles on. The area is full shade, so the bottles never see sunlight. Been doing that for 13 years with no issues!
 
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HermanTX said:
I have same Rubbermaid storage container. About 48inches wide 30inch deep and 36inch high. The top lifts open and it does have a place to put a padlock if needed. All 100% plastic. I have it in corner of my yard behind some bushes. I keep the acid in there along with a small container of chlorine pucks (for when I go out of town) and manual pool cleaner head (wrapped in a large ziploc bag. I have a separate smaller storage container for my liquid chlorine. I was told that I need to keep liquid chlorine separate from solid (puck) chlorine and acid.
You definitely don't want acid and chlorine stored in garage or in a tool shed. Everything will corrode. I had to replace a garage door opener (at a house with my first pool some 15 years ago) because the control board completely corroded due to the pool chemicals. An expensive lesson.
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Definitely agree you don't want pool chemicals near metal; I used to keep my spare tabs in a backyard island with stainless doors - they're now rusted.

However are sure it's safe to keep tabs and MA and the same container? Would hate to have an MA jug leak next to those tabs.

Back to the OP's question I buy 2 gallons at a time and when I'm empty I buy 2 more. I use about 2 cups/week.
 
Same as other, buy two bottles at the time and store them outside in a storage box with some other pool stuff, but not with other chemicals. For safety I put each bottle inside an empty plastic bucket in order to catch any potential leakage. Had even left some leftovers there over winter and had no problem with respect to freezing temperatures.
 
GDN said:
I keep a couple of gallons, but I add about 1 to 1.5 cups a week to the pool. Some pools need it and some don't. It will just depend upon your usage as to how much you keep.
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Bout the same for me in L.A. I dose maybe a couple cups 1-2x per week at most. Two gallons lasts a few weeks.
 
I keep 2 gallons on hand at all times, but my fill water is high TA. Usually it’s not a big deal, but I recently had an event that caused a big refill, a drain plug blew out 😲and with high TA fill water I need to add muriatic acid just less than once/week whereas before I was getting to the point of adding muriatic acid once/two weeks. But my goal when I add acid is to reduce pH, not TA
 
100% plastic, even the hinges. All Suncast. I rigged some plastic chain to lock the little boxes, but I only lock them up when I have guests with kids. Chlorine in one, acid in the other. Pool gear in the middle. All outside (summer time I keep all but one chlorine in the garage). Not visible from my pool and garden. I don't think your box should be in a shed, if you go into that shed.

deck boxes.jpg
 
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Dirk said:
100% plastic, even the hinges. All Suncast. I rigged some plastic chain to lock the little boxes, but I only lock them up when I have guests with kids. Chlorine in one, acid in the other. Pool gear in the middle. All outside (summer time I keep all but one chlorine in the garage). Not visible from my pool and garden. I don't think your box should be in a shed, if you go into that shed.
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Yeah I've got the plastic bin (just one of those home depot black and yellow lid ones) outside the shed now. I'll get a more permanent solution (those containers you have seem like a good idea) sometime this year.
 

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