I swear I can smell low pH, anyone else?

[wayner]

Does anyone else find this, especially in my spa. There is a bit of a different smell that is distinctive when the pH is 7 or lower. Or am I crazy?

 

[Mdragger88]

I have never had the ph lower than 7 in my spa - this shouldn’t be a regular occurrence & is a corrosive condition. What led to the ph being so low?

 

[wayner]

Only time is when I happen to overdose with acid. But I generally add a bit of baking soda which solves it pretty quickly. But it is strange seeing orange when doing a pH test rather than the magenta that I am used to!

edit - I happened to do that today in my spa. Then I added a bit of baking soda and pH is now 7.5 and TA is 30. I can never get pH below 8 and TA over 50 so I don't worry about my TA levels.

 

[JamesW]

pH can affect the chemistry, so it is not hard to believe that the water could smell different with different chemistry.

You might release carbon dioxide or maybe you smell more volatile chemicals.

You might smell chlorine or bromine compounds being volatilized etc.

 

[JamesW]

Only time is when I happen to overdose with acid.

I think that this might explain a lot of your altered perceptions.

 

[wayner]

I think that this might explain a lot of your altered perceptions.

Well played!

The brown acid is bad, man!

 

[wayner]

pH can affect the chemistry, so it is not hard to believe that the water could smell different with different chemistry.

You might release carbon dioxide or maybe you smell more volatile chemicals.

You might smell chlorine or bromine compounds being volatilized etc.

My spa uses a SWCG for sanitizing. But I would notice this same smell back when I used bromine years ago.

 

[Mdragger88]

get the ta up to 40-50 with a dab more soda &
Next time Aim a little higher when dosing ph -
7.6 ish/7.8 is fine.
This should prevent tanking your ta & then dealing with the fluctuations

 

[DavidLast]

Yes a lower pH can make the water smell. It depends a bit but to me it smells a bit reminiscing of muriatic acid.

 

[duraleigh]

There are no significant reports of "pH smell" on TFP. If there are any, I would disregard them. "Smell" of your pool water would involve organics in your pool so you might check FC consumption with an OCLT