New to Pool Maintenance

[RaceMX]

Hello first want to say this is an awesome site for someone new to pool care. I built my pool 10 years ago and had the pool company take care it for me until a couple of months ago. No issues with the water that I can recall. They recently inspected my pool equipment (something I had to pay to have done) and handed me a $10,000 laundry list of equipment they said needed to be replaced including $6,000 for a new pool heater. I asked what was wrong with the heater and they couldn't tell me. They offered to send someone back out to tell me what's wrong with the heater but wanted me to pay for another service call. Ok no thanks. I fixed everything on their list myself for about $500. The heater had a crack in the rear header. 10 bolts off and back on. Unreal. I was going to just find another pool service but opted to just try taking care of it myself. Wish I would have done it sooner. I tried having Leslie's help me but experienced the same problems I have read about here in countless threads. Test results were so erratic. Anyway couple of questions to start.

Lowering TA - does the acid lower the TA level by itself or is there some magic chemical process occurring when PH is at 7 - 7.2?

Salt level readings from my SWCG are somewhat erratic bouncing around between 3100 and 3600 from one day to the next. Is this normal? My SWCG is two months old but the salt sensor is older - don't recall if it's ever been replaced.

There is a minor buildup of scale (I think) inside my heat exchanger. It doesn't seem to be impeding the water flow. I've seen people circulating muriatic acid through the exchanger to remove scale but would prefer not to have to mess with disconnecting the gas line and rotating the heater. I saw the video on Youtube with the guy drilling the scale out with a huge drill bit and I'm not anxious to try this method either. Any suggestion please let me know.

Thank you!

Scott

 

[ajw22]

Lowering TA - does the acid lower the TA level by itself or is there some magic chemical process occurring when PH is at 7 - 7.2?

Welcome to TFP.

Looks like you have a good start getting the TFPro Salt test kit.

Have you downloaded PoolMath?

Using PoolMath Effect of Adding Muriatic Acid would tell you that acid both lowers pH and TA.

TA - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Salt level readings from my SWCG are somewhat erratic bouncing around between 3100 and 3600 from one day to the next. Is this normal? My SWCG is two months old but the salt sensor is older - don't recall if it's ever been replaced.

Trust your salt test results.

If the SWG is happy then the reading the SWG gives you does not matter much.

You could have the TriSensor on your Aquapure flaking out on you. I would disconnect the cord to the TriSensor and check the condition of the pins.

Also I would disconnect the cable to the cell and check both ends for any burning. And check the condition of the pins on the cell.

More details can be found in Jandy AquaPure SWG - Further Reading

There is a minor buildup of scale (I think) inside my heat exchanger. It doesn't seem to be impeding the water flow. I've seen people circulating muriatic acid through the exchanger to remove scale but would prefer not to have to mess with disconnecting the gas line and rotating the heater. I saw the video on Youtube with the guy drilling the scale out with a huge drill bit and I'm not anxious to try this method either. Any suggestion please let me know.

A small amount of calcium scale provides a protective coating on the copper heat exchanger in a gas heater.

Direct fired gas heaters tend to build up a thin layer of calcium carbonate on their internal surfaces over time. This thin layer acts as a barrier to physical metal erosion (from high flow rates of water) and chemical attack (from chlorine). However, this film is not indestructible and it can come and go over time depending on CH and pH levels.

Calcium Hardness - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com