Running my Heat Pump when pool first opened

[krisiak11]

Hello all and Happy Pool Season! When my pool was opened, the tech told me to go ahead and run the heater. When I went to the Pool Store to get advice on testing my water, they mentioned that maybe I should not be running the heat pump depending on the "alkalinity" I believe? Should I not be running my heater right now while I straighten out the balance in the water?

 

[borjis]

It would make sense to be sure your PH is good.
Out of balance PH is the number one cause of premature damage for the heat exchanger.

Maybe that is what he meant?

Heating or not makes no difference though. And I'm not assuming your PH is wildly
off but if the water is passing through it and it is way off, you should balance it asap.

Keep in mind most pool stores test results are not accurate, are you testing your own
water with a TF100 or K2006C test kit?

 

[krisiak11]

I am not using either of those kits, this is my first pool opening and I had a 100$ Chemical credit from the installer, so I figured I would go there and get some advice and use up the credit. Of the two test kits, which would you recommend?

 

[krisiak11]

Just pulled the sheet from my bag.
FC- 2 PPM
PH- 7
Alkalinity- 50 PPM
Calcium Hardness- 100 PPM

Recommendation:
Add 15 lbs Total Alkalinity
30 lbs of Calcium Hardness
4 lbs of Shock
10 oz Algaecide

Any thoughts on if I should or should not add these to my pool?

 

[borjis]

I prefer the TF-100 over the K2006C because it also helps support this website.

They don't make a salt test part of the kit, there is one made by Taylor but I'm not sure the name.
Someone here will probably chime in with that.

 

[Joshii]

Just pulled the sheet from my bag.
FC- 2 PPM
PH- 7
Alkalinity- 50 PPM
Calcium Hardness- 100 PPM

Recommendation:
Add 15 lbs Total Alkalinity
30 lbs of Calcium Hardness
4 lbs of Shock
10 oz Algaecide

Any thoughts on if I should or should not add these to my pool?

If you have a vinyl liner you don't need to worry about calcium hardness, so don't add that.

Also, don't use shock. Use normal bleach from home depot or similar.

And don't add the algaecide. Keeping your chlorine numbers up is what you need to do to take care of algaecide.

 

[borjis]

I'd get the test kit asap so you know what the real numbers are before adding anything.
Test Kits
Also highly recommend you get the speedstir for easier testing/mixing.

Well except the bleach. You probably should add at least 1 gallon of 8.25% (regular, not scented or splashless)
every 4 days until the kit arrives. I had a pool same size as yours and that's how much it needed each week.

If your TA (alkalinity) is indeed 50 you shouldn't need to add much to get it in the recommended 70-80 range.

If you have a store credit to get that by all means do, but baking soda from the store is much cheaper
and is the exact same chemical to raise TA.

Mule Team Borax found at any grocery store can be used to raise your PH to 7.5 if it turns out it is 7

 

[krisiak11]

If you have a vinyl liner you don't need to worry about calcium hardness, so don't add that.

Also, don't use shock. Use normal bleach from home depot or similar.

And don't add the algaecide. Keeping your chlorine numbers up is what you need to do to take care of algaecide.

Thank you! You did not mention the Alkalinity, assuming I should add that?

- - - Updated - - -

I prefer the TF-100 over the K2006C because it also helps support this website.

They don't make a salt test part of the kit, there is one made by Taylor but I'm not sure the name.
Someone here will probably chime in with that.

Thank you, I have been planning to become a supporter for awhile now, I should have done it prior to opening the pool!

 

[pooldv]

Your TA is ok at 50. Don't let it get any lower than 50, raise it to 60 if it drops to 40. Use baking soda to raise TA if it drops.

Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

Pool School - Water Balance for SWGs

 

[CJadamec]

Unless you have a bypass loop on your heat pump so none of the water is going thru it doesn't matter if you are running it or not. If the heater is always having water run thru it bad chemistry will hurt the heat exchanger weather or not the heater is actively heating.

Not that I trust the pool store to test your water correctly from those numbers your water isn't too bad.

Alkalinity up = baking soda last I saw my local walmart was selling 14lbs of baking soda for 6 bucks.
The baking soda alone will raise your TA and bring your pH up. Borax would be a bad choice to just raise pH as it adds borates to the water as well. If you just want to raise pH with out adding TA or borates you should get washing soda, which is right next to the borax in the laundry isle at your local walmart.

 

[krisiak11]

Thank you all so much for the advice, much appreciated!!

 

[krisiak11]

If you have a vinyl liner you don't need to worry about calcium hardness, so don't add that.

Also, don't use shock. Use normal bleach from home depot or similar.

And don't add the algaecide. Keeping your chlorine numbers up is what you need to do to take care of algaecide.

Pool guy tells me balancing Calcium Hardness helps keep the heat pump protected. Anyone ever heard anything like that?

 

[borjis]

The baking soda alone will raise your TA and bring your pH up. Borax would be a bad choice to just raise pH as it adds borates to the water as well. If you just want to raise pH with out adding TA or borates you should get washing soda, which is right next to the borax in the laundry isle at your local walmart.

This seems a bit off from my own experiences and everything I've read here.

I don't recall baking soda raising my ph. Ta yes but not the ph. Unless you add a ton of it.

20 Mule Team Borax is a better choice than washing soda if you want TA to stay where it is.
The amount of borate it adds is miniscule and it has zero if any affect on TA.

I switched from washing soda to Borax because I didn't want my TA numbers changing as they did when I used washing soda.

- - - Updated - - -

Pool guy tells me balancing Calcium Hardness helps keep the heat pump protected. Anyone ever heard anything like that?

Most gas heaters and heat pumps indicate a warranty claim would be invalidated if you don't maintain certain chemistry levels.

Often they will show calcium at 200ppm, ph at 7.5 and a free chlorine of no more than 2 or 3.

It's been discussed and ultimately debunked that calcium needs to be that high (for vinyl pools) and of course most of us run
our free chlorine higher than that with no damaging effects. Definitely the ph needs to be in the safe range.

Someone recently had a foaming issue and had 50ppm calcium. If I recall the foaming issue went away by
adding calcium as that will keep it from happening.