Hey TFP, I want to work on my Calcium Hardness. I have a 50lb bag of calcium chloride. It seems I need to had the whole 50lb bag. What is the best way to go about this?
Calcium Hardness
- Thread starter cbraeuer
- Start date
- Feb 6, 2015
- 7,856
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Do you have a heater?
If not, no need to be concerned about increasing your present CH of 70 in your vinyl pool.
Be sure to follow the FC/CYA Levels and keep your FC at the high end of the target range.
If not, no need to be concerned about increasing your present CH of 70 in your vinyl pool.
Be sure to follow the FC/CYA Levels and keep your FC at the high end of the target range.
If you have a heater the recomended is 200ppm. Approx 28lbs should get you there.
I do not have a heater. Prior to posting this I had just added a gallon of LC (10%) which will get me there.
So with a vinyl pool, I do not have to worry about my Calcium Hardness?
- Jul 17, 2019
- 4,078
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Nope. Plaster, grout, etc. have calcium in them and adding calcium keeps the water from stealing their calcium. You don't have to worry about that in a vinyl pool, especially if you have no heater or tile.
Here is the link to the ideal pool levels. If you pick vinyl you can see the range for calcium is quite large.
What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?
Use our tool to find ideal chemical levels for any swimming pool. Check TFP recommended levels on pH, free chlorine, cyanuric acid, and more.
www.troublefreepool.com
Perfect! What about for the equipment, like the piping?Nope. Plaster, grout, etc. have calcium in them and adding calcium keeps the water from stealing their calcium. You don't have to worry about that in a vinyl pool, especially if you have no heater or tile.
Here is the link to the ideal pool levels. If you pick vinyl you can see the range for calcium is quite large.
What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?
Use our tool to find ideal chemical levels for any swimming pool. Check TFP recommended levels on pH, free chlorine, cyanuric acid, and more.
- Jul 17, 2019
- 4,078
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Nope, piping is just fine with no calcium. The only piece of equipment I've seen that requires calcium are some heaters, which you confirmed above you do not have.
Can you return the bag or sell it to someone? I'm not sure which state you are in, but I believe you can also use it for ice melt (not my area of expertise so confirm this before using it).
- Nov 30, 2019
- 884
- Pool Size
- 8500
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Make sure you have liquid chlorine on hand and test FC a few hours after adding calcium chloride. Adding calcium chloride will crash your FC and you will need to bring It back up to normal level.
I was a bad pool owner back in the day, and used to just broadcast it over the surface of the pool. While it does dissolve rather quickly, it is easy to get too much and end up with it on the bottom. While chemically it doesn't do much to a vinyl liner, it does generate a lot of heat when combining with water, which can leave marks on the liner. Worse would be to dump it in a skimmer. After seeing the marks, I stopped just throwing it in.
Best is to fill a 5 gal pail with water, and add about 5 lbs. Use a big paint stick, or similar, and stir to dissolve. The water will get hot. Pour off the mix into the pool, adding water if needed to dissolve any that hadn't yet dissolved. Repeat as needed for the total quantity you wish to add.
Back before I knew, I would routinely add 30-50 lbs. each spring. In the land where ice melt is standard home supplies, it was surprisingly hard to find cheap 50lb bags - not pool store prices, and not the ones with additives for winter use.
Now that I know better, I just skip it, even with my pool being at 40 from rain/snow/local fill water. Maybe after my 25 yr old heater finally gives up will I think about it again.
It does work great as ice melt, far better than conventional salt. So save it for those rare days where you get a coating of glare ice on your sidewalks/driveways.
Best is to fill a 5 gal pail with water, and add about 5 lbs. Use a big paint stick, or similar, and stir to dissolve. The water will get hot. Pour off the mix into the pool, adding water if needed to dissolve any that hadn't yet dissolved. Repeat as needed for the total quantity you wish to add.
Back before I knew, I would routinely add 30-50 lbs. each spring. In the land where ice melt is standard home supplies, it was surprisingly hard to find cheap 50lb bags - not pool store prices, and not the ones with additives for winter use.
Now that I know better, I just skip it, even with my pool being at 40 from rain/snow/local fill water. Maybe after my 25 yr old heater finally gives up will I think about it again.
It does work great as ice melt, far better than conventional salt. So save it for those rare days where you get a coating of glare ice on your sidewalks/driveways.
- Mar 5, 2020
- 3,221
- Pool Size
- 66000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Astral Viron V35
Well, it shouldn't crash FC, but sometimes it seems to happen. There are some reports here about that happening, but we haven't really understood why. I ran some tests a while ago and only found a minute effect, not really significant within testing tolerances. But it can't hurt to be on the watch after adding CaCl2 and have some chlorine handy.
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