Safety while aerating

[Utah Muggles]

This is my first post, so please let me know if there is a better way to do this.

I have 2 questions.
1. Can I aerate with my automatic pool cover closed?
2. How can I aerate from pool returns that are 4 feet under water and are smooth pipe?

1. My TA is high (160) and I want to reduce it by aerating. I am very safety conscious, and concerned about having the automatic pool cover open for 8+ hours when no one is using the pool or watching to make sure nothing unexpected happens. Even with our fence around the pool, I am concerned. I might fall asleep if I sat alone outside by the pool for 8+ hours. My cover track is under the edge of the coping and about 6 inches above the water line. I was wondering about making something that could aerate in the shallow end front corner and I could keep the cover closed while it worked. There is about 1 inch gap between the leading edge of the cover bar and the end of the pool. I figure I have about 6 inch triangle of air space - lateral and vertical- that I can shoot the water out of PVC pipe to aerate. I plan on putting cover pump (WAPC250 1/4 HP pool cover pump, max 3000gal/hr.) on a step in the pool and connecting a T shaped PVC pipe with holes drilled to shoot the water back into the pool to aerate it. Will this work? Is that enough space to aerate or will the cover on the water negate the bubbling of the water and make no difference in my TA?

2. My pool builder placed the three water returns below the frost line, about 4 feet deep on the side wall of the pool below each skimmer and in the middle between them. They blend in well but I think they are 1.5 inch pipe, no threads and flush with the pool wall. I would love to use my pump to aerate (cover closed) with the T shaped PVC pipe, but worry about the flow restriction of 1.5 inch pipe going vertically 4 feet and damaging my pump. I also wonder about aerating in front of the skimmers and sucking in air bubbles. I have looked at the aeration threads, but no one else seems to have deep, smooth, flush water returns. I can't figure out how to attach anything to the returns. At this point, I am trying not to glue on things that would be sticking out from the pool wall and get broken easily. Since I can't figure out this, my temporary plan is to use the cover pump. Does anyone have some better ideas I could use?

Thanks in advance for the help. I have learned lots reading the forums.

 

[DaninFLA]

you need to remove the cover to aerate, the whole idea is oxygen exchange. you can get one of the screw in pvc waterfalls and you would have to add a length of PVC to reach the surface since your returns are so deep. the cover of the returns should unscrew and then the threaded 1.5" can be seen. they have to have a cover that is removable so you can change them if needed. check with your PB if not. is your filter a cartridge filter? if so, do you have a spigot on the bottom that you could screw a garden hose into and then connect to a sprinkler head to the pool?

 

[ping]

Welcome to TFP!

Your first method is most likely the one you need to try. Operating the slide would be the easiest but it would most likely require the cover to be open.

How low do you drop the pH when you need to? You might try lowering it to 7.2 and with the SWG running it will raise the pH and you keep repeating this cycle until the TA is in the range you want it. With the cover you should not be adding very much water to the pool and this process should work over time.

 

[duraleigh]

With the restrictions you have placed on aeration, why don't you just leave it alone?

It'll slowly come down on it's own

 

[Utah Muggles]

the cover of the returns should unscrew and then the threaded 1.5" can be seen. they have to have a cover that is removable so you can change them if needed.

My returns are just pipes in the side wall that I can stick my index finger in completely. They are flush with the inside of the pool, and have no threads. There is nothing to remove or unscrew. I cannot direct the return of water at all.

About the cover and the oxygen exchange, I was afraid that might be a problem, but was hoping that the 1 inch opening could compensate for the closed cover.

Yes, my filter is cartridge, but there is no spigot, only about a 2 inch drain plug that is so close to the ground that I cannot use a socket to screw it in - instead I just scrape my knuckles each time. Thanks for the ideas, Dan.

 

[Utah Muggles]

Welcome to TFP!

.

How low do you drop the pH when you need to? You might try lowering it to 7.2 and with the SWG running it will raise the pH and you keep repeating this cycle until the TA is in the range you want it.



Every time we use the pool, we have the slide on with a good amount of water going down it. It just doesn't lower the TA very much, hence the 160 value.

I always drop the pH to 7.2, since it rises with the SWG. I run the SWG continuously at about 30%, so I end up adding acid a couple of times each summer. I want to get the TA down so I can improve the CSI and have fewer swings in the chemicals.

 

[Agent99]

What is the TA of your fill water? If it is lower than your pool, water exchanges over time will help.

Otherwise, it is acid...monitor pH...acid...monitor pH...acid...check TA. Aeration will speed things up to raise the pH without effecting anything else but if you can't aerate very well, then you just need to be patient with working your TA down. Pretty much what Ping said.

 

[CaptinSpaulding]

You could find a hose or fitting that would fit into the hole tight and snug enough for the pressure, then run it up the wall and just squirt up into the air and fall down into the pool. Shouldn't be very hard.

Ever held a noodle over a return? Ultimate squirt gun!

 

[ping]

If you are only adding acid a couple times during the summer then there is absolutely no need to lower the TA. The reason on lowering the TA is to prevent the pH from rising too fast and that is not the case with your pool. Post all of your chem levels so we can see what is going on. People tend to worry too much about the CSI and if you are not near -.6 or +.6 then like Dave said, "just leave it alone".

 

[tim5055]

If you are only adding acid a couple times during the summer then there is absolutely no need to lower the TA. The reason on lowering the TA is to prevent the pH from rising too fast and that is not the case with your pool. Post all of your chem levels so we can see what is going on. People tend to worry too much about the CSI and if you are not near -.6 or +.6 then like Dave said, "just leave it alone".

Can you post a full set of test results so we can see everything?

I add acid twice a week and would love to only add twice a season.....