Closing help please

Jump to latest Follow Reply
E Murph

E Murph

0
Bronze Supporter
May 10, 2016
47
Middletown, Pennsylvania
Ok. I love this method. It's worked great all summer. Now I closed my pool last week and I'm concerned. It rained like crazy the days prior to my close. I tested everything the day before close and my pH was higher than ever. I've been having to lower it a little here and there all summer but I had a good handle on it. Here are my numbers the day before close. (Last Wednesday)
Fc 20. I got a little carried away
Ph 8.0
Ta 70
Ch 275
Ca 40

No salt paster pool

I added a quart of algaecide (pro 60) left over from my old pool store chemical says. And 18 oz of acid to knock down the ph and the pool was closed

I pulled the cover back today just to check and to my surprise the ph is now as low as it can read on my test. 6.8? Maybe lower?
Ta looks a little low too but not bad at 60. My fc is now at 13
Ch unchanged

I'm assuming (Its covered with solid cover with pump on top no rain getting in) that the fc should hold all winter and not much should change over the winter? Did the algaecide change my ph? I dropped a pump in the deep end and ran a hose around to the shallow end and put some borax in hoping to bring the ph up.
Should I add bleach? Am I on the right track? What happened?

Thanks!!!
 
18oz of 31.45% MA would only lower your pool's pH by about 0.3

pH will read falsely high with FC greater than 10ppm.

You're correct that with the cold water temps & being covered that the chlorine will last a long time.

Have you checked your pH again?
 
The high chlorine is the answer! Thank you. I was trying to get the FC to slam level for closing but I over shot it and ended up at 20! That must have given me a false ph reading. and I made it worse by adding acid at closing and now am getting accurate readings. Now I know! I added borax and checked again and I'm at 7.0, maybe 7.1. so its moving. I'll ad more. I'm concerned I'm not getting it mixed up thouroghly with just a portable pump and the garden hose? Is there any better way to mix the water since I obviously can't use the pool pump? I want to make sure my CSI stays inline but with temperature being a part of that calculation how do I manage that as winter comes and water gets colder and colder? Thanks!!!
 
E Murph said:
The high chlorine is the answer! Thank you. I was trying to get the FC to slam level for closing but I over shot it and ended up at 20! That must have given me a false ph reading. and I made it worse by adding acid at closing and now am getting accurate readings. Now I know! I added borax and checked again and I'm at 7.0, maybe 7.1. so its moving. I'll ad more. I'm concerned I'm not getting it mixed up thouroghly with just a portable pump and the garden hose? Is there any better way to mix the water since I obviously can't use the pool pump? I want to make sure my CSI stays inline but with temperature being a part of that calculation how do I manage that as winter comes and water gets colder and colder? Thanks!!!
Click to expand...
If your FC is still <10ppm and you have poor water circulation your pH readings are not accurate. You should stop adding borax/MA.

80oz of Borax will raise pH 0.3 and offset the 18oz of 31.45% MA that you previously added.

How much Borax did you add?
 
E Murph said:
I put in a whole box. About 80oz?
So I can't rely on a water test now that the pump is not running?
Click to expand...
Unless you can brush or otherwise circulate the water I wouldn't bother testing. If your pH was good before you raised FC to shock level, you should be fine now. The Borax you added will offset the MA and have you back to where you started.

Are you certain you mixed the Borax in well as to not have clumps of it sitting on the bottom?
 
I ran a utility pump with the hose returning the water at the opposite end of the pool. Shouldn't be anything laying on the bottom. I just want to be sure it's ok when I open. I didn't realize I couldn't test with fc over 10. I was planning on checiking it ocassionaly over the winter. A few years ago when I was still trusting those pool store people I had what they called winter scale. It wa a horrible thing. Little razor sharp pieces of stuff all over the plaster it was horrible to get rid of. After I learned this system I realized I probably had the csi way out of whack that winter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply