Need help fast!!!

[JPMorgan]

Just screwed up bad. Meant to dump 3 qts of liquid chlorine in pool and grabbed the wrong bottle..... muriatic acid!!!!!. I am at about 17FC on my SLAM.... trying to get to 20.

Now I just hit the pH hard..... can't believe I did that!!!!!

What do I do to counteract all that muriatic acid. The pH test won't be accurate at high FC, right? What amount of Soda Ash should I put in to counteract and keep from ruining my equipment? Should I add it right away? pH was at 7.2 when I started SLAM.

Hurry please!

 

[Donldson]

If you don't have a heater or SWG then I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry. Yes, it is a concern but not a "my pool is going to melt" level one. Check your TA, if it is still good then I would even consider just leaving it until you have completed your SLAM. The TA will not allow your pH to stay that low for long and any minor damage done to the pool has already happened.

However, if you do have a heater or SWG or any other metal piping that I missed in your equipment list then allow your FC to drop below 10 so you can test the pH and use PoolMath to make the adjustment. If it is too low to read then just assume you are at 6.8 and adjust and retest a few times until you get a reading.

 

[ajw22]

Your heater have a bypass valve? I think the main low PH risk is to the heater internals. If you can bypass the heater water flow until you have things cleaned up you will be safer.

Can you get a lot of aeration going using a sump pump to raise the PH rapidly?

I'm not a chemicals guy to help with that.

 

[JPMorgan]

Trying to figure out how to solve my muriatic overdose problem using PoolMath Calculator. I put in a starting pH of 7.2 (where I started this morning) and lowered the Target pH to 6.7 which told me to add 114 oz of 31.45% muriatic acid. That's about what I just dumped in by mistake.

Then I put in "Now" figure of 6.7 pH with Target of 7.0. It tells me to add 76 ounces of soda ash.

Does that make sense? Should I do that right away? No more muriatic acid around the pool until SLAM is over!!!!!!!

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks Allen. I don't have a by pass on the heater. That's what I'm worried about. I'm no expert, but I think the aeration process will take too long. I think I need to counteract soon with some soda ash.

Hoping someone with knowledge of this stuff will chime in soon. Otherwise I'm going with my best instincts and adding some soda ash to bring the pH up.

 

[ajw22]

PH 6.7 is lower then optimum but I don't think it is low enough to do rapid damage to pool equipment. The PH should rise rapidly to normalize with your TA. I wouldn't panic and would not dump much soda ash in.

 

[JPMorgan]

Thanks again, Allen. At least I feel a little less panic. I did throw some soda ash in, but not the full amount that Pool Math called for. Hopefully, I'm back in the vicinity of 7.0 after all the muriatic acid I put in by mistake.

Will check pH after pool circulates awhile, but I understand that test may not be accurate anyway with a high FC.

Will give the pool about an hour to "rest" from the recent additions of chemicals and then continue with SLAM.

Lesson learned...... put the muriatic acid far away when starting the SLAM process. Very easy to grab the wrong bottle!!!

 

[Texas Splash]

JP, curious .. Donaldson asked too …. what is your TA? Next time you check your pH, please post the TA as well. It will help settle our nerves if we see a decent number - hopefully 50 or more. Next issue ……. not sure how the mistake happened, but let's consider storage. Is the MA and bleach stored in the same area? I wonder if that contributed to the mix-up? Hopefully they are not together as they are not compatible and acid is extremely corrosive. I store my MA outside in a Rubbermaid-type shed, and my bleach is in my laundry room where it's cool & dry. Figured I'd toss that out there just in case.

 

[JPMorgan]

Thanks for getting back to me, TS. Apparently I over-did it a bit with the soda ash in my panic. (I sure feel like an idiot!)

Latest readings:
FC 18, TA 120, pH 7.6

Per PoolMath I need to add another quart and a cup of liquid chlorine. So...... just add that to get FC up to 20 and forget about the TA and pH for now??? That pH reading isn't that reliable at high FC anyway, right? Should I be relieved that TA is at 120?

Do I need to do OCLT tonight? Or should I just check reading in morning (sun is down here) and just keep adding chlorine until pool is clear?

Thanks again for all the help..... feeling a little calmer after my big boo-boo this afternoon. Had both chemicals on my patio in the same area. Never again!

 

[Texas Splash]

Yeah, the pH is out of whack because of the high FC. Just leave it for now. In fact, now's a good time to step back, crack open a cold one, and just relax. Check the FC a couple more times before the night is through and start again tomorrow. No OCLT needed. Do your best to keep the FC maintained for the next couple days and let's see how the water reacts. Probably best to keep those discussions on your other (SLAM) thread now that this crisis is over.

 

[JPMorgan]

Will do (As a matter of fact, just finished a cold one!). Thanks again.... appreciate all the help.

- - - Updated - - -

Will post additional info on the original thread.