I have a question regarding water replacement. Won't rain water help? We had a lot of rain in northern California this past spring. It rained 1 or 2 days every week for about 2 months. Maybe that is why my CYA is not that high (currently at 40) given the fact that the pool service used trichlor pucks in our pool for the past 1.5 years before I took over. Not knowing the effects of the pucks, I was using them too until I found this forum.
Question regarding water replacement
- Thread starter kal2002
- Start date
Re: Removing calcium from pool water using a water softener?
Rain water will help to dilute assuming that there is enough to make up whatever water you pump out. I've never tested rain water before, but I would assume it to have little or no calcium, so as long as you had a good rain and were pumping water at the same time you would be able to lower your levels incrementally.
There is a little bit of a difference in rainfall between Northern California and Southern California, so I'm not sure how much help we would get in that scenario :-D
Rain water will help to dilute assuming that there is enough to make up whatever water you pump out. I've never tested rain water before, but I would assume it to have little or no calcium, so as long as you had a good rain and were pumping water at the same time you would be able to lower your levels incrementally.
There is a little bit of a difference in rainfall between Northern California and Southern California, so I'm not sure how much help we would get in that scenario :-D
Re: Removing calcium from pool water using a water softener?
I forgot to mention that the CH for my pool is high too - at 340 - and I am hoping the rain in the winter will replace some of the water.
Just saw your message as I was trying to send mine. We had very unusual weather here in northern California this whole year. In spring, it rained every week for a day or two so we had more rain than before. It was great for the lawn and the flowerbeds. We did not have to turn on the sprinklers until like May. The weather was on the cool side so did not need AC either. It was like Oregon moved here. We never got really hot like it used to in the summer. It has been in the 80's and 90's. Yesterday and the day before were the hottest days, 105 and 108. BUT, it is cooling down for the weekend to the 80's. So if we get a lot of rain again in the coming winter, I am thinking that it will replace some of the water in the pool.
I forgot to mention that the CH for my pool is high too - at 340 - and I am hoping the rain in the winter will replace some of the water.
Just saw your message as I was trying to send mine. We had very unusual weather here in northern California this whole year. In spring, it rained every week for a day or two so we had more rain than before. It was great for the lawn and the flowerbeds. We did not have to turn on the sprinklers until like May. The weather was on the cool side so did not need AC either. It was like Oregon moved here. We never got really hot like it used to in the summer. It has been in the 80's and 90's. Yesterday and the day before were the hottest days, 105 and 108. BUT, it is cooling down for the weekend to the 80's. So if we get a lot of rain again in the coming winter, I am thinking that it will replace some of the water in the pool.
Only 340 on CH? That's great for California!
Rainwater will dilute everything. Your pH readings will go nutty for a day or two after a big storm. I had to lower astronomical CYA left from the previous owner. If the storm was supposed to dump 1", I pumped out an inch in advance. Then I got smart and rigged up a drain from the downspout, with a nylon to strain out the shingle grit. It stopped most of that, but I got huge quantities of fine dirt in the pool, that washed off the roof. I did manage to remove about 40% of the CYA. Calcium of course also went down.
Rainwater will dilute everything. Your pH readings will go nutty for a day or two after a big storm. I had to lower astronomical CYA left from the previous owner. If the storm was supposed to dump 1", I pumped out an inch in advance. Then I got smart and rigged up a drain from the downspout, with a nylon to strain out the shingle grit. It stopped most of that, but I got huge quantities of fine dirt in the pool, that washed off the roof. I did manage to remove about 40% of the CYA. Calcium of course also went down.
I was about to suggest you may want to rig a rain catch of some type before I read Richard's comment. It seems even a simple cheap plastic tarp rigged up on either side of the pool before a major rain could dramatically speed the rate of refill.
Ike
Ike
These are great ideas, thanks. I especially like the idea of pumping out pool water in advance to make room for rain water. How will that affect the pH and FC and how did you keep up the FC? Do you test the pool water after each rain storm?
pH tended to go acidic for a day or two, but I had so much TA and CH that it corrected itself. I also had the spa flowing 100% so it got aerated good. Chlorine got checked every few days. By the time the rains come in earnest here, the water's cold; algae doesn't grow much then.
We had a good rain here last week, almost overflowed the pool, it was about an inch before it went over 
Before the rain, Ph was at 7.5 and TA at 110. We got about 4 or 5 inches over about 6 hours! It was falling VERY heavy at times and aerated the water a bunch. I tested the water the next day, and Ph was over 8.2, ouch. In the process of lowering Ph, TA obviously went down, too, so had to bring that back up. I guess the rain here isn't very acidic at all 
Before the rain, Ph was at 7.5 and TA at 110. We got about 4 or 5 inches over about 6 hours! It was falling VERY heavy at times and aerated the water a bunch. I tested the water the next day, and Ph was over 8.2, ouch. In the process of lowering Ph, TA obviously went down, too, so had to bring that back up. I guess the rain here isn't very acidic at all