Muriatic acid usage.

[bobodaclown]

Hello All,
I'm just trying to get an idea of (normal) chemical (acid) usage. I realize this will change from pool to pool due to size, fill water, construction and so on. I go through approximately a gallon of acid a month for my 17K pool.
My pool is 17K gallons with a SWCG, my TA is approx 80, CH is approx 525, I try to maintain the PH between 7.5 and 7.8 and I do use borates in my pool. I'm happy with the way the pool looks, water clarity is fine. My neighbor commented that our pool looks great, I guess the prior owners didn't maintain the water quality as well as I've done. (Thanks to this forum!)
I guess my bottom line question is 1 gallon of MA normal usage for a 17K pool? Thanks in advance for your response.
Bob

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

That calcium level seems a bit high. Watch your CSI or you might scale up with the higher pHs. Check your fill water level too. CH stays in the water despite evaporation just like salt and CYA do.

The acid seems a bit high too.

Scott

 

[susa]

About 0.8 (zero dot eight) gallons per month with Simpool maintaining automatically pH at 7.4

 

[257WbyMag]

All pools are different. A gallon a month on a 17,000 gallon pool with a SWCG doesn't sound unreasonable. The amount that it takes to keep your pH within normal limits for your pool is the normal amount of acid to use.

 

[Richard320]

It sounds low to me. I have been adding generally 2 cups every 2 or 3 days in a 16K pool. I don't have a SWCG, but I do have scale that is ever-so-slowly dissolving.

 

[bobodaclown]

Thanks for all the input. I keep my TA low to keep the PH from climbing up too fast and needed to add to the CH to keep the CSI in range, otherwise it would be well below -.6 and that's not what I want.

Thank you.
Bob

 

[Bama Rambler]

As contrast I add about a cup or so every couple of months. A gallon of acid will last me more than two years. Of course I use liquid to chlorinate.

 

[Swimgirl]

Around here we have tap water high in Ph, high water evaporation due to high temperatures in the summer, and highly alkaline soil that gets blown into the pool with some regularity due to our dust storms. Using liquid chlorine I tend to add a cup of muriatic acid at least every week, and that's with keeping ph about 7.8. I decided not to add an SWG when I talked to people around here that have them about their acid usage. The variables of tap water ph, how often you add water, rain, dust, etc all affect a persons acid usage.

 

[Copperhead]

Remember aeration will drive the PH, so if you aerate a lot during the summer to keep the water temp down, as we have to in Phoenix, your acid usage will be quite high.

 

[MattM]

3 month old pool here, I'd be really happy if it just used 1 gallon/month....I suspect that we're going through 1 gallon every 1-2 weeks, most notably when intellichem is dispensing acid to keep ph stable while SWG is running at 100% for an extended period.