Cleaning the Cell

[Reebs]

My SWG cell doesn’t appear dirty. However, in getting ready for the upcoming season I thought I would clean it. The manual says to use either distilled white vinegar or 10 parts water and 1 part Muriatic Acid. I chose the acid thinking it would be a more thorough cleaning. The directions say to wait for the foaming to stop after about 5 or 10 mins and then dispose of the acid carefully or put it in your pool. It never foamed at all. Even after shaking it, it never foamed. Did I do something wrong or was my cell just not that dirty? Just wondering if I actually did anything to clean my cell? Any opinions?

Thanks!

 

[Boland01]

Was there any build up of scale or calcium in your cell? That is what the muriatic acid is dissolving (putting back into solution) when it's foaming or making bubbles. Good chance you didn't have any. Ours started scaling badly when the CH got above 400 ppm. It actually was at 600 ppm and I couldn't keep the calcium off the cell then. My solution was to drain and refill the pool after 7 years. Now CH is 240 ppm and the problem is solved.

 

[Reebs]

Thanks for the reply. From what I could tell, it didn’t appear too dirty, but I had never cleaned it before with acid. There has never really been any visible scale build-up over the years. Also, the CH in the pool is always quite low (below 100ppm)

 

[Boland01]

As long as everything is in balance with that low of a CH you probably won't ever have to worry about scale. I've got a plaster pol so I have to keep my CH higher.

 

[Reebs]

Thanks for the help