Trying to balance

[Guest]

I have been trying to balance my TA and PH. PH goes high quickly, and I thought that TA was too low at about 50. Now trying to balance a little at a time. But - when I use my Taylor PH drops (which are just about gone), I get a PH reading of 7.4. When I use the new bottle I bought to replace (All Clear brand), it shows the PH off the chart! How do I know what reading to believe? I could believe a variance, but it is huge, and I am confused.
Originally my TA was about 50, I thought that might be contributing to my PH spiking daily, so I raised it. It's currently about 90, but last time I got it up to 90, it dropped back down again due to having to add acid for my high PH. Dropped over the course of a week or so.
11370 gallons - plaster pool. This is making me crazy!

 

[danacc]

Are you using the All Clear brand with Taylor instructions/color match vial? Or are you using All Clear brand with All Clear instructions / color match vial?

 

[Guest]

hmmm - I'm not using the all clear tester. How could I miss that, too easy! Thanks. Now, what about my TA/PH stuff? That is really killing me.

 

[danacc]

Maintaining a lower TA will help to slow down the rise in pH. Since your pH is going up, try leaving your TA around 70 ppm. You can raise your TA with very little effect on pH by adding baking soda. You are correct that you will lower both each time you treat pH with acid.

Do you have any ideas on what is causing your pH to rise? Aeration caused by features like waterfalls, bubblers, fountains, spa spillovers, even return jets that are pointed toward the surface will all cause pH to rise. SWGs cause it to rise as well. Fill water with a high pH can cause it if you are filling often.

 

[Guest]

I don't have any water features so that is not a problem. Return jets point to the surface, but I made sure that the water doesn't break the surface causing bubbles. If it makes the surface ripple, is that enough to cause the ph to go up? It will be easy to keep TA at 70 -

 

[danacc]

How fast does pH rise? How high do you let it go before lowering it, and how far down do you drive it before letting it drift up again?

Ripples will cause some aeration, but it doesn't sound like you have much going on in the grand scheme of things...how long does your pump run each day?

 

[Guest]

I bring the PH down to 7.2 and in 2 days it's back up to near 7.8, sometimes higher. Is that unusual, or is that okay? Just seems like a big jump. Pump runs for about 7 hours a day. More on weekends.

 

[danacc]

That is fast. You must be going through a lot of acid. Try lowering to around 7.5. Typically it rises much faster from 7.2 to 7.5 than from 7.5 to 7.8. You'll be adding acid more often, but overall it should require less, and therefore less cost. Hopefully somebody smarter than me can chime in with ideas on what is causing such a quick rise in the first place.

You may not need to run the pump as long as you are, and reducing it may help a little. See: pool-school/pump_run_time

 

[Bama Rambler]

Do you have a swg?
How are you testing the TA? Tester, method, etc.?

 

[Guest]

I do not have a SWG-
I am testing with my Taylor test kit.
The word around here (meaning local stores) is to run the pump for an hour for every 10 degrees of temps, which means I should really run it 10-11 hours a day. Can't afford that, so I do what I can.
Yes, I go through lots of acid and it's expensive. Would love to keep that expense down.
I noticed the other day that my returns have air coming out, but not constantly. I saw air come out, and then watched for a few minutes until I saw it again.. It is intermittant I have checked the intake joints by running water over then to see if the air stopped, and it didn't, so I couldn't figure out where, if anywhere the air leak may be.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Don't worry about running the pump some set amount of time. You only need to run it long enough to keep the pool clean. If that's 2 hours, that's fine.
The bubbles could be causing aeration and that will raise the pH. I'd spend some time finding that leak.

 

[Guest]

Can you give me some direction on how to find the leak? Pump was recently rebuilt, and piping recently reinstalled from pump to filter. As I said, I have run water over all the junctions, one at a time to see if that stopped it, but didn't seem to help. Is there another way to see where the leak may be. Air at the return does indicate air in the intake, right?

 

[linen]

Yes, and I assume you have air in your pump basket as well...both would be from a suction side leak.

Have you lubricated your pump basket cover o-ring recently? Have you checked the pump drain plug(s) for leaks?

Is your water level too low in the pool potential causing a vortex in the skimmer that is sucking in air?
Is your skimmer weir door stuck? This can also starve your pump.

 

[Guest]

Water level seems good, not an issue there. Have lubricated the o ring, I think I even have a new one so can replace and see if that is an issue. Pump does not seem to be leaking. It was, which was why it was rebuilt. And the skimmer door not stuck. Phew!