pH issues--Muriatic Acid question

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lissyloo

lissyloo

0
Feb 23, 2014
11
AZ
Hello All,

I have a question about adding Muriatic Acid to my brand new pool. We have been struggling the past week or more to keep the pH at a good level, and have been adding Muriatic Acid DAILY to keep it in the 7.4ish range. Doesn't that seem like a LOT? That is about $5 per day on acid to add to this pool. I have been told that the pH level will continue to creep up with a new plaster pool, but just never imagined that we would be spending this much money on acid alone to add to it. Can this be right?

We have been buying the Muriatic Acid at Home Depot-(2) 1 gallon jugs and it has been taking a gallon per day to keep the pH down. It says it is 14.5% Hydrogen Chloride. Is there a better way to buy this, to keep the cost down. I would hope that this is not going to cost $5 per day in acid for a year!


Thanks

Lissy
 
I buy 31% from a locally owned pool store (the only pool store I will go to because they never try to sell me anything) 4 gallons at a time. I don't remember exactly what it costs me, but it's certainly not $5/gallon. I take the empties back to them in exchange for new. Call around. A new pool will require a lot of acid, but that sounds excessive to me. Why are you keeping the pH at 7.4 instead of say 7.8? You'll use less acid if you keep it a bit higher.
 
Muriatic Acid is the one thing that I buy a Leslies ... because it is the 31% stuff and costs about the same as what you are buying at the hardware store, so really it is half the price of the HD stuff.

I agree that you could likely keep the pH in the 7.6-7.8 range and lower your consumption.

What is your TA? A high TA will also drive the pH up along with any aeration and the new plaster.

In fact, post up a full set of test results ... you have one of the Recommended Test Kits right?
 
I agree with Jason above. It will slow after a while, so don't fret too much over it. Smaller hardware stores usually have 31.4% strength as well. Often near, or in the paint section. Be sure to double check your pool math setup for the correct strength in your calculation if you change to 31.4%.
 
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