I'd like to switch from Muriatic Acid to a dry acid so my wife will be able to manage the pool if for some reason I am not able to. Are there any downsides? Is sodium bisulfate the only form of dry acid? In the event of an extended water outage would the sulfates affect the potability of the water in the case of having to drink it (after filtering through something like a Big Berkey or Sawyer filter)?
Switch from MA to dry acid
- Thread starter ptbrunet
- Start date
Not that I can think of. There's no reason you can't do both. You take care of the MA, but have a bottle of dry acid on hand so that if she absolutely needs to, she can add it. The only downside of dry acid is that the granules aren't completely dissolved and end up sitting on the bottom and damaging the pool.
Don't know any details of how it affects drinkability, though I would have to be in a world of trouble before I started drinking my pool water.
Don't know any details of how it affects drinkability, though I would have to be in a world of trouble before I started drinking my pool water.
Do you have a SWG? Mine specifically states to avoid dry acid. It's a Hayward AquaPlus.
From the manual:
NOTE: The use of dry acid (sodium bisulfate) to adjust pool pH is discouraged especially in arid regions where
pool water is subject to excessive evaporation and is not commonly diluted with fresh water. Dry acid can cause a
buildup of by-products that can damage your chlorinator cell
From the manual:
NOTE: The use of dry acid (sodium bisulfate) to adjust pool pH is discouraged especially in arid regions where
pool water is subject to excessive evaporation and is not commonly diluted with fresh water. Dry acid can cause a
buildup of by-products that can damage your chlorinator cell
It depends on how much dry acid you use. A little here and there is not a problem, but frequent usage will eventually build up the sulfate level to where there might be some side effects.
There are some other alternatives. Half strength muriatic acid is not nearly as annoying to deal with, and if even that bothers her, you could try Acid Magic, or one of the other fume-less variants.
There are some other alternatives. Half strength muriatic acid is not nearly as annoying to deal with, and if even that bothers her, you could try Acid Magic, or one of the other fume-less variants.
I wait for it to get to 7.9 and then add 37 oz to get it down to 7.6. The last time it took 2 weeks to rise back up to 7.8. I've gone as long as 4 weeks during the recent Winter months. I haven't checked my TA in about 6 weeks but it was 80 then. I use Borates and the last time I checked that was last August.
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Regarding pool damage, would it make sense to add it via the skimmer basket?
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Regarding pool damage, would it make sense to add it via the skimmer basket?
The best way to add dry acid, and most other dry chemicals, is to pre dissolve in a bucket, and then pour the bucket slowly in front of a return jet while the pump is running.
Correct, there are muriatic acid substitutes, for example Acid Magic and No Mor Muriatic Acid® that don't have fumes and are much safer to handle. They do cost quite a bit more however.
I should add another peristaltic pump for the acid 
but I don't really have room for it.
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I didn't see either one of those listed on Leslie's web site so I'm guessing they won't have it in the store. I think I'll play with the dry acid for a while and see if that will be acceptable.
but I don't really have room for it.- - - Updated - - -
I didn't see either one of those listed on Leslie's web site so I'm guessing they won't have it in the store. I think I'll play with the dry acid for a while and see if that will be acceptable.
Another technique that might work is to mark the gallon jugs at the 32 oz points and then have her pour the MA directly into the water until the bottle floats at the next 32 oz marker. I am typically adding 37 oz to lower from 7.9 to 7.6 so 32 oz would be close enough. I've done this before with 64 oz at a time when I was trying to get my pH too low, trying to get more days before the next time I had to add MA, before I learned that was a waste due to the fact that the pH rise is very fast on the low end.
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