Effect of well water on liquidator performance

[Water_man]

At least four LQ users reported their pools are filled with well water and they don’t have any WS (calcium deposits or whatever) whatsoever.
Perhaps this is not just a coincidence. Although four is by no means a large enough number for a good statistical analysis, if well water were not an issue then according to the poll's results (33% usres affected by WS) we could expect at least one of these four users to have WS. So maybe this is significant. Marine aquarium articles such as this suggest that magnesium may inhibit calcium scaling.
Can well water LQ users please test their water for magnesium, and post the results? Maybe we can solve the WS issue by adding magnesium. This should be easier and less expensive than adding borates, which hasn't been proven yet to be a working solution.

 

[smuggs]

I haven't had a chance to chime in on this general topic in a while, but I do have well water, and do get the WS. I happen to use 12.5% liquid chlorine in my 8gal LQ. From a LQ performance standpoint, I get get my flow to just about 5, even with the WS. Interestingly, though, I can typically only keep a FC level of between 3 & 4 with a CYA of about 45 and full sun pretty much all day.

 

[Water_man]

I haven't had a chance to chime in on this general topic in a while, but I do have well water, and do get the WS. I happen to use 12.5% liquid chlorine in my 8gal LQ. From a LQ performance standpoint, I get get my flow to just about 5, even with the WS. Interestingly, though, I can typically only keep a FC level of between 3 & 4 with a CYA of about 45 and full sun pretty much all day.

Perhaps your well water doesn't contain magnesium, while other people's does.
We need more data. What's your pH and CH? Have you tried 6% bleach instead?

 

[Sabot]

Keeping in mind that 4 out of 16 is not a large percentage. I have plenty of scaling in the house from daily use when the water softener is not working (as it has been…). One thing I have is plenty of hard water. I doubt that a smoking gun will be found which will solve 100% of the WS issues since the issue with the WS is water chemistry. From what I can tell by reading all the posts about water chemistry, no two pools are the same.

Question to the folks with the WS, what water testing equipment you use and how often do you test your water. Maybe Waterbear can suggest where to take your water to have a better then average test done? (Besides the pool store…)

Love my Liquidator and pH Adjuster! Beats adding acid and chlorine daily at pool side. Shoot, my pool has been so stable that I have slacked off testing from testing daily to 2 - 3 times a week in the middle of a monster heat wave/drought! Screwed up and overfilled again last week, so I had to break out some muriatic acid to bring the pH back into 7.3 zone. Funny how allowing fresh water flow overnight flushes out chlorine and messes up the over all water chemistry!

 

[smuggs]

water_man -

Here's my latest numbers....

FC - 4
CC - 0
PH - 7.4
ALK - 80
CH - 260
CYA - 45

I don't know whether my water contains magnesium. It does contain iron, but apparently not too much based on the fact that my driveway and sidewalk to my house are not stained after years of using the sprinkler system (pre-water softener). I won't have much time over the next couple weeks to get to the pool store with a fresh water sample. (there is a leslie's near my client, but that is an hour long drive, and they don't open until after I need to get into the office....and my weekends are booked....hmmm, when am I going to be able to get time in the pool????) I do have a couple random dark spots/stains that I have never been able to remove, and I do assume they are from metals, so it is possible that I have magnesium. When I get a chance to take a sample in, I will have them check for metals. The the other thing that I do that is a little different is that I also use Tabs on a very low setting....this seems to keep the PH in check and with the splashout from the kids, my CYA has remained stable. As for 6%, I haven't used it in the Liquidator as I would need to refill it every week rather than every 14-15 days.