A little over a year since the last drain and fill, should I drain again? Calcium Hardness through the roof

[Agrabah]

I try and keep my CSI negative but with a 2 year old build I feel like a lot of calcium is leeching into the water causing the levels to rise like crazy. My first year with the pool I had absolutely no calcium deposits on my cell, this year (about two months ago) I noticed fairly large build up that I had to clean off. (in addition I believe SWG can cause CH to rise in addition to pH? Might have that mixed up with something else though)

Today's Numbers:

FC 6.6
CC 0
pH 8.0 (added about 2 cups yesterday and it skyrocketed after 24 hours)
TA 70
CYA 60
CH 850
Salt 3400
89f

Came in at CSI of 0.61, added 48oz to drop down to 6.9 (will test tomorrow to see where it's at). TA has been 70 for nearly a year, it will not go lower.

I just tested my city water and it comes in at CH 290 and it looks like I need to do a 90% drain/fill in order to get my numbers back down to 350.

I'm not sure exactly what's causing the significant CH rise but over the last several months I have noticed significant deposits along our spa overflow that looks and tastes like salt but it must be calcium with salt deposits in it. I seem to be fighting an endless pH battle to the point that I may just drop money on some type of acid feed system just to keep the pH lower.

 

[HermanTX]

With the high evaporation loss, the calcium stays in the pool and then you refill with local water that is high in calcium. This is the main reason for high CH levels. Nothing to do with a SWCG.
Maybe @mknauss or @JoyfulNoise can provide you some local guidance.

 

[Agrabah]

Not sure why I didn't think about that but that makes sense. That's a bit crazy that it crept up from 350 to 850 in the span of a year.

 

[PoolStored]

Many of our members/experts in the SW US, with high CH, connect their autofill to a water softener to handle this issue...

 

[PoolStored]

I just tested my city water and it comes in at CH 290 and it looks like I need to do a 90% drain/fill in order to get my numbers back down to 350.

Best to start with CH of 200. Gives you more time before the refill, and 200 is just fine for plaster.

 

[proavia]

Having a SWG does NOT cause CH to rise.

Not keeping CSI in the 0.00 to -0.30 (negative 0.30) range will cause scaling in the SWG.

Adding a water softener plumbed to your autofill is the best way to keep CH in range.
A whole house softener with a 60k grain capacity will give you soft water throughout the interior of the house. Once installed, you can check if the exterior autodill gets softwater from its sourde or whether you will need to run a separate soft water waterline to it.

Until it cools off in October (or later) and you are able to do a FULL drain/refill, you will need to better monitor your pH and keep it in the 7.2-7.5 range to keep CSI in range. This will also help bring your TA down to 60-ish.
You will need to check pH and dose at least 3 times weekly until you can drain in cooler weather.

Do a FULL drain/refill so you start off at the lowest CH your fill water allows, the CH will rise plenty fast on its own thru evaporation. Don't add any calcium products.

 

[Agrabah]

Best to start with CH of 200. Gives you more time before the refill, and 200 is just fine for plaster.

Not following here. Can’t start at 200 when source water is almost 300 unless I misunderstood.

 

[proavia]

Not following here. Can’t start at 200 when source water is almost 300 unless I misunderstood.

Nope - he probably fat fingered the 9 and made it 200 instead of 290.

 

[PoolStored]

Not following here. Can’t start at 200 when source water is almost 300 unless I misunderstood.

I just tested my city water and it comes in at CH 290 and it looks like I need to do a 90% drain/fill in order to get my numbers back down to 350.

Nope - he probably fat fingered the 9 and made it 200 instead of 290.

You are both correct. 90% refill should get you back to 290-350. Best you can do...

 

[Agrabah]

Having a SWG does NOT cause CH to rise.

Not keeping CSI in the 0.00 to -0.30 (negative 0.30) range will cause scaling in the SWG.

Adding a water softener plumbed to your autofill is the best way to keep CH in range.
A whole house softener with a 60k grain capacity will give you soft water throughout the interior of the house. Once installed, you can check if the exterior autodill gets softwater from its sourde or whether you will need to run a separate soft water waterline to it.

Until it cools off in October (or later) and you are able to do a FULL drain/refill, you will need to better monitor your pH and keep it in the 7.2-7.5 range to keep CSI in range. This will also help bring your TA down to 60-ish.
You will need to check pH and dose at least 3 times weekly until you can drain in cooler weather.

Do a FULL drain/refill so you start off at the lowest CH your fill water allows, the CH will rise plenty fast on its own thru evaporation. Don't add any calcium products.

Any ideas who would actually do this? Plumber? Pool company? I can guarantee it’s going to be an odd request out here as no one has their autofills running through a softener. Most homes don’t have exterior plumbed (or the cold kitchen faucet) to the softener loop as mine does. I would have to buy another water softener in order to do this as well but they can be had under $1000.

 

[PoolStored]

Any ideas who would actually do this? Plumber? Pool company?

Plumber likely, but yes an yes. Gonna' need some research and calling around...

 

[Agrabah]

Plumber likely, but yes a yes. Gonna' need some research and calling around...

Actually thinking about it. The autofill is relatively close to where my water heater is so it may make more sense to tap the inlet vs running a new drain for the softener backwash. I’ll call some folks next week.

 

[proavia]

My water softener and water heater are co-located in the garage. I ran a soft water line out thru the exterior garage wall to a backflow preventor, then down into the ground and along the side of the house to when the autofill pipe is located. Copper pipe until underground and then sched 40 PVC. It was about 50' of trenching. I also retreated the area with termiticide since I dug near the house stem wall.

Neighbor ran a PEX line from the garage thru the attic area. Then converted to sched 40 PVC where the PEX exited under the eve. Ran the PVC down the side of the house to a backflow prefentor and then to the autofill.

If you use PVC, be sure to paint any that is exposed above ground level to protect it from the sun.

 

[mknauss]

Another example, I did not have a good place for the softener backwash at my pad so I use a RV water softener. I must manually backwash which is not ideal. But I last drain and refill in November 2020. My CH has gone to 500 from 250 in that time.

 

[Agrabah]

This is now on hold. I noticed a spot while cleaning that looked rough and turns out a spot of plaster seems to have delaminated. All the chunks I have removed seemed to be about an 1/8” think. Going to call the PB tomorrow as there’s no reason this should be happening. It’s about a 6” x 2” spot almost in the middle of the deep end. The black outline is from me poking it with the end of a pole that was black so it rubbed off a bit.