CH getting really high, TA getting low

[voidpointer]

Yes I use city water. I did test the CH and the water is definitely hard. But I had trouble seeing that as the only reason for the drastic CH increase the past month or two.

 

[proavia]

Yes I use city water. I did test the CH and the water is definitely hard. But I had trouble seeing that as the only reason for the drastic CH increase the past month or two.

What is the CH, TA and pH of your fill water?
Post the numbers here.

 

[voidpointer]

What is the CH, TA and pH of your fill water?
Post the numbers here.

I was able to hunt down an older post from me in a different thread that shows the CH is 125 and TA 90. I didn't do pH at the time. I'll do that test later on and report back.

 

[voidpointer]

What is the CH, TA and pH of your fill water?
Post the numbers here.

pH is 7.5

 

[reggiehammond]

Ok - that CH isn't too bad. But do you have an auto-fill for managing water level? Any wacky water bills?
It may be that you replaced 1/3-1/4 of your water this summer due to heat and lack of rain. Remember that calcium is left behind by evaporation, so any water you fill with adds 125 CH to the existing CH number.

 

[voidpointer]

Ok - that CH isn't too bad. But do you have an auto-fill for managing water level? Any wacky water bills?
It may be that you replaced 1/3-1/4 of your water this summer due to heat and lack of rain. Remember that calcium is left behind by evaporation, so any water you fill with adds 125 CH to the existing CH number.

It's hard to tell if my water bill is high because of irrigation running or pool filling. What I can tell you is that I keep an eye on my autofill. I hear it steadily (and extremely slowly) running. I figure that's keeping up with evaporation. We had a really hot summer, so who knows.

 

[reggiehammond]

Hmmm.. that's concerning that you aren't seeing it shut off.
You might be constantly filling and overflowing to waste. Can you post a picture of autofill?

 

[wireform]

Put a water flow meter on the autofill line.
Amazon.com

 

[voidpointer]

Hmmm.. that's concerning that you aren't seeing it shut off.
You might be constantly filling and overflowing to waste. Can you post a picture of autofill?

If there's constant evaporation, why should I expect to ever see it shut off?

Here's a picture of the autofill. It's not the best picture, but it's the only one I have right now. It's very basic.

 

[reggiehammond]

Yes, you have evaporation but it's not constant enough (worse at night than day) requiring the auto-fill to run non-stop. Your auto-fill should also have more flow than evaporation potential, so that indicates a problem to me. Issues with the float and seal are common.

 

[onBalance]

A leak in the pool is going to keep the calcium level low. Only tap water that replaces evaporated water will assist in raising the calcium level.

 

[voidpointer]

Yes, you have evaporation but it's not constant enough (worse at night than day) requiring the auto-fill to run non-stop. Your auto-fill should also have more flow than evaporation potential, so that indicates a problem to me. Issues with the float and seal are common.

If it were an issue with the valve, wouldn't I expect to see water in my spillover popup drain? I do not see water constantly leaking from there.

EDIT: I will also say, I have a "watagate" attachment for my spillover drain in the pool that I sometimes attach to capture rain water. The water never rises above a certain point along the waterline tile, even though I hear the faintest sound of the autofill running for days (you have to remove the lid and put your ear close to it to hear it).

 

[voidpointer]

Today I measured above 8.2 pH (the color was a darker purple than the test kit goes to). I "guesstimated" that it's about 8.4. When I punch that into PoolMath along with the temperature of 58F, it says my CSI is -0.04, which seems perfect. If I lower my pH to 7.8, my CSI becomes -0.520 which is outside of the 0 - -0.3 range we talked about.

Should CSI influence the target for adding acid? I get the feeling the answer will be "no" but I want to make sure. It seems that at this point, the recommended pH level and CSI are working against each other.

 

[ajw22]

It seems that at this point, the recommended pH level and CSI are working against each other.

They often do as the water gets colder. Cold water lowers the CSI.

First of all the range for ok CSI is -0.6 to +0.6. -0.3 to 0 is the "ideal" range which you cannot achieve in the winter with cold water.

Keep your pH in the 7.8 to 8.2 range. Don't start guestimating things.

CSI below -0.6 for a few weeks in the winter with cold water is fine.

 

[voidpointer]

Put a water flow meter on the autofill line.
Amazon.com

I bought this exact one and I'm returning it. It doesn't read any amount of water. Even if the unit wasn't defective, I'm concerned that most of these won't detect water with such a low flow rate. If anyone has personal experience with a different model I'm happy to try again. But I'm going to most likely hire a plumber to come rework the way the autofill was done. The PB did it lazily by attaching an uninsulated, flexible pipe directly to my hose bib which is now starting to leak. Perhaps a plumber could build a flow rate meter directly into something that is plumbed correctly.

 

[KevMo]

I think the challenge with typical flow meters is they have accuracy problems at low flow. I recently bought this low flow meter , but I have not installed it yet. They also have wired remote display. I will report back how well it works after I install it.