CH test not turning blue…..

[JefR]

Hoping someone can shed some light on my issue,
The last few times I’ve tried to do my CH test I’m having a difficult time seeing the blue end point. Sometimes I think it’s there ,it’s very faint, sometimes the test goes clear without even seeing any hint of blue. I’ve researched on here and tried the few things I found. Adding 5 drops of r12 first, adding 8 drops of r11 and still get no clear cut blue. So my test numbers are all over the place.
So I tested my water at the hose bib to see if it’s my reagents and my CH test turned blue as can be. My tap CH is 100, I realize that seems low for AZ , I’m in Buckeye so maybe the water here is better.
FYI, My pool is about 2-1/2 yrs old. I’ve never done a water change.
I also have never had this problem until recently.
So I’m hoping someone can give me some recommendations as to where to go from here. I appreciate any and all suggestions.

 

[mknauss]

Cut your pool water sample 1:1 with distilled water. Run the test again. Double the results.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

A CH of 100ppm in AZ is unheard of unless you live in a private water district that either heavily treats the water or has a very low hardness source. I checked the city of Buckeye website for water quality reports and they are kind of ridiculous. They do the bare minimum testing for EPA specified contaminants but give no data on pH, TA or hardness. They just say that “the TDS of local water is not aesthetically pleasing but it’s not harmful either…” which is a dodge on their part to not do full testing.

I think your reagents may be bad. Make sure you are testing water from the incoming service pipe and not from the household tap as water softener will skew the results (assuming you have one). If not and you still measure 100ppm on the source water, I suggest doing @mknauss advised procedure.

Something isn’t right.

 

[JamesW]

Copper can interfere with calcium tests.

https://www.buckeyeaz.gov/community/residents/water-resources/water-facts

Have questions about water quality? Please contact us at 623-349-6145.

https://www.buckeyeaz.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/13631/638552007496400000

https://www.buckeyeaz.gov/community/residents/water-resources/water-facts

 

[JamesW]

My pool calcium hardness is at 650, the top level recommended. My pool “fill water” calcium hardness tested at 100. How is my pool water climbing to 650?

Buckeye, AZ, 10k gal, plaster-pebbletec, in floor cleaning, pentair IC40 SWG, UltraTemp 120 H/C, Taylor k-2006-c testing.

 

[JamesW]

So our pool in Buckeye, AZ( near Phoenix) just got finished. This is a second home and we weren’t there when it was filled a week or so ago. The builder did the start up chemicals. So I tested yesterday and today and here’s today’s numbers
FC 6
pH. 7.6
TA 100
CH 90
CYA 100
Salt 2850
Water temp 57°
pool math said my csi was -0.86
I do have the tfp test kit

 

[JefR]

Cut your pool water sample 1:1 with distilled water. Run the test again. Double the results.

Mk. Thank you will go get distilled water n try that.

 

[JefR]

A CH of 100ppm in AZ is unheard of unless you live in a private water district that either heavily treats the water or has a very low hardness source. I checked the city of Buckeye website for water quality reports and they are kind of ridiculous. They do the bare minimum testing for EPA specified contaminants but give no data on pH, TA or hardness. They just say that “the TDS of local water is not aesthetically pleasing but it’s not harmful either…” which is a dodge on their part to not do full testing.

I think your reagents may be bad. Make sure you are testing water from the incoming service pipe and not from the household tap as water softener will skew the results (assuming you have one). If not and you still measure 100ppm on the source water, I suggest doing @mknauss advised procedure.

Something isn’t right.

Joy, I hear you on the water reports from Buckeye as I looked at that long ago. I did get my water sample from the hose Bibb out front. I do realize that number is low but I ran it twice and got the same number. I ordered my refills from TFP this year so I’m assuming they’re good. But that’ll be the next thing I look into . Thks

 

[TinFoilHat]

Change your location under your avatar. Welcome to a calmer state.

 

[JefR]

Change your location under your avatar. Welcome to a calmer state.

Tin,
I haven’t changed my location yet as I’m in calif for another year or two , I’m only at the AZ house about one weekend a month. I will def change it once I’m out of there for good.

 

[dereksanders]

CH test is a real chore without a speed stir. I don’t have a speed stir which is why I know it’s a chore. My least favorite test.

 

[JefR]

Cut your pool water sample 1:1 with distilled water. Run the test again. Double the results.

So I just tested again with the distilled water 50/50 mix. It took 42 drops to turn blue. So I thought my CH was 1050. Then I realized you said double. So that makes my CH 2100? If this is true what should my next steps be? Or could I have possibly messed the test up?
I doubled checked my tap water at the hose Bibb and came up with 100. If that’s the case how could my CH be so high ? Again, appreciate all of your help

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Something seems really off. A CH of 100ppm at the tap in that location is about half of what I would expect.

As for the pool, CH can easily rise by hundreds of ppm per year with our limited rainfall and very high evaporation rates. Tucson, for example, has over 100” of evaporation per year and that resulted in my pool water increasing its CH by nearly 300ppm/year with a fill water supply of 180-220ppm CH. Before installing my water softener and hooking it up to my autofill, my pool water CH was at 1500ppm.

 

[mknauss]

Check your testing procedures.

 

[JefR]

Something seems really off. A CH of 100ppm at the tap in that location is about half of what I would expect.

As for the pool, CH can easily rise by hundreds of ppm per year with our limited rainfall and very high evaporation rates. Tucson, for example, has over 100” of evaporation per year and that resulted in my pool water increasing its CH by nearly 300ppm/year with a fill water supply of 180-220ppm CH. Before installing my water softener and hooking it up to my autofill, my pool water CH was at 1500ppm.

Thanks for your input. I’m gonna order some new refills n see what/if that has any effect

 

[JefR]

Check your testing procedures.

Well, I’m by no means a perfect pool owner, but I have two pools, one in so cal and here in AZ ,and would like to think I have followed the testing procedures correctly for years now. But who knows, maybe my head has been up my Rear while I’ve been testing
I’m going to order new refills and go from there. Unfortunately I won’t be back here for 2 weeks, so until then……

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Another quick check would be to get a cheap test kit that measures total hardness (or general hardness) from an aquarium shop and see what it gives you. You just need to eliminate the chlorine from the sample as it will interfere with the TH reagent.