Cold Water/Balancing Chemicals

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So I’m in the situation where I’m basically starting up my pool in late November (STL) because we had the tile line replaced along with all the equipment. We wanted to get this done before next spring and had hoped it would be done by mid to late October. After losing a week to having the wrong tile ordered by the pool company and then losing another week for some additional electrical work needed to be completed (they could have had an electrician out weeks ago to determine this instead of finding out the day the electrician showed up) here we are. I didn’t want to have the pool closed with the water out of balance and with below freezing temperatures come up the next 4-5 days I knew I needed to start up the pool to protect the pipes since the company isn’t closing until next Tuesday.

I noticed something I didn’t expect when I put 90 lbs of calcium chloride today. Instead of it dissolving quickly it sat on the bottom. This happens normally, and I just brush it to help dissolve. Today when I went to brush it had stuck to the bottom and I needed to use the back side of the brush to scrape it off. Is this because the water is much colder now than when I’m normally balancing in the spring?

Same thing happened when I added Muriatic acid. The acid had a yellow tint and I noticed it taking longer to disperse. Is this just due to the pool water being cold. Again I just used the brush to help it disperse.

This made me wonder if I should be trying to balance the water before they close next week.

 

[ajw22]

You don't have to fully "balance" your water before closing.



You must get calcium up before closing if your fill water is 60.

Otherwise, I would add Polyquat 60 and close the pool.

Algaecide - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

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Thanks. I was mostly concerned about calcium. The water is below 60 so I’m just using up the liquid chlorine and I have until they close and I have some muratic acid so I figured I might as well lower PH.

I’ve never used polyquat and usually close in mid-October when the water is below 60. I always open in mid April when the water is still below 60. I’ve done the closing and opening myself the last few years, but I’m having the pool company do it this year since I had a heat pump installed along with a new cartridge filter and SWG. My set up prior was as basic as it gets; a sand filter and a VS pump.