Concern with pH rise and going out of town

[eddieerb]

We finished our pool in January this year and I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on the testing and balancing of the water. My only slight concern is with the constant rise in pH (I understand newer pools are prone to this) and being away from the home on vacation for 9 days.

Should I just add enough acid to lower it 7.0-7.2 and let it rise naturally over the course of the 9 days and deal with it once I am back? Should I even be concerned?

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

If you have a bit of wiggle room in your CYA level, you can run a couple of trichlor tablets in a floater. Trichlor is acidic and the slow release should help to control rise. That said, high pH for a short duration shouldn't create any significant issues.

 

[AUSpool]

Do you have a cover? A cover will slow the rise. I wouldn’t dose down to 7.0, the lower you go the faster it will rise. That’s visa versa too, pH rise slows as it approaches 8.0-8.2 and it won’t go much over 8.2. I would dose it down to 8.4-8.5 before leaving.

 

[ajw22]

What is your TA?

 

[eddieerb]

If you have a bit of wiggle room in your CYA level, you can run a couple of trichlor tablets in a floater. Trichlor is acidic and the slow release should help to control rise. That said, high pH for a short duration shouldn't create any significant issues.

My CYA is currently at 70. Unfortunately I don't have a floater or tablets. I'll probably just end up bringing it down to 7.2 and just dealing with it when I get back.

Do you have a cover? A cover will slow the rise. I wouldn’t dose down to 7.0, the lower you go the faster it will rise. That’s visa versa too, pH rise slows as it approaches 8.0-8.2 and it won’t go much over 8.2. I would dose it down to 8.4-8.5 before leaving.

No cover. I brought it down to 7.2 and will just let it ride for the 9 days.

What is your TA?

Usually keep it in the 70-80 range but I just had to add about 300-400 gallons of water (due to evaporation) which brought the TA up to 100. My fill water from the hose has a TA of about 170-180.

 

[ajw22]

The lower your TA the better. A low TA limits the maximum pH before equilibrium.