Okay so my PH level is high. Never had that happen with my old pool. I went to get muriatic acid at Lowe's. When I grabbed a bottle it started spilling out the top onto their concrete floor and immediately started bubbling up and splashed my hands. Needless to say it burned and they had no water in the area so I had to run to the restroom while my hands were burning more and more. Anyway, I timid about using it now because I don't want to be burned and definitely do not want to spill it on my stamped concrete. Any advice regarding how to put it in the pool without those dangers? Hoping to hear from pros that have little tricks! Also, how do I know how much to put in there? I am sure it depends on how many gallons in the pool..but I am clueless here!
Muriatic Acid
- Thread starter Amanda B
- Start date
I keep mine in a 5 gallon bucket. Throw on some acid gloves and you should be much safer.
If you have a Rural King nearby, they are much cheaper on the acid and have a pretty good price on chlorine.
A,
You don't have to be afraid of MA, but it helps to respect it. Gloves help, but the main thing to do is... keep it down wind so you don't breath the fumes. A little won't hurt you, but it will act like smelling salts and make you take notice!!!!
Have you ever used our Pool Math calculator??? PoolMath
At the very bottom you can use it to determine the volume of your pool... I entered 21 x 40 and 5.5 for the average depth and it came up with about 35K gallons..
If you enter 35K at the very top, you can use it to determine how much MA to add. In your case for every 15 oz of MA, you will lower your pH by .1
The problem is we need actual numbers.. words like high or low are meaningless to a computer.. It needs to know how high or how low.
Can you post your current pool readings...
FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Thanks,
Jim R.
You don't have to be afraid of MA, but it helps to respect it. Gloves help, but the main thing to do is... keep it down wind so you don't breath the fumes. A little won't hurt you, but it will act like smelling salts and make you take notice!!!!
Have you ever used our Pool Math calculator??? PoolMath
At the very bottom you can use it to determine the volume of your pool... I entered 21 x 40 and 5.5 for the average depth and it came up with about 35K gallons..
If you enter 35K at the very top, you can use it to determine how much MA to add. In your case for every 15 oz of MA, you will lower your pH by .1
The problem is we need actual numbers.. words like high or low are meaningless to a computer.. It needs to know how high or how low.
Can you post your current pool readings...
FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Thanks,
Jim R.
Sorry to hear you got burned, I hope you got it rinsed off quickly. Many Muriatic Acid jugs as well as Pool Chlorine jugs are vented but wont typically spill if handled upright and gently. Sounds like you might have got one that was partially open. Agreed with posting your numbers as well as capacity of pool. You can fill a 5 gallon bucket with 2-3 gallons of water and add a quart (1/4 of jug) of acid to the water (always add acid to water, never water to acid), that will give a reasonable dilution...then add that to pool. Rubber gloves or at least surgical gloves recommended. And if some should splash on you, just rinse off in pool. And add less than you think you need. Chasing PH is a horrible waste of time! Get on the scale 7.2 - 7.8 and finesse it in from there.
A trick I use is to lower the jug of MA into the pool about 2/3 of the way. You can then just tilt it in front of a return and slowly add it safely. I use a suggestion found on this site to mark the jug in increments so you use the correct amount. Wear rubber gloves. Hope you are healing quickly and well!
Home Depot has boxes of 2 gallons for $10. You have gotten good advice about adding to pool but always wear eye protection.
I wore eye protection and gloves. Ph is okay now but Alkilinity is still high though it has dropped some. Pool if I would have got it with 8 foot end would be 17,950 gallons but I got 6.5 foot deep end so 17,000ish gallons?
Ph was 8.0. Now is 7.4 after muratic acid added
Alkalinity is 160, it was 170
We have tropical storm remanents coming today so upped salt to 3,400 as we are supposedly getting three inches of rain and it will be diluted.
Free Chlorine is 3ppm
Cynatic Acid is too low to measure and I am out of regeant to measure but I added stabilizer several days ago. Need to get to pool store today.
What do I do for alkalinity?
Ph was 8.0. Now is 7.4 after muratic acid added
Alkalinity is 160, it was 170
We have tropical storm remanents coming today so upped salt to 3,400 as we are supposedly getting three inches of rain and it will be diluted.
Free Chlorine is 3ppm
Cynatic Acid is too low to measure and I am out of regeant to measure but I added stabilizer several days ago. Need to get to pool store today.
What do I do for alkalinity?
Nothing. When pH rises again, add acid again. Acid will lower pH and TA. It'll come down over time.
Okay thank you! Rain has just begun so Nothing more I can do until it passes other than to head to pool store and buy supplies!