Hi, first time maintaining a salt pool and I've been noticing the generation process tends to push pH higher, than when I was simply adding liquid chlorine. My question involves muriatic acid, spoecifically how much to add to lower pH. The label on the jug I bought says "20 Be" and I've read that muriatic acid sold in big box stores contain somewhere around 30% hydrochloric acid. So, a litre would contain about 300 ml of hydrochloric acid. Doees anyone know of a calculator or table that tells me how much muriatic acid (with 30% hydrochloric acid) to lower the pH by 0.2 ppm - my pool is 9600 gallons, and the pH is running at around 7.8 to 8 which I know is too high and could eventually damage the salt cell. Any suggestions- thanks in advance.
Muriatic acid
- Thread starter NewToronto
- Start date
PoolMath
The bottle label will tell the strength of the acid. It can vary from supplier to supplier. Your PH is fine. Anything in the 7s up to 8 or 8.2 is good if the pool likes to be there (doesn't take acid to keep it there). This won't damage the cell. Where did you hear that? Oh, probably in the manual. They also tell you to clean the cell with acid but we don't recommend that. There are other ways.
The bottle label will tell the strength of the acid. It can vary from supplier to supplier. Your PH is fine. Anything in the 7s up to 8 or 8.2 is good if the pool likes to be there (doesn't take acid to keep it there). This won't damage the cell. Where did you hear that? Oh, probably in the manual. They also tell you to clean the cell with acid but we don't recommend that. There are other ways.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,038
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
I would also recommend for a better evaluation of your situation, to post a full set of test results from your Taylor K-2006C test kit since you don't seem to have the Poolmath app test results linked here to your TFP profile. Also be sure to update your signature with all of your pool and equipment info. It makes a difference with replies.
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IF you have the recommended test kit (TF-Pro Salt)...and then know your TA, that is the likely reason.
Never, ever, ever depend on pool store testing - no matter how scientific or electronic it seems to be. Proven over and over either the pool store tests themselves are very inaccurate, or the operator is.
Higher TA will push pH up. But as @TinFoilHat notes, anything in the 7's, or even 8 is good. If your TA is about 60-70, your pool will stabilize at that highish end.
Adding acid will bring down both numbers, but much slower for the TA - so it can take a number of repeat steps. Some, to lower much higher TA will drop pH down to 7.2-7.4, wait for it to rise to 8-8.2 and repeat, until the TA slowly comes into line. With the TA 60-70 last year I hardly ever needed acid, it stayed nearish 7.8 - still have a good part of the 1 gal. I bought at the beginning of the season.
The pH in the range noted above, by itself, won't hurt the cell. Start tracking CSI in PoolMath and aim for a slightly negative number. Note that it has multiple factors that go into getting that number - pH, TA, CH, CYA, Salt, Temp, Borates (if used). So it can be a juggle as to what goals for each to aim for to get a "good" number. Temp, CH, TA are the big movers in that calculation. You can play with the numbers entered to get an idea of how much of what to get to your goal.
Never, ever, ever depend on pool store testing - no matter how scientific or electronic it seems to be. Proven over and over either the pool store tests themselves are very inaccurate, or the operator is.
Higher TA will push pH up. But as @TinFoilHat notes, anything in the 7's, or even 8 is good. If your TA is about 60-70, your pool will stabilize at that highish end.
Adding acid will bring down both numbers, but much slower for the TA - so it can take a number of repeat steps. Some, to lower much higher TA will drop pH down to 7.2-7.4, wait for it to rise to 8-8.2 and repeat, until the TA slowly comes into line. With the TA 60-70 last year I hardly ever needed acid, it stayed nearish 7.8 - still have a good part of the 1 gal. I bought at the beginning of the season.
The pH in the range noted above, by itself, won't hurt the cell. Start tracking CSI in PoolMath and aim for a slightly negative number. Note that it has multiple factors that go into getting that number - pH, TA, CH, CYA, Salt, Temp, Borates (if used). So it can be a juggle as to what goals for each to aim for to get a "good" number. Temp, CH, TA are the big movers in that calculation. You can play with the numbers entered to get an idea of how much of what to get to your goal.
- Jan 7, 2012
- 2,128
- Pool Size
- 21000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
PoolMath will calculate this for you.
20 Baumé is 31.45%, which is normal strength MA.