PH high when closing

[cj133]

Hi all,

I want to close today but I've been ignoring my pH for a while.

I've had the solar cover off for about a month and I guess the pH crept up on me.

I don't know how high it is, but it's at least 8.

That said the water is clean and the pool is clean. Am I safe to cover it for the winter? My water temperature is currently 60 and falling.

 

[Pool_Medic]

High ph can cause scaling but if you are in an area with acidic rain I would leave it alone. Low ph will make a liner become brittle due to its acidity.

 

[cj133]

High ph can cause scaling but if you are in an area with acidic rain I would leave it alone. Low ph will make a liner become brittle due to its acidity.

Why would rain effect it once the cover is on?

 

[Newdude]

If you have a truely solid cover or tarp then the rain wont affect it. The mesh covers allow rain water to pass through and fill the pool. My cover looks solid but its still just a really fine mesh.

 

[Texas Splash]

I don't know how high it is, but it's at least 8.

I would encourage you to verify. Even in a vinyl pool, a pH too high can lead to scale. The lower water temps will help counter the elevated pH, but only so much. You can see the impact by loading all those test numbers into PoolMath. If you could validate/adjust the pH to around 7.6-7.8 that would be best.

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[cj133]

TA is 120, basically where I've had it all summer.
3 drops of acid demand brought it down to 7.4

The thing is, I drained the pool and I really didn't want to mess with it since it had been 7.4-7.5 for months with the solar cover on it.

If Aerating is what caused the pH to go up, will it come back down in it's own with the pool convered and no filter running?

My TA was originally 170-180 and I had to use a gallon of acid to bring it down. Then over time from using the solar cover I had to keep adding borax to bring the pH up later in the season. Then it stablized again for weeks.

 

[ajw22]

pH will not come down in its own. You need to add some acid.

 

[cj133]

pH will not come down in its own. You need to add some acid.

Why did it keep going down on its own before then from the solar cover?


I also all suspect my pH reading may be wrong.

According to the Taylor book chlorine levels above 10 will cause issues and I'm at 11.8
The color is also coming out as a purpleish and 1 drop of the neutralizer didn't seem to help much.

 

[Leebo]

What is your CH level?

 

[cj133]

What is your CH level?

I checked it twice, 90 both times.

 

[ajw22]

According to the Taylor book chlorine levels above 10 will cause issues and I'm at 11.8
The color is also coming out as a purpleish and 1 drop of the neutralizer didn't seem to help much.

You are giving us things piece by piece. Post a complete set of tests and we can discuss...

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA

pH test is invalid when FC is greater than 10.

 

[cj133]

You are giving us things piece by piece. Post a complete set of tests and we can discuss...

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA

pH test is invalid when FC is greater than 10.

You're right, I'm sorry.
I've got a lot going on.

FC 11.8
CC 0
pH ??
TA 120
CH 90
CYA 30

 

[ajw22]

So you cannot get a good pH reading until your FC is below 10. Leave your cover open and let the FC burn off.

Your TA of 120 is why your pH rose rapidly with aeration.

With your low CH you can close at this pH if you must before you can adjust pH.

 

[Leebo]

Scaling can occur even on vinyl pools. A lower pH would be ideal when closing BUT seeing you’ve already drained the pool, I personally wouldn’t worry about lowering it.