Ph issues this year. Due to paint?

[Household6]

I’ve had an issue keeping our Ph down this year. Personal preference is on the high side so try to keep it at 7.7 to 7.8.

Pool math usually has me adding 1 or 2 cups of MA at a time to lower ph. Two days later I have to add more. Last year I used a gallon of MA all year. This year I’ve already used 3 gallons.

Last night I put in .5 gallon of 31.45% MA to see what would happen and how quickly ph will rise with aeration from return jet eye. Ph went from 8.0 to 7.4, as it should have. (TA stayed at 70, which surprised me a bit as our water is usually pretty sensitive for TA when Borax or Baking Soda is added.)

We repainted the pool this spring. Used same brand we did 6 years ago, but different color.

Fill water test at start of year was same as last year (I’ll retest.)

Could the fresh paint be what’s causing the ph to want to be 8.0+?
If so, will this eventually settle down?

Any other thoughts appreciated.

 

[Texas Splash]

@Donldson may have a thought, but I'm not aware of paint having an impact on pH. Your TA at 70 is fine, but you could lower it just a bit more if needed - try 60. Do you have any significant aeration in the pool?

 

[Donldson]

I don't think several month old paint would cause a pH issue (I don't think it will affect pH at all, but I'm not 100% on that).

How are we chlorinating the pool? Are you doing it any differently than last year?

 

[Household6]

@Donldson may have a thought, but I'm not aware of paint having an impact on pH. Your TA at 70 is fine, but you could lower it just a bit more if needed - try 60. Do you have any significant aeration in the pool?

Aeration - our pool is 30+ yo. Over time the shallow end has sunk a bit. This has resulted in the jet on the deep end gradually over the years being somewhat exposed and yes, allowing aeration if the pool is not absolutely full. How much would depend on how close to full it was.

Having said that, we installed a timer on the pump about 3 months ago and rather than the pump running 24/7, it now only (usually) runs 4 hours every night. So we definitely have less aeration this year than in years passed.

About 3 weeks ago, In an attempt to help with Ph and aeration, I changed the “exposed” eye from a standard directional eye to a v-fitting eye. (Amazon.com: Infusion V-fitting for Inlet and Return Line, Venturi, White: Home Improvement)

I thought this would cause less aeration. What I didn’t consider/realize was the V fitting has air slits in the top of it. (Not real sure why, but surely they’re there for a reason?) Maybe I should try and “plug” the slits with something to see if that helps? But still, considering the drop in pump run time from 24 hrs per day to 4 hours per day, I wouldn’t think this is the culprit?

 

[Household6]

I don't think several month old paint would cause a pH issue (I don't think it will affect pH at all, but I'm not 100% on that).

How are we chlorinating the pool? Are you doing it any differently than last year?

Last year I primarily used Walmart bleach. This year I’ve used HD and Lowe’s LC (10%).

Besides the V-fitting mentioned in response to TexasSplash above, only other changes I can think of are
1. we replaced the non-working pool light
and
2. We bought a Warrior Si robot. (Previously did manual vacuuming.) This has resulted in the pool being far cleaner and not having to use as much bleach/chlorine this year. We also haven’t brushed the sides nearly as much (twice this year versus every other week last year). Probably SLAMed it 3 times last year. Haven’t had to SLAM at all this year.