Pool closed with too high pH and FC

[poolandspaman]

Hi all,

Thank you all for the amazing advice on this website and forum. It helped me a lot to fix up and maintain my pool.

I own a vinyl liner pool (liner is around 10 years old) and live in Canada. I use a low SWG.

I am very busy this time of the year and thus and hired a Pool company to close my pool. Many issues with the execution. They did not balance the pH and it is quite high - At least 8.2! (High, I know, it was around 7.8-8 the week before closing but the pool company said they would balance it so I let it go as it’s not in use anymore due to cold weather). I made sure to ask him to use the MA and supplied it and he said he would and then did not and said high pH is not a concern to the pool liner health. All resources I see mention to balance pH first and high pH is bad for the liner.

What can I do now? It’s winterized. How can I balance it or am I SOL? Unsure if I can add MA and brush the heck out of it or if I can get the pool company to come in and fix there mess by circulating the water using the pump they use for draining pools.

Second issue - FC was 5 and they added chlorine when I asked them not to! As of today it was 11. Is this an issue? All resources say to bring to normal levels at closing. Any ideas on what I can do to fix this? Or is it not a concern? I’m not sure if the FC will drop naturally. Prior to closing I was losing 1 PPM per day likely due to less sun (Canada). I could open it back up and let the sun do it’s work until I hit 5 PPM FC and put the cover back on.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[sodfather]

Your fine. Chlorine is not an issue. Just drop done acid in and stir it around with your skimmer. I wouldn’t worry about it

 

[Bperry]

TFP is a bit different than most online pool forums in that we follow a specific process for pool care.

Here’s the details:

ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

There are several items things every pool owner should know about swimming pool water. We share details on the basics of Pool Water Chemistry.

www.troublefreepool.com

A pH of 8.2 is not very high especially in cold water. 7.8-8.0 would be a little better.

Without knowing your CYA level it’s not possible to say if your chlorine level is too high or not because the CYA buffers the chlorine depending on the ratio of each in the water. Chlorine level of 12 is just fine if your CYA is 30ppm or less. If it’s much more than 30ppm then the chlorine is likely not high enough to keep the water sanitary over the winter. If you use trichlor tablets to chlorinate your water you probably have CYA much higher than 30ppm.

Best advice is to get one of the two test kits TFP recommends and use the “pool math” app on your phone to figure out where you’re at.

 

[JaceTheAce]

TFP is a bit different than most online pool forums in that we follow a specific process for pool care.

Here’s the details:

ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

There are several items things every pool owner should know about swimming pool water. We share details on the basics of Pool Water Chemistry.

www.troublefreepool.com

A pH of 8.2 is not very high especially in cold water. 7.8-8.0 would be a little better.

Without knowing your CYA level it’s not possible to say if your chlorine level is too high or not because the CYA buffers the chlorine depending on the ratio of each in the water. Chlorine level of 12 is just fine if your CYA is 30ppm or less. If it’s much more than 30ppm then the chlorine is likely not high enough to keep the water sanitary over the winter. If you use trichlor tablets to chlorinate your water you probably have CYA much higher than 30ppm.

Best advice is to get one of the two test kits TFP recommends and use the “pool math” app on your phone to figure out where you’re at.

"Best advice is to get one of the two test kits TFP recommends and use the “pool math” app on your phone to figure out where you’re at."

So much this. I've been using TFTestKits.net chems and the Pool Math app for 3 years running and both are BRILLIANT. My pool isn't just clean, it actually "sparkles". The app takes all the guesswork out of keeping chems balanced. I'm a believer. The TFP method is amazing.