Pool Fill Valve --- Use Soft Water, Hard Water or combo??

[troublefreefun]

I'm in the midst of designing a new construction underground pool.
It is a 17k gallon play pool.
Location is Phoenix, AZ.
We have very hard water in Phoenix to the degree that I get super itchy and irritated skin in a matter of days if the salt is low in the house soft water system.
Pool will have a SWG.
Will be pebbletec.

I have plumbed hard water and soft water on the side of the house for the purposes of replacing the water that evaporates from the pool. I figured I would use soft water for the float pool fill valve and hard water for any time I need to fill the pool originally and after any potential future drainings.

Should I use soft water for the daily replenishing of pool water?
Should I instead use some type of valve so that I can have a mixture of hard and soft or even change from one to the other?
Should I just use hard and then use salt directly into the pool on an as-needed basis?

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[PoolStored]

Soft for daily. Hard on a hose if you want to add CH.

Softener removes CH, it does not add salt.

 

[troublefreefun]

Soft for daily. Hard on a hose if you want to add CH.

Softener removes CH, it does not add salt.

I just added to the OP that it will be pebbletec. Does that matter? Is there a scenario in which I will want to add CH? If so, would I simply just grab a hose and hit the nearest hose bib?

What i'm trying to do is have water that doesn't dry out and destroy my skin while also trying to automate as much of the process as possible (ie: having it add soft water automatically rather than dealing with chemicals to try to accomplish the same task).

 

[PoolStored]

Your issue is that your Fill water is likely high CH. If you start with a high CH, your CH will rapidly rise and you will need to replace water fairly often.

Test your fill water CH and report back.

 

[an1vrsy]

Phoenix may have similar hard water as Las Vegas. During our pool build we had our whole house water softener plumbed to the manual pool fill line. So we had the option to use hose water or softened water to add water due to evaporation or splash out..

After the pool was completed, on fill day we had a water truck company use the fire hydrant out front with a water meter to fill the pool in 2 hours. Now this was after the quartz contractor finished, cleaned up and left. They started the fill with hose water from our hose bib out front and the hose bib out back. Later on in the day with a good cushion of water in the pool, the water company showed up and completed the fill.

Our initial CH level from the hydrant was 220 ppm. I did add 10 lbs of calcium chloride. In the four years since, our CH is now 360 ppm. Softened water is the way to go, if possible.

 

[TinFoilHat]

Your pool will be much like mine. My CH in the hard water is 150 so yours it probably comparable. You can fill the pool with your hard tap water and then plumb your soft water to a pool auto-fill valve in the decking. That will maintain your water level without raising your CH and you won't need to worry about manually filling the pool to counter evaporation and splash-out. CH will rise over time but won't get to astronomical levels like mine is now - 900 ppm. If you do this you will be giving your salt cell a longer life with less chance of calcium depositing on the plates. You will need to periodically calculate your CSI to ensure it's between -.3 and 0. My plan is to convert my fill valve over to soft water this fall when I drain and refill and then I shouldn't have to drain my water as often to bring the CH down. After that I'll be able to install my new CircuPool RJ45+ salt generator.

Get yourself a Taylor K2006C test kit or a TF Testkits TF100 or TF100Pro (thats' the one I have.) Stay out of pool stores and rely on this forum for all of your pool advice. Know too that your new pool will take lots of muriatic acid to keep the PH in check for the first couple of years which is normal. Just keep your FC level matched to the top end of the range that matches your CYA level after you get your stabilizer added to the new water. Then it's smooth sailing away.

 

[proavia]

Tap water in the PHX area averages around 200 ppm (+/- 50-ish).
Use tap water to initially fill the pool and soft water for the autofill.

This allows CH to remain relatively constant.

The water softener will regenerate more often - especially from late spring to early fall when our evaporation is high.

With a newly built pool, your CH will rise from the plaster (pebble is plaster based) - so no need to add any CH to the 200-ish CH fill water.

I would also suggest you plan on a SWG for the pool. This will make chemical management so much easier.

I actually have valves (and check valves) on my autofill so I can select hard water or soft water as I usually shut off the water prior to the softener when away for more than a couple of days (so water to the inside of the house is off). The hard water to my autofill comes from the irrigation system feed line and the soft water directly from the water softener.

 

[troublefreefun]

Tap water in the PHX area averages around 200 ppm (+/- 50-ish).
Use tap water to initially fill the pool and soft water for the autofill.

This allows CH to remain relatively constant.

The water softener will regenerate more often - especially from late spring to early fall when our evaporation is high.

With a newly built pool, your CH will rise from the plaster (pebble is plaster based) - so no need to add any CH to the 200-ish CH fill water.

I would also suggest you plan on a SWG for the pool. This will make chemical management so much easier.

I actually have valves (and check valves) on my autofill so I can select hard water or soft water as I usually shut off the water prior to the softener when away for more than a couple of days (so water to the inside of the house is off). The hard water to my autofill comes from the irrigation system feed line and the soft water directly from the water softener.

I really like your comment about plumbing it in such a way that I can choose hard, soft or maybe even a combo. I can also relate to wanting to turn water off to the house while out of town for an extended period of time but I also don't want to kill landscaping or the replenishing of water to the pool. It sounds like this is the best way so that I can do hard, soft or mixture depending on CH levels and other variables such as going out of town. Unless someone thinks this is a terrible idea for some reason I cannot think of then please let me know otherwise I believe this is the way!

 

[proavia]

I really like your comment about plumbing it in such a way that I can choose hard, soft or maybe even a combo. I can also relate to wanting to turn water off to the house while out of town for an extended period of time but I also don't want to kill landscaping or the replenishing of water to the pool. It sounds like this is the best way so that I can do hard, soft or mixture depending on CH levels and other variables such as going out of town. Unless someone thinks this is a terrible idea for some reason I cannot think of then please let me know otherwise I believe this is the way!

Don't use a mix of hard and soft for the autofill - use either soft OR hard.
no mixing - as this could potentially allow soft water into the hard water line and/or irrigation lines.

After your CH is near the lower end of the range, switch to soft water for the autofill.
The landscape irrigation should stay on hard water all year arouund - don't use soft water on landscape plants or grass.

Change to hard water for the autofill if the softener malfunctions or you shut off the house water.
I have a shut off in the garage just prior to the water softener that stops all flow to the softener - and outside the garage, a backflow preventer on the autofill soft water line. The backflow preventer is required by my city code.