Request for assistance with winter pool maintenance

[DaveTheAccountant]

Good afternoon!

I intend to keep my pool open this winter. It is our first winter with a pool. I live in middle Georgia, so the weather rarely goes to freezing.

I slacked on testing my water for a bit, and I need to increase ph a little but I am good otherwise. Can I use this to increase ph periodically? With the change in weather our FC is climbing a bit (10 today), so I’m slowly cutting back on run time. The pool has remained crystal clear throughout.

is there anything else I need to be aware of for winter? I realize the SWG will stop producing chlorine, so I’ll manually chlorinate at that point. Outside of monitoring basic measurements, are there any other potential failures?

EDIT: Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda (15 lbs.) Amazon.com

 

[ajw22]

What is your pH and TA?

Why do you think your pH has to be raised to what?

Your link to "this" does not work.

 

[DaveTheAccountant]

What is your pH and TA?

Why do you think your pH has to be raised to what?

Your link to "this" does not work.

Thanks for letting me know

TA is 90. PH is 7.0

I was shooting for increasing to 7.6 as recommended by PoolMath to let it drift back downward.

 

[ajw22]

PH of 7 is fine with a TA of 90.

Your pH will drift up over time.

pH does not drift down. pH only reduces with acid additions. What are you doing causing your pH to "drift down"?

 

[ajw22]

PH - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

How to Raise pH​

The best way to raise pH is by aeration of the water. That will raise your pH gradually while not affecting your TA.

If TA is 50 or above, bring your pH up to 7.4 or so using 20 mule team Borax.....soda ash is not a good choice as it will raise the pH and raise the TA a lot.

If TA is below 50, then bring the TA up to 50-60 using baking soda and THEN raise your pH to around 7.4 using 20 Mule Team Borax.

 

[DaveTheAccountant]

PH of 7 is fine with a TA of 90.

Your pH will drift up over time.

pH does not drift down. pH only reduces with acid additions. What are you doing causing your pH to "drift down"?

I’m not sure why it could be doing that. Standard behavior all summer was to increase as you mentioned. The lower ph was definitely unexpected.

 

[ajw22]

Examine carefully everything being adding to the pool water.

 

[DaveTheAccountant]

Examine carefully everything being adding to the pool water.

I haven’t added anything in at least two months. Other than the slowly decreasing ph levels remained fine until I got a little busy at work in mid October and went a few weeks without testing.

 

[mknauss]

Is there a cover on the pool?

 

[DaveTheAccountant]

Is there a cover on the pool?

No, nor is there an intent to do so.

 

[mknauss]

Ok. Great. A cover can force the pH lower at times.