shelf life of muriatic acid?

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J

JayGee

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Aug 7, 2008
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My pool turned into a frog pond here lately. (hurricanes, pump quit, ad infinitum, ad nauseam :rant: ) and I want to clean it up before covering it for winter. That means ph up, down, up, down,--

I have to drive 20+ miles to get to the store for the acid so I want to be sure to get enough to do the job so I don't have to make another trip just for that. But if it isn't going to last out the winter I sure don't want to buy too much! (I'm considering buying 10 gallons)

So will sealed plastic gallon bottles of Muriatic acid last, say, through next summer?

Thanks! :mrgreen:
 
The shelf life for muriatic is a long, long time......certainly way into next summer.

I am concerned that you need it in the first place. What will cause your pH to rise so rapidly that you intend to use that much muriatic.

Shocking a pool and clearing it should take little, if any, acid.
 
TA is high, 8.something, so I'll have to do the yo yo thing. Also, my source water is Ph high so as I vacuum out and refill, I'll have to bring it down as well. I have no earthly idea how much I'll need. I just don't want to run short.
Thanks.
 
If your pH is above 8.0, you need to get it down sooner rather than later. If your T/A is high as well, I understand your need for the large quantities of muriatic.

In your first post, you seemed to relate that (pH and T/A) to clearing your pool of algae. pH & T/A are not related to algae blooms (for our purposes). You need chlorine and lots of it to clear an algae-laden pool.
 
I think if you go back and re read you other post (as I did) I dont see where anyone said getting your PH and TA under control was essential to your algae control.

Jason said your high PH and TA will likely cause scaling and if it had been that way for awhile its probably going to get as bad as it gets as far as scaling was concerned but if the high PH and TA is recent then you should consider getting it under control now ....

MikeInTn said basically the same thing but added that high PH and TA are not the cause of your algae problem but that low chlorine levels was the root cause as did Duraleigh have the same comment as Mike.

Chlorine, and lots of it are the only thing that will kill the algae off along with brushing and vacuuming the pool. Keeping the water "balanced" allows the chlorine to keep the algae killed off which includes maintaining a min FC level for your CYA level on a daily basis. If you know your going to have a "high bather" load on certain days then adding a little more chlorine before hand will also help the situation because your already anticipating more than normal organics being introduced to the pool water.

However, once you start shocking the pool water or if you already are,(shocking), the high chlorine levels will throw off your Ph readings and they wont be accurate and wont become that way until after your done shocking and your FC level falls below 10ppm ....
 
The info I got suggested I needed to get the one under control to maximise the effectiveness of my chlorine
Click to expand...

Yeah, there is a relationship there but the effect of high pH & T/A on the effectiveness of your chlorine is not nearly as important as not having enough chlorine.

That said, I would still suggest you reduce your pH immediately to minimize the chances of scaling and liner damage. Use chlorine to clear the algae.

There are some good articles in pool school that will help you get your pool back in balance and crystal clear.
 
Fellows, I am gloriously confused!
But Be that as it may, I have lots of acid, lots of chlorine, and I haven't started yet. I intend to start in the morning. So unless I hear otherwise, I reckon to start by lowering the Ph, then dumping copious amounts of chlorine into the pool. I'm off to try and figure how much "copious" is.
 
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