SHADEZ said:
Is there a con to using sodium bi-sulfate (dry acid ) to acid wash a DE filter grid as opposed to muriatic acid?
Besides maybe having a wait a little for the dilution and possibly soaking a little longer?
Do we just dump the left over dirty water cleaner and acid mix on the ground away from the pool?
Is there a better safer way?
I haven't tried the sodium bi-sulfate idea but with regards to your other question about Muriatic Acid/water disposal, here's what I did the last time that I soaked my Grids in that solution.
I used Baking Soda to neutralize the Muriatic Acid/water mix and then poured it out in my back yard in a corner of the yard while also running a hose to dilute it as it was emptied into the corner of my yard.
The only part that's a little costly, is that it requires a substantial amount of Baking Soda to fully neutralize the mix that I was using, which was a 10:1 Acid/water mix.
I looked up some info on Hydrochloric acid (Muriatic Acid) and how to neutralize it. That's where I found the info about using Baking Soda as a neutralizing agent.
Hydrochloric Acid neutralization using Baking Soda:
Amount of Hydrochloric Acid spilled (Amount of Baking Soda needed in pounds)
1 gallon
(5.5)
2 gallons
(11.0)
I verified the neutralization with Ph test strips.
This is just my take on my experiences with my D.E. Filter Grid maintenance, but I'm inclined to believe that it's rarely necessary to clean the Grids with Muriatic Acid. I'm sure it'll depend on one's individual pool cleanliness and amount of calcium, etc, in the water but the last couple of times that I've pulled my Grids, I've just done the hose-down cleaning and re-assemble with good results.
I also ran my D.E. Filter for several years without any maintenance, excepting periodic Backwashes, and I didn't have any Grid/circulation/filtering issues. However, that approach wasn't too wise (not pulling the Grids annually or other chosen frequency).
I'm coming up on 7 months since my last Grid pull/cleaning so I'm not sure about pulling the filter this year as yet.