We switched to salt water, now the wife says it burns her face and eyes

[dropanotherthou]

It is hard to believe that salinity alone (at these levels) could cause the irritation. Contact lens solutions, saline eye drops, and overnight eye ointments designed to reduce eye irritation have sodium chloride as the active ingredient. Natural eye/tear salinity is 7000-9000ppm from what I've seen.

I don't have any good suggestions though -- if she was amenable, I can think of crazy experiments like making up 2 big buckets of water, balancing the pH and FC levels in them, one with 0ppm of salt and one with 3800ppm. Then have her splash/dunk her head in both and see if she can tell the difference (maybe with some time between, and multiple times for each). Suggest this at your own peril

Do you know what your pH was typically before switching (and other levels)? Trichlor tablets are acidic, so many pools will hover in the low 7's with them. That really shouldn't be an issue -- many of us keep our pH in the upper 7s, but it might be a difference before/after.

Haha. Great info. Ph before hovered around 7.2

 

[dropanotherthou]

Are you using any “non chlorine shock” aka mps?

I not familiar with that. If the chlorine gets low I just add liquid chlorine that’s 10%.

 

[dropanotherthou]

It is hard to believe that salinity alone (at these levels) could cause the irritation. Contact lens solutions, saline eye drops, and overnight eye ointments designed to reduce eye irritation have sodium chloride as the active ingredient. Natural eye/tear salinity is 7000-9000ppm from what I've seen.

I don't have any good suggestions though -- if she was amenable, I can think of crazy experiments like making up 2 big buckets of water, balancing the pH and FC levels in them, one with 0ppm of salt and one with 3800ppm. Then have her splash/dunk her head in both and see if she can tell the difference (maybe with some time between, and multiple times for each). Suggest this at your own peril

Do you know what your pH was typically before switching (and other levels)? Trichlor tablets are acidic, so many pools will hover in the low 7's with them. That really shouldn't be an issue -- many of us keep our pH in the upper 7s, but it might be a difference before/after.

Tablets hovered around 7.2

 

[mknauss]

Tablets hovered around 7.2

You might want to see what @Flying Tivo has to say. He has a pretty controlled pH for eye issues.

 

[Flying Tivo]

Most probably is the higher Ph that she is not liking. Try lowering to 7.0 before swimming and let see what she reports back. Normal ph for tears is 6.5-7.4. Calcium does play an effect on overall osmotic gradient, but irritation is mainly due to ph. I like mine around 7.2.

 

[JamesW]

My observation about pH is that it has very little effect on most people even over a fairly wide range well outside the normal range.

Individual people will have different responses to different conditions, so an individual might have an adverse reaction to almost anything.

So, it might be a pH issue, but it’s hard to tell.

You can change the pH to see if it makes any difference.

Even if the problem goes away, you can’t really be sure that it was anything in particular because there are sometimes temporary reasons that someone might have an issue like maybe a reaction to a food, drug or cosmetic.

Many medications can cause photosensitivity in some people. The photoreaction can mimic a sunburn or bring on an allergic reaction such as hives or a rash. Be sure to check with your pharmacist or doctor about what sun-related side effects your medications could give you. Antibiotics such as tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim), some diuretics and antihistamines (such as Benadryl), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Feldene, Naproxen, Motrin), and some antidepressants can be phototoxic after exposure to UV light.

What medications can make my skin burn? | Skin Injury

Many medications can cause photosensitivity in some people. The photoreaction can mimic a sunburn or bring on an allergic reaction such as hives or a

www.sharecare.com

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Eyes are also extremely sensitive to just about any environmental change as well. The conjunctiva is very sensitive mucosal tissue that has many glands and ducts attached to it. The lacrymal ducts connect to nasal canal via the nasolacrimal duct. This is why our eyes are connected to our sense of smell and what gives us very fast response times to chemical irritants. As James said, anything in and around the pool can easily lead to irritation while swimming. So it's easy to blame the water chemistry being "out of balance" or "different" even though it may not have anything to do with the water. The pool water can just be a carrier for whatever it is that irritates us.

I know for my kids who have pollen allergies, there are times of the season when swimming causes their allergic symptoms to worsen simply because the water acts as a carrier for all the dust and crud in the air here.

 

[dropanotherthou]

Most probably is the higher Ph that she is not liking. Try lowering to 7.0 before swimming and let see what she reports back. Normal ph for tears is 6.5-7.4. Calcium does play an effect on overall osmotic gradient, but irritation is mainly due to ph. I like mine around 7.2.

How do you keep your TA in check with a PH that low using a swg? If I kept my ph that low it’d be a constant battle of adding baking soda to raise TA and adding MA to bring the ph back down.

 

[Orion7319]

Could be pollen or something in the water. Could be sunscreen or other oils on the water. Could try putting some tennis balls in the pool to soak up any oils ect.

 

[PoolStored]

How do you keep your TA in check with a PH that low using a swg? If I kept my ph that low it’d be a constant battle of adding baking soda to raise TA and adding MA to bring the ph back down.

You have a plaster pool and it may be a different ball game.

I lower my TA to 60. Adjust pH to 7.4. I add enough boric acid to maintain a borate level of 50ppm. pH has stayed 7.4 the entire season, even with SWCG (see my PoolMath Logs). Only MA addition all season was for the TA adjustment. I also use a solar cover.

Lower Total Alkalinity

A lower Total Alkalinity level can help a pool owner stabalize their pH increase. We'll explain how to lower TA with a little help from muriatic acid.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Flying Tivo]

How do you keep your TA in check with a PH that low using a swg?

I have a high TA fill water 175so it’s a given that I will always use acid.