What's raising the pH?

[Jerry]

I've using 2-3 cups of bleach a day and my pool water seems okay but the pH creeps up.
My local Home Depot had no muriatic acid so I ended up buying the HTP brand stuff...my local supermarkets/walmarts don't carry muriatic acid.
What's the cause of pH rising anyway?

And why is the p lower case and the H capital?

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

Do you have a lot of aeration, like from a spa, fountain, waterfall or several young kids? That will cause your pH to rise...

All I remember about the term pH is something to do with the word 'potential' and the element 'Hydrogen'...

 

[stev32k]

What brand of bleach are you using?

P.S. pH is defined as the negative log of the hydrogen ion content. Lowercase p is the mathematical symbol for the log function and uppercase H is the symbol for hydrogen.

 

[Butterfly]

Hi Jerry,

What's your TA?

 

[PaulR]

In a plaster pool using bleach as a chlorine source, pH will usually rise slowly. How old is the pool (or how long since it was last replastered, if you've had that done)? And of course what is your TA?

P.S. pH is defined as the negative log of the hydrogen ion content. Lowercase p is the mathematical symbol for the log function and uppercase H is the symbol for hydrogen.

Well, yes and no. It is a scaled negative log, that's why 7.0 is neutral. You can read various (not always consistent) descriptions of lowercase p on the web by googling pH.
--paulr

 

[Jerry]

Hi Jerry,

What's your TA?

Test shows 110.....I'm using WalMart bleach.

The pool is about 15 years old and may have been replastered 5 or more years ago.
I'm fishing out lots of oak tree leaves and acorns right now from my neighbors trees.

I have no aereation devices but do have the four jets pointing against the pool wall and slightly upward. 2 on one side one way and the other side the other way...This causes the oak leaves to circulate in front of the skimmers and not bunch up in the corners

 

[Butterfly]

Jerry,

If you are having to lower your pH often enough to be aggravating, you could lower your TAto help slow the pH rise.

The positioning of your jets could be causing aeration, but you seem to need that positioning to deal with the leaves.

Also, as PaulR pointed out, pH rise is the nature of the beast when using bleach as the chlorine source

While we got you on the phone, why don't you post a full set of #'s for us to peruse? :-D