Controlling Pool pH

Controlling your pool’s pH with Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

There’s nothing quite like having a swimming pool in your back yard on a hot summer day. Kids laughing and splashing the afternoon away. Kicking back after work on a float letting your cares disappear.

That is until you decide to test the water! Sometimes it’s like being a mad scientist trying to balance your pool water. pH is too high, chlorine is too low, total alkalinity out of whack – where does it end? Water balance is the relationship of the different pool chemical measurements combined in the water.

The causes for out of balance pool water are varied: too much rain, pollen, too many swimmers and the list goes on. One of the toughest measures to balance correctly is pH because the ideal range is so small 7.4 – 7.6.

What difference does pH make? Well, the pH scale runs from 0 – 14, 7 being considered neutral. Anything under 7 and the water is acidic. This means the water irritates your eyes and nose as well as leaving your skin dry and itchy.

High pH levels – anything above 7.8 creates an alkaline level. This means the chlorine your putting in your pool for sanitation is less effective. You typically notice cloudy water when pH rises. The most common way to lower pH is with liquid muriatic acid, also know as hydrochloric acid. You may also use powdered sodium bisulfate (dry acid).

If you’d rather not mess with acids, then the easy way to keep your pool’s pH where it should be is with a CO2 injector. Hayward makes a model for both commercial and residential use. This system complements your automatic control system by providing hands-free operation and eliminates the need for acid feed pumps. These systems can also be combined with a liquid chlorine application from Wechsler Pool.

Learn more about the use of CO2 to balance your pool by visiting our website or reaching out to our team by completing the form below.