How to Lower pH in Pool

Lower pH in Pool

Shortly, pH is the term to refer to whether the pool water is acid or alkaline enough. The balance pH level of pool water is obviously important to keep your swimming pool look adorable and feel comfortable at the same time.

The ideal range of pH level of a swimming pool is 7.2 to 7.8 and it’s so common that you will face the imbalance level of pH of your swimming pool. Whether it’s too low or too high, you have to fix it as soon as possible

High pH Level is the most common case that a lot of homeowners deal with. It means that the pH level is above 7.8 which also relates to the high alkalinity of the pool water. The case can be caused by several factors like:

• When the sun streams extremely, your pool can be overly exposed to the sunlight if you don’t use solar cover. It can cause an extreme high wave that triggers the pool pH level to rise above its normal level.
• You add too much chlorine stabilizer in the attempt to lower the chlorine level of your pool water.

Of course, the high chlorine level is dangerous for you. It can cause several problems relating to your well-being and the pool itself. The most common symptoms that you will feel are skin irritation, dry hair, and red eyes. Then, it can also damage your swimwear overtimes. Moreover, since the alkalinity level is high, you will find the scaling that clogs the pool filter.

(You may also like: how to raise ph in pool)

Lowering the level of pH is actually not really that hard and you can do it all by yourself at home. The tutorial on how to lower pH in pool below will show you some steps that you can easily follow to handle the problem.

How to Lower pH in Pool

There are some chemicals that you can use to lower the pH level of pool water. I this tutorial, we’re going to use sodium bisulfate since it’s considered safer than the other option like muriatic acid.

Test the pH Level

First, you need to test the pH level of your swimming pool. You can do this step when you find some anomalies of your pool water or when you regularly check the chemical of the pool. Some pool experts suggest that you can say the pH level is too high even when it reaches 7.6 points.

• Use pool water tester that comes with pH and alkalinity tests.
• Check whether the level of pH is about 7.2 to 7. and the alkalinity is about 80 – 120 ppm.
• If it’s higher than the ideal range, then you can continue to the next step.

Prepare the Acid

As you may have known, sodium bisulfate is dry acid which is made in the form of powder. You have to be careful of dealing with this chemical, keep in mind to wear rubber gloves and eye goggles.

Prepare these supplies:

• Sodium bisulfate
• Rubber gloves
• Eye goggles

Follow these steps:

• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to determine the proper amount that you need.
• To avoid overuse, you can measure 3/4 of the recommended amount. If you add too much acid, the problem will be more complicated.

Pour the Acid

Now, it’s time to add the sodium bisulfate that you have measured to the pool. Remember, try your best not to pour the acid when the day is windy since the powder can get blown into your eyes. Also, pour the acid close to the water surface.

• If you have an inground swimming pool, you can directly pour the sodium bisulfate into the return jet sites.
• If you have an above-ground pool, you need to circulate the water manually and pour the acid around the pool with your hands.

Let it Settle

After you have poured the measured acid to the pool, you need to let it dissolve completely in the water. If you have a well-working filtration system, it takes about 15 minutes to settle the acid.

Recheck the pH Level

the level has come to the normal level or not right after the chemical has dissolved. You have to wait at least 24 hours to make it sure.

• Use the pool tester kit again to recheck the pH level of your pool.
• Add more sodium bisulfate, around 3/4 of what is recommended by the manufacturer’s instruction again.

So those are the simple tutorial on how to lower pH in the pool that you can do all by yourself. You just need sodium bisulfate which is designed for swimming pool maintenance that you can find easily in nearby stores then follow all the steps of the tutorial above.

As mentioned above, you can also use muriatic acid to lower the pH of pool water but it may be more dangerous than sodium bisulfate. Muriatic acid is better used when you find severe scale buildup in your pool filter since it works can work harder. Whatever chemical that you use, remember to always be safe in dealing with your swimming pool problem. More about swimming pool at divesanddollar.com

In addition, below we share some tips to keep the pH level of your pool in the ideal range, such as:

• You need to check the pH level of your pool regularly. Prevention is much better than solving the problem. It only takes a few minutes to check the chemical balance of your pool water.
• The debris that falls into your pool can affect its pH balance, make sure that you skim the leaves and other debris before they create a bigger problem.
• Check the performance of your pool filtration system. If it works well enough, the pH level of the pool will stay in the ideal range of overtime.
• If you use the pool a lot of times, you can shock the pool at least twice a month.

Sebastian

Sebastian was born and raised in the busy city of Abbottabad. As a journalist, Saad Mushtaq has contributed to many online publications including the PAK Today and the Huffing Post. In regards to academics, Saad Mushtaq earned a degree in business from the Abbottabad UST, Havelian. Saad Mushtaq follows the money and covers all aspects of emerging tech here at The Hear Up.Thanks