San Diego Pool Cleaning | Water Balancing Act
Let’s just started off by saying that properly balanced water creates safe and healthy environment in your swimming pool. You’ll waters chemistry is constantly changing due to external and internal environment. In San Diego for example, during summertime it is more likely to see presence of algae in your water. Body oils, cosmetics residue, leaves and dirt also can affect your swimming pool water chemistry.
Keep in mind that changing water in a swimming pool doesn’t happen too often and therefore proper full filtration mechanism and chemical treatment are necessary to keep properly balanced and clean. Swimming pool water balancing is based on following parameters:
pH – indicates the levels of acidity in the water and it is based on a scale from 0 to 14, where seven is neutral. Everything below seven indicates the level of acidity and everything above seven is called basic. The standard were normal levels of pH balanced water are between 7.2 and 7.8. If during the testing you see the water levels below 7.2 it is considered to be acidic or corrosive. And if you water levels are above 7.8 we call it scaling or basic condition and we need to add acid to bring PH level down to prevent the formation of what is known scale. Scaling produces the effect which you can see with the naked eye when your pool water is whitish and less transparent. This is the result of calcium in the water being hardened.
Total Alkalinity - this is a measurement of all alkaline substances in the water which are presented by carbonates bicarbonates and hydroxides. Total alkalinity should be kept in the 80-120ppm range for concrete pools and between 125-170ppm for fiberglass, painted and vinyl pools. Sodium bicarbonate is most commonly used to raise water alkalinity and acid is used for lowering alkalinity levels.
Calcium Hardness – calcium is present in all swimming pools. However, the excess of calcium produces what is known as “water hardness” which reduces transparency of swimming pool water as well as creates calcium deposits on a pool surface. Hard water has high levels of calcium and magnesium. When calcium levels are insufficient water tends to “acquire” calcium from any surfaces it has contact with and as a result corrosion of surfaces happens. Water with deficient calcium levels is called “soft water”. Calcium levels should be kept between 200 and 400ppm and tested on a weekly basis. In a case of soft water you should ad calcium chloride and the high levels of calcium can be reduced by adding additional low calcium level water to the pool or using a product called Hydroquest 100 or other similar products.
Saturation Index (Langelier Index) – is the formula that allows to take in consideration all the factors of swimming pool water balancing as well as temperature. This is how the formula is being calculated: SI = pH + TF + CF
+ AF - 12.1.
SI – saturation Index
pH – pH water balance
TF – Temperature Factor
CF – Calcium Factor
AF – Alkalinity Factor
You should add these together and subtract 12.1. Your results should be in -.3 to +.5 range. Saturation Index is helpful when seeking for the problem(s) why your water is hard to control.
Great job on my pool man! I rate your service five stars!
John, El Cajon