[jimbo2012]

I was talking a pool maintenance person from T&D today, she showed me how she pours a couple of quarts of Muriatic acid in the water

she does to all the pools, I thought chlorine was toxic enough.......

Anyone shed some light on this?


She also said 60% of the pools use saltwater and they use less chemicals.

[skyc6]

Originally Posted by jimbo2012

I was talking a pool maintenance person from T&D today, she showed me how she pours a couple of quarts of Muriatic acid in the water

she does to all the pools, I thought chlorine was toxic enough.......

Anyone shed some light on this?


She also said 60% of the pools use saltwater and they use less chemicals.

We had a pool for 30 years and always used Muriatic acid. It is a standard pool treatment.

[jimbo2012]

Well that doesn't mean it's safe, she said that no one can use the pool for 12 hours........ what does it do?

Surprised that there are not safer pool treatments

[Mikeod]

Adjusts the pH.

[jimbo2012]

There must be a better... safer way to adjust PH

[applesoffh]

I know that baking soda also helps pH, but I don't know to what extent.

[jimbo2012]

I'm thinking about adding a pool in the future,
I know I wouldn't use chlorine so plan on saltwater in addition a UV sterilizer.

That alternative appears to be safer than allowing chlorine and now I see muriatic acid absorbed thu the skin..

I want a swimming pool
not
A chemical pool

ok, did a bit of Google research, apparently the SAFE alternative is Sodium bisulfate pH reducer.

pH Reducer Safe Alternative to Muriatic Acid - Chemicals to Maintain Proper pH Balance in Swimming Pools
or
pH Reducer for Swimming Pool Water - Sodium Bisulfate for Pools
or
No Mor Muriatic Acid


.

[gustavo]

Originally Posted by jimbo2012

Well that doesn't mean it's safe, she said that no one can use the pool for 12 hours........ what does it do?

Surprised that there are not safer pool treatments

12 hours, That's funny. When I need to add a cup because my pH has crept high I pour it into a mason jar and get in the pool and use it to scrub down the tile with a nylon brush. When I'm done I dump the rest in the pool and disperse it with my body movement through the water.

[gustavo]

Originally Posted by applesoffh

I know that baking soda also helps pH, but I don't know to what extent.

Baking soda buffers the water so that small changes of acid or caustic won't change the pH drastically.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by gustavo

12 hours, That's funny. When I need to add a cup because my pH has crept high I pour it into a mason jar and get in the pool and use it to scrub down the tile with a nylon brush. When I'm done I dump the rest in the pool and disperse it with my body movement through the water.

Acid is used all the time and is recommended to clean a pool filter. I recall when my pool was new and the filter became clogged the installer soaked it in a five gallon bucket and stirred it with his hand. When I questioned him he agreed one should use rubber gloves..........he was most concerned about getting it in ones eyes.
If the other items work and are safe, probably best to use.

[gustavo]

Originally Posted by jimbo2012

I'm thinking about adding a pool in the future,
I know I wouldn't use chlorine so plan on saltwater in addition a UV sterilizer.

That alternative appears to be safer than allowing chlorine and now I see muriatic acid absorbed thu the skin..

I want a swimming pool
not
A chemical pool

ok, did a bit of Google research, apparently the SAFE alternative is Sodium bisulfate pH reducer.

pH Reducer Safe Alternative to Muriatic Acid - Chemicals to Maintain Proper pH Balance in Swimming Pools
or
pH Reducer for Swimming Pool Water - Sodium Bisulfate for Pools
or
No Mor Muriatic Acid


.

Jimbo,

Please realize a salt pool is a chlorine pool. The chlorine is generated by electrolysis in a chlorine generator. Yes you use less chemicals but when the plates in your generator fail in 3 to 5 years look for a $500 bill for the replacement if you do it yourself, more from a pool service.

If you're talking about a UV ozone generator, they are not sanitizers but will oxidize material that chlorine attacks thereby reducing the chlorine requirement, i.e less chemical cost. They too have replacement costs associated with the UV bulbs in the ozonator.

The safe alternative to muriatic acid, sodium bisulfate (dry acid) refers to the fact that it is not liquid so no chance of spills. It still creates H+ ions in the water as do all acids added to pools like muriatic, sulfuric etc. It is also costlier than the liquids acids, the price of the spill prevention.

Also understand that a salt water generator makes chlorine gas pH near 2 so it lessens the need for added acid, the downside is you are immersed in Sodium ions from the salt that does absorb through your skin, so back off on the added salt on your french fries to counter act your daily swim.

Liquid chlorine is high pH so it exacerbates the need for acid.

DiChlor is near pH neutral and Trichlor is pH low helping to lessen the acid demand.

Bottom line, if you want a pool that is free of algae and won't give you a disease, you need chlorine.

[jimbo2012]

Originally Posted by gustavo

12 hours, That's funny. When I need to add a cup because my pH has crept high I pour it into a mason jar and get in the pool and use it to scrub down the tile with a nylon brush. When I'm done I dump the rest in the pool and disperse it with my body movement through the water.

Not the safest swim to take IMO?

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

Acid is used all the time and is recommended to clean a pool filter. I recall when my pool was new and the filter became clogged the installer soaked it in a five gallon bucket and stirred it with his hand. When I questioned him he agreed one should use rubber gloves..........he was most concerned about getting it in ones eyes.
If the other items work and are safe, probably best to use.

He's not following the recommended use, I can only assume he's ignorant.

Here's what I found

Salt water chlorination is a process that uses dissolved salt (1,800–6,000 ppm) as a store for the chlorination system. The chlorinator uses electrolysis to break down the salt (NaCl). The resulting chemical reaction eventually produces hypochlorous acid (HCIO), and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), which are the sanitizing agents already commonly used in swimming pools. As such, a saltwater pool is not actually chlorine-free; it simply utilizes a chlorine generator instead of direct addition of chlorine.

The important distinction is that saltwater pools (usually) lack chloramines, referred to as combined chlorine. Chloramines are the irritants which give traditional pools the stigma of burning eyes and caustic smell. Electrolysis burns off chloramines in the same manner as traditional shock (oxidizer). When chlorine levels are low in the pool, one possible cause is low salt (others can be higher-than-normal chlorine demand, low stabilizer or mechanical issues with the generator itself.) Salt count can be lowered due to splash-out, backwashing, and dilution via rainwater

Concerns

Scientific research has shown that since saltwater pools still use chlorine sanitization, they generate unhealthy disinfection byproducts (DBPs) called trihalomethanes (THMs) the predominant form being bromoform. Very high levels of bromoform (up to 13-fold higher than maximum levels set by WHO) have been measured in public salt pools.[1]

Many people consider saltwater chlorine generators to be a new item. However, manufacturers have been producing salt chlorine generators in the United States since the early 1980s. The use of saltwater chlorine generators has however grown greatly since the early 2000s. Many hotels and water parks have converted to saltwater systems.

????????

[sunglow]

The other day I was testing our pool water - we have an ozonator so it calls for 1 part per million of chlorine. I thought I'd check the level of chlorine in the tap water out of curiousity. I knew tap water had a lot of chlorine but was still shocked to see how much chlorine was in the water. There was at least 3 times the amount of chlorine coming from the faucet than was in my pool. I'm glad I use a filter for our drinking water! Now I think I need to put a filter on my shower head!

[jimbo2012]

I'm installing a whole house filter with a carbon block, carbon will remove chlorine among other nasty things

[applesoffh]

Originally Posted by gustavo

Baking soda buffers the water so that small changes of acid or caustic won't change the pH drastically.

OK - thanks for the clarification...