We put ph up in our pool at the advice of the pool place. Now it's up. Is it safe to swim in?

Question

We just set up our pool for the summer and of course needed shock and then chlorine tabs for our floater, etc.

She recommended we put in Ph up and all the other chems yesterday and leave the pump going all night. We did. I just tested it (24 hours later) and there is showing NO chlorine and the PH is up to the bottom of the 'add acid' portion.

Her other reccomendation was to add 1/2 ounce of Ph up once a week. This can't be right and will I now have to add acid to get it right?

Is it safe to swim when the ph is high?

Answer 1

You need to keep your chlorine at 3.0 give or take 2.0 and you are good, so you need to get that level up.  You want to keep your pH at 7.4 give or take .2.  If it gets too high you are swimming in an acid pool and too low and it will itch like no other due to the basic level, high seems to be easier to deal with than low for most people.  Add a cup or so of acid every couple hours to bring the level down to 7.4, checking the level as you go.  You should get the chlorine level up before swimming in it, but the pH level should be safe.  Keeping your Total Alkalinity level normal will help keep the chemicals stable.

Answer 2

Yes your pool is safe to swim in when the PH is too high. The recommendation of adding PH up once a week or so is prob based upon the chlorine tablets that are used are acidic in nature. Normally this will continue to drive the PH in a pool down and in vinyl it is common to have to add some PH up to the pool on a common basis. Always TEST the pool before adding any chemicals.

Answer 3

Yes, it is safe to swim. The PH level has more to do with how well your chemicals will work to control algae and bacteria growth. If you let the PH get too high or too low the chlorine won't work very well and your water will turn green or cloudy.