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pH
The pH level is an essential part of your pool care as
it affects how comfortable the water is to swim in
as well as chlorine’s
ability to sanitize your water. pH is the abbreviation
for “potential
hydrogen” and the reading indicates the concentration of hydrogen
ions in the water. Basically, it is the measure of
how acidic or basic (alkaline) the water is. The concept
of pH balance is fairly simple;
pH is measured on a scale of 0 to 14, with 7.0 being
neutral. Water can either be acidic (low pH) or basic/alkaline
(high pH) or balanced
(neutral pH). Everything that enters your pool has
a pH value. You should test the pH level of your pool
water at least once or twice
a week. pH levels can be adjusted with the additions
of pH increasers (bases) or pH decreasers (acids) to
achieve the ideal range of 7.4 to 7.6..
Problems related to pH |
Low pH (acidic)
< 7.2
|
High pH (basic)
> 7.6
|
- Cloudy Water
- Eye and Skin Irritation
- Equipment Corrosion
- Deteriorating Pool Surfaces
- Staining & Etching
- Hair Loss
- Scale Removing
|
- Cloudy Water
- Eye and Skin Irritation
- Reduced Chlorine Effectiveness
- Plugged Filtration System
- Scale Formation
- Greater Risk of Algae
|
The pH level also effects the ability of chlorine
(or alternative) to sanitize pool water. The higher the pH, the
lower the amount of hypochloric acid available to sanitize and oxidize
the unwanted materials in the pool water (see table below). The
pH level also has similar effect on bromine.
Effect of pH on Chlorine Activity |
Hypochlorous Acid
Chlorine as HOC1
(Active)
|
|
Hypochlorous Ion
Chlorine as OC1
(Inactive)
|
90% |
6.5 |
10% |
73% |
7.0 |
27% |
66% |
7.2 |
34% |
45% |
7.6 |
55% |
21% |
8.0 |
79% |
10% |
8.5 |
90% |
For more information on Neutral, Low and High pH, see our
next lesson.
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Temperature |
|
pH
- Neutral, Low, High |
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