TA Creeping High - Why?

[blentz]

Facts:
Indoor Home Pool
Age 4 years
Plaster finish
Size 12x16 – approx. 7000 gallons
Sanitation via UV and a 3” chlorine tab each week
Stabilizer – Arm and Hammer pool maintenance tabs – 1 each week
Pool is covered 99% of the time
Light use (obviously)
Pool is heated to 89 degrees FH
Pool is located at 8800ft above sea level in high country of CO

My Question:

I beat my head against the wall with creeping TA – my fill water is high in TA, but when I add water, I add MA to lower, then use sump-pump on step to bubble aerate and return PH to appropriate level. What I don’t understand is if I don’t add water, why does my TA Creep up?

[PoolDoc]

Stabilizer – Arm and Hammer pool maintenance tabs – 1 each week

There's your problem, right there. A & H came up with those things as a way to sell baking soda expensively . . . even if you don't need any baking soda. Stop using those dumb things, and I think you'll find your pH/TA problems will go away!

Ironically about 15 years ago, when they were developing that program, those guys flew me to Princeton for discussions about hiring me as a consultant. I had to sign a confidentiality thingie, but I don't remember enough details to expose anything. I *did* communicate the idea that I couldn't see what it was that they thought was useful about their products . . . which got me put back on a plane to Chattanooga right quick-like.

The really funny thing is, that I suggested that they had a trusted brand that would allow them to dominate big-box (Walmart) sales of pool chemicals, if they were willing to sell commodities. They weren't interested, because that whole research group was apparently tasked with selling $ potato chips as $$$ pommes frites. I *still* think it was a good idea . . . since they've pretty much ended up doing just that, though on a much smaller scale then I suggested, providing 'baking soda' and 'washing soda' to bazillions of BBB users. (They could have been selling A&H dichlor, trichlor, cal hypo, bleach, stabilizer, HEDP and polyquat via Walmart, as well as baking soda and washing soda.)

[blentz]

There's your problem, right there. A & H came up with those things as a way to sell baking soda expensively . . . even if you don't need any baking soda. Stop using those dumb things, and I think you'll find your pH/TA problems will go away!

Will do - this brings up another question, since i don't use chlorine for sanitation, do i need a stabilizer?

Also, realized today after my first post that my Calcium Hardness was off the chart - not sure how that happend so i drained out about 1/3 of the water and added fresh, not as hard water. Will test in the morning after the pump has turned the water over several times to mix.

[PoolDoc]

You are using chlorine; UV does NOT sanitize; you do not need stabilizer on an indoor pool . . . but you probably already have a bunch there.

Most likely, you have a very low bather load on the pool, and that's the reason you've been able to get away with what you're doing. But, it's not sanitary, and ultimately, it's not safe.

UV does have some value on indoor pools, but not as a functional sanitizer.

We've explored this sort of thing at length before. If you want to read some other long posts, I'll find some for you. But I won't have time to run out yet another long discussion on chlorine, UV and indoor pools till after the 4th.

By the way . . . if the same dude got you on both the A&H tabs & the UV, you need to put that guy firmly in your 'either a half-wit or a hustler' category, and stop trusting him.