While owning a swimming pool has a lot of benefits like an area for relaxation during the hot summer days and a great venue for house parties with friends, this too requires a lot of responsibilities.
One of the concerns that many pool owners have to consider is when the water becomes too hard for swimming.
What does hard pool water mean? And is it really dangerous?
In this article, we will explain the factors that contribute to making pool water hard, necessary steps to soften it, and some tips and reminders.
What Makes Water Hard?
In layman’s term, hard water simply means that your pool water doesn’t have a balanced chemistry and the chlorine level is not stable.
Water chemistry is important and you must take note of these three things if you want to achieve the perfect chemistry for swimming, namely alkalinity, pH level, and hardness.
The hardness of the water is caused by the high levels of calcium and magnesium present in the water. The moment when white scale starts to form on your pool edges and on the pool equipment, this is an indication that the water is already too hard.
Is it really dangerous?
In all honesty, hard pool water has no serious health risks according to the World Health Organization. It is more of a nuisance. If the water is too hard, it causes your skin and hair to become dry. In addition, it messes with the pool pipes, especially in the parts that you can’t reach.
How to Soften Hard Pool Water?
Softening the pool water may seem like an easy task to do, but in reality, this needs more accurate water treatment.
If the water s too soft, this may corrode the pool surfaces and equipment. Hence, an accurate calculation has to be observed to avoid damaging the pool.
Below are the steps to maintain a balanced pool chemical in the water:
- Turn off all the running pool equipment such as the filter and heater.
- Administer a pool hardness test by using hardness test strips to check how hard the water is. This is crucial so that you’ll know how much water softener to use.
- Next is to drain the water out of the pool and fill the pool again with water. Turn on the pool pump and allow the water to circulate for about 12 hours.
- After the circulation period, turn off the pool equipment again and conduct another hardness test to check if the water hardness is still higher than 300 parts per million. If it is, then you need to proceed to using the softener.
- Prepare a 5-gallon bucket and fill it with pool water half full. Pour the water softener into the bucket, please check how much softener you need as it is dependent on the size of your pool.
- Do not attempt to use too much water softener than what is required. Always follow the instructions.
- Mix thoroughly and then gently pour the mixture on all sides of the swimming pool.
- Turn on the pump and allow the water to circulate again. This also helps agitate the mixture so that the softener runs through the pool water as well as into the pool pipes.
- Wait for 24 hours and check the hardness level. Repeat steps 5 to 8 when the hardness level is still greater than 300 parts per million.
Reminders:
- This may seem like a trial and error process, but this gives you much accurate results. You don’t want to put too much softener as this can lead to further damage. So, be patient and do the test deliberately.
- It is also helpful to check hardness level to prevent while scale formation. As per experts’ recommendations, check the hardness every two weeks and do the treatment process when necessary.
- Caution has to be observed, especially if you have an above ground pool since calcium formation varies in liner pool vs the plaster pool.
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