Do I Need Calcium Hardness In My Vinyl Pool

Pool stores will give you an amazing song and dance about why you need calcium in your vinyl pool.

Do i need calcium hardness in my vinyl pool.

Low calcium levels in the pool. Calcium in your pool is similar to the car analogy. It also produces itchy skin. Calcium hardness is also very important to the chemical balancing of your vinyl liner swimming pool.

Be sure to carefully follow the instructions on the package in order to obtain the best results. For vinyl pools calcium should be between 150 250 ppm. Neglected calcium levels in your pool often are low but can be skewed high as well if you re not doing some routine monitoring. All you need to do is add a calcium hardness increaser to your pool.

Soft water low calcium levels can cause plaster or concrete pool walls to lose their calcium to the pool water and can cause vinyl pools to lose their elasticity. If calcium hardness goes above 400 ppm you will likely see a white flaky crust on the liner and pool equipment. To add the proper amount of hardness increaser you ll need to know your pool s volume which you can easily determine with a pool calculator. Having begun my career in the pool service industry in 1984 i have a confession to make.

In addition to ph and total alkalinity calcium hardness must be kept in balance so that your pool water does not become too corrosive or end up scaling the surface of your pool. The recommended range is 150 400 ppm parts per million with an often cited stricter range of 200 400 ppm. A low level can result in foaming which is unpleasant but shouldn t harm the liner. Keeping your calcium hardness in the midpoint.

This can be a very expensive problem so pool owners need to address low calcium quickly. This article will attempt to explain the urgent need to understand and manage proper levels of calcium hardness in our pools. These are symptoms of swimming pool water that is unbalanced. If a vinyl liner s calcium level is too low this soft water situation could lead to foaming and other water problems and can harm the vinyl.

Call it an admission of guilt. A common belief which i shared was i do pool repair not chemicals.