SwimRight Pool Service & Repair contractors, based in Scottsdale, Arizona check many chemical balances when they pay a service visit. You may wonder, “is the pool’s alkalinity in balance?” and are the other chemicals in balance and that is something your pool contractor can explain to you.
Many swimming pool owners will invest in a water test kit as a way to check the water chemistry between swimming pool contractor visits. Knowing what the proper chemical balance is supposed to be will help you understand the readings and will help you know if you need to call your pool service contractor for a service visit.
Is the pool’s alkalinity in balance?
Why does alkalinity matter? This is a question you may not have thought about, but alkalinity is one of the many chemicals your contractor checks and addresses if they are not balanced. When the chemistry is out of balance, algae can grow, the pool equipment can suffer and you could suffer from red eyes and dry, itchy skin.
The task of keeping the chemicals balanced is a delicate one that swimming pool service contractors are experienced with. Teesting and keeping the chemicals in balance is a crucial aspect of pool ownership. Skimming, vacuuming and other pool maintenance tasks go hand in hand with keeping the pool water always swimmable.
If total alkalinity is too low, the pH in the water changes rapidly when chemicals or other impurities enter the water. If the pH experiences a rapid decrease. This can lead to etching of the tiles and corrosion of the filters and plumbing and other crucial swimming pool components. The cost of treating alkalinity levels is much less than letting the levels get out of balance.
If you’re an inexperienced swimming pool owner you may not understand the subtle nuances of water chemistry and what may appear a minor change to you, is in fact, a major change as it relates to the overall water chemistry. Keeping all of the chemicals in balance is necessary to keeping the pool free of bacteria. Each chemical in the pool balances with the others. If total alkalinity gets high it is difficult and time-consuming to re-adjust to proper levels.
To get the alkalinity back in balance your pool service contractor will add sodium bicarbonate to raise total alkalinity. He or she may need to add other chemicals and will monitor each to assure one chemical imbalance will need to be monitored as addressing one, can sometimes lead to others getting out of balance.
It is always easier to keep the chemicals perfectly balanced and for many pool owners in Arizona that means working with an experienced swimming pool service contractor. After all, who doesn’t want to be in the pool cooling off when we are looking at triple digit temperatures for the foreseeable future!
