What is the best PH level for swimming Pool?

What is the best PH level for swimming Pool? Maintaining a good water balance is one of the most important swimming pool maintenance measures that a pool owner should take into consideration. When you get it right, it ensures that the pool water is always clean and fresh to give swimmers the relaxation they need and also avoid other maintenance pitfalls that may arise. Water that has good balance ensures that heaters, pumps, and other electrical components in the pool are protected from damage that may come from rust as a result of imbalance.

PH stands for “potential hydrogen” and it measures the acidic levels in the water where the optimal level is 7 below which water is said to be acidic and below which water is referred to as alkaline. The scale of measurement is between 0 and 14.

The proper PH level of pool water is between 7.2 and 7.6. You do not need to be a water expert to have these levels achieved for your pool. With basic knowledge, you can achieve these levels comfortably. For instance, when the PH is high (above 7.6) you should use a PH decrease component which you can pour in water to provide the required balance. On the converse, when water PH is below 7.2, you can increase it by pouring an acidic component to increase the PH to the required standard.

Reasons why swimming pool water changes PH

There are numerous factors that may cause changes in the PH of your swimming pool water and they include;

Pool Usage-General pull usage by people will cause a change in PH through contamination and water movement when people are swimming. Factors such as body sweat from the human body will distort the water PH over a continued period of usage.

Heavy Rainfall-Water from rain that drops on the pool causes a distortion of swimming pool PH because it comes with different levels of PH. Rainwater is generally considered to have a low PH of about 5.6 and it, therefore, lowers the PH of your swimming pool when it rains.

Temperature-High temperatures usually distort water equilibrium or balance through the absorption of excess heat thus creating hydrogen ions that have a lower PH than that of water. However, the effect on PH is not very significant compared to other factors listed above.

Reasons why Good PH Balance is Important

A good balance of PH ensures that chlorine works effectively to protect the swimming pool from bacteria that can be harmful to human beings who swim there. If the water does not have the correct PH balance, the chlorine will not be able to work in its full strength and harmful bacteria may get a chance to increase in the pool water.

Also, a good PH water level ensures that the water will not corrode the swimming pool’s metal components. PH that is too acidic may corrode the metallic parts which may cause irritation to the eyes of swimmers when the rusty components are chipped off to the water. In well-balanced PH levels, the growth of algae is stunted thus ensuring that the water is safe for human interaction.

How to Maintain the Correct PH

One of the ways to keep the correct PH level is through the use of test strips on a daily basis. The strips can be found in local pool shops near you and they should be held in the water for about 15 seconds so that they can pick the correct PH reading.

When the strips provide the readings, you can then use bases (to increase PH) or acids (to reduce PH) accordingly. The amounts of bases and acids to be applied will depend on the size of the swimming pool and a correct guide of the quantities to use can be found on the product package upon purchase.

What is the best PH level for swimming Pool? – Conclusion

The process to check the level of PH should be done depending on the usage of the pool, temperatures in the area, and the time of year. It should accompany general pool care procedures such as cleaning because it does not take much time. As enumerated above, the benefits of these procedures are immense and it is therefore important to keep this process up to date at all times.