Testing Your Water pH Level

Regular testing of pool water is vital to ensure the pH level is within the recommended range. A solution is to perform manual water pH tests.

The water pH test must be undertaken periodically and with no exceptions, since pH levels fluctuate due to factors that are all part of the everyday use of a swimming pool: from rainfall to temperature changes, external debris, sunscreen lotions and swimmers themselves, all play a part in affecting pH.

While a weekly test is usually sufficient, more frequent water pH tests might be needed during the warm months or if the pool is being used more intensively.

What Should My PH Reading be?

The recommended range is between 7.2 and 7.8, with 7.4 being the ideal value. This is an important measure, as water that’s too acidic or too alkaline can cause a myriad of problems, from skin irritation to damage in pool equipment, green water and cloudy water.

• pH levels around 7 are considered neutral

• Anything below 7 is considered acidic

• Anything above 7 is alkaline or basic

Acidic pool water as mentioned above, will impact pool equipment. One piece of equipment that will be affected adversely is your gas pool heater. Acidic water will attack the copper pool heat exchanger and will eat away at the soft copper causing the heater to leak water internally. Once this starts happening, there is no reversing it.

When your gas pool heater heat exchanger starts leaking, your pool heater is going to need to be replaced. Replacing just the heat exchanger can cost you over half the price of a new heater.

How Can I Maintain pH Levels?

Testing your pool water once to twice a week is the best course for maintaining your pH levels. You can either test it yourself or you can take a sample to a local pool store that will test your water for you.

Taylor Test Kit

If you choose to test your pool water yourself, you can use a kit such as a Taylor DPD tester. While these kits might seem daunting to use, they are the gold standard for testing pool water. Using a series of drops of reagents to cause a chemical reaction, it will accurately tell you what your current pH level is.

Gas Tek Services, LLC doesn’t do pool water testing or cleanings but we do highly suggest that you get your pool water tested regularly.