Episode Description
Your pool pH isn’t “random” or “stubborn” and once you understand what’s actually driving the rise, you can finally stop the endless acid cycle. We dig into the real reason pH climbs week after week: CO2 off gassing. Total alkalinity controls how much carbon dioxide wants to escape, and when alkalinity is too high, the water is essentially overcarbonated. As CO2 leaves the water to reach equilibrium with the air, pH rises, and the problem repeats.
We also get honest about the pools that fight you the hardest: feature pools with negative edges, spillways, waterfalls, scuppers, rock cascades, spa jets, and blowers. All that aeration and turbulence accelerates CO2 loss, which means faster pH drift no matter how “perfect” your numbers look on paper. You’ll hear a simple spa-style experiment that makes the aeration effect impossible to ignore, plus the hard truth that some extreme designs may require a CO2 injection system if you want truly stable pH.
Saltwater chlorine generator pools add their own twist. We explain how SWGs raise pH through hydroxide production and continuous aeration inside the cell, then talk through practical ways to reduce generator runtime by cutting chlorine demand. That leads into borates, cyanuric acid strategy, and why dialing in free chlorine as a percentage of CYA can work better than a one-size-fits-all target. We also clear up a long-running pool chemistry myth: liquid chlorine and calcium hypochlorite don’t create a lasting pH rise after chlorine is consumed.
If you want fewer corrections, steadier readings, and a repeatable method for controlling rising pool pH, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a pool owner or pool pro who’s fighting pH, and leave a review with your biggest pH question.
We break down why pool pH keeps rising and why the real driver is often CO2 off gassing tied to total alkalinity and aeration. We share practical targets and field-tested fixes for salt pools, feature pools, and new plaster so you can stop chasing pH every week.
• total alkalinity controlling CO2 off gassing and pH drift
• why high TA makes pH rise faster and more often
• setting realistic TA targets and lowering TA to stabilize pH
• how waterfalls, spillways, negative edges, jets, and turbulence push pH up
• when a CO2 injector becomes the only realistic path
• saltwater chlorine generator effects including hydroxide production and aeration in the cell
• using borates to reduce chlorine demand and slow pH rise
• balancing cyanuric acid and free chlorine as a percentage strategy
• plaster hydration in new pools raising pH for months
• why liquid chlorine and cal hypo do not cause lasting pH rise after chlorine is spent
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