Did you know many pool chemicals used to balance water can be found under the kitchen sink? Believe it or not, baking soda is a vital pool chemical for maintaining proper pool chemistry!
Yes, the baking soda used as a baking ingredient or cleaning agent is also a part of pool maintenance.
What Does Baking Soda Do For Pools?
Baking soda is used primarily to increase total alkalinity (TA) in pools.
Next time you are at the pool store or a big box store to pick up an “alkalinity increaser”, check the ingredients. Hint: it is sodium bicarbonate. And what is baking soda? Sodium bicarbonate!
Baking soda will be a much cheaper option as an alkalinity increaser than any other product the pool stores will sell.
How Total Alkalinity Impact’s Pool Chemistry
Total Alkalinity (TA) is the measure of water’s ability to resist changes in pH. It essentially acts as a “buffer” from water causing wild pH swings. Simply put, TA helps keep pH at its current level.
TA that is not properly balanced can cause pH to bounce uncontrollably. Since pH affects the water’s overall acidity and basicity, TA is a crucial parameter to balance.
How to Increase Total Alkalinity with Baking Soda
If TA levels start to get too low, pool water can be more acidic than normal which can cause staining, water turning green, and an overall irritation of the skin and eyes.
TA should be somewhere between 50 to 90 ppm. Any measurement lower than 50 should be increased. However, if your pH remains stable with a higher TA, then that is OK. You should let your TA find its balance naturally with your pH levels.
How Much Baking Soda Should Be Added
In order to find out how much baking soda that needs to be added, an accurate and reliable pool testing kit is necessary. It is the only way to know what the current TA reading is for the water.
Taylor K-2006 Pool Test Kit
The most accurate testing kit currently on the market. Includes FAS-DPD chlorine test and reagents for every chemistry parameter that needs testing.
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Once you know how much TA needs to be raised, use our total alkalinity calculator or refer to the chart below to get a general idea of how much baking soda will be needed.
To get an estimated volume of your pool, use our calculator.
Typically, about 1.4 pounds of baking soda per 10,000 gallons of water will increase TA by 10 ppm.
How to Add Baking Soda to a Pool
Baking soda can be added to the pool by simply broadcasting it at the deep end.
If all of the particles do not dissolve before they reach the bottom of the pool, use your brush to disperse the rest of the baking soda quickly.
After about 6 hours after the additions, test TA levels again to see if you are in an acceptable range.
What If You added Too Much Baking Soda?
It happens to the best of us. Perhaps testing was off, or the pool volume is smaller than we thought.
In any case, if TA is now higher than the recommended ranges, use muriatic acid to lower the TA. Please keep in mind, however, that muriatic acid will also lower pH, so it is really important to make sure chemical additions are correct the first time.
Otherwise, it is a game of lowering TA and pH, raising TA, then raising pH.
Does Baking Soda Increase pH?
Baking soda will increase pH, but only slightly. Every 20 ppm increase of TA with baking soda will add a little less than 0.1 pH. Larger quantities of baking soda will see a higher pH increase.
To increase pH, borax or soda ash is recommended.
As always, test in between additions to determine exactly how the chemical increases affected TA and pH.
Balance The Pool and Bake a Cake!
Who knew you could clean your counter and balance your pool with the same stuff?
Unfortunately, some pool stores and big box stores will try to sell an alkalinity increaser when simple baking soda will do the trick.
But at least now you know the insider secret!