If calcium hardness goes above 400 ppm you will likely see a white flaky crust on the liner and pool equipment.
Is water hardness important in a vinyl pool.
Calcium hardness is the measure of how hard or soft your pool water is and measures how much calcium is dissolved in your pool water.
This is especially important if your water source is hard.
Although soft water is desirable in everyday home use calcium hardness is necessary in pool water.
Calcium for a liner pool can be a bit lower than a plaster pool in the range of 150 250 ppm.
A hardness of 10 is fine in a plastic pool.
I explain calcium hardness in more detail in our swimming pool glossary.
To keep pool water balanced calcium hardness is one of the most important levels to maintain.
In general the whole saturation index thing the pool industry has wasted so much paper on doesn t apply to most pools.
Test the water frequently.
When water is too hard white scale forms.
Adding calcium increaser or replacing some pool water with softer water are the corrective actions for these two situations respectively.
When maintained at proper levels pool water resists a change in ph.
Keeping a close eye on your pool chemistry will help you prevent problems related to calcium hardness and a lot of other things as well.
Hardness at any level is only an issue in a plastic pool pvc pipes vinyl liner polymer pump if it s high.
It also produces itchy skin.
Hardness on the other hand is a measure of the calcium and magnesium in the water.
Testing every week every two weeks at most will help you stay on top of things.
With sufficient levels of calcium dissolved the aggressive nature of water is tamed and will help prevent the leaching out of certain substances in pool equipment.
Keep your pool clean.
Free chlorine should be in the 1 0 2 0 range.
If a vinyl liner s calcium level is too low this soft water situation could lead to foaming and other water problems and can harm the vinyl.
Calcium hardness is also very important to the chemical balancing of your vinyl liner swimming pool.