How to Raise pH in Your Pool (4 Easy Ways)

Pool water is a delicate balance of chemicals. If the pH in your pool drops below 7.2, it can cause damage to your pool’s surface and chlorine loss.

Here’s how to raise pH in your pool with four inexpensive solutions:

1. Air
2. Borax
3. Soda ash (Washing Soda)
4. Baking soda

In this guide, I’ll first go over how to accurately test your pool’s pH level and then show you each way to raise it with built-in calculators.

How to Test Your Pool’s pH Level

You can test your pool water with strips, a liquid drop test kit, or an electronic meter. No matter how you test your pool water, make sure to take a sample using a clean bottle. Avoid pulling a sample near skimmers and return jets. Ideally, you want to grab a sample from the middle of your pool.

Test the pH Using Strips

Strips are the easiest to use but tend to be the most inaccurate. I still rather use test strips than not testing at all. They’re also pretty cheap. So if testing is a pain for you, then use test strips.

I like test strips that test for pH, Alkalinity, Chlorine, CYA, and Calcium Hardness.

Test the pH Using a Liquid Drop Test Kit

A liquid test kit is a lot more accurate but requires a little more work. You have to pull a sample of water and add a few drops of liquid. Then match up the color to the correct pH level. Just follow the directions on the liquid test kit.

Test the pH Using a Digital pH Meter

A digital pH meter requires you to put your probe in water and press one button to get instant results of your pool’s pH level.

To use a digital pH meter, you have to calibrate the device with some liquid or buffer solution. The calibration instructions will be included in the package for your specific model of digital pH meter.

After calibration is complete, just dip your probe into a clean sample of pool water and wait until it gets an accurate reading on the screen!

As a DIY pool owner, do you need one? No. It’s overkill. And it ONLY tests for pH. But if you want the best accuracy, this is the way to go.

How to Raise pH in Your Pool with Air

You can raise your pH without chemicals by adding air into the pool. For example, splashing the surface releases carbon dioxide (CO2). The less CO2 there is in your water, the higher your pH climbs. Science!

But I don’t recommend jumping in the pool every day just to splash around, unless you actually want to do that. Instead, here are some automated ways to inject air into your pool water to control your pH level.

• Aim your return jets up. Point them toward the surface so the water ripples.
• Turn on your water features. Waterfalls, fountains, deck jets, and spa spillovers.
• Add a fountain attachment. Inexpensive aerator fittings screw into your return line and spray water into the air.
• Run your pump longer. More circulation time means more agitation and more CO2 released.
• For hot tubs, run the jets with the air valves open. If you have an air blower, turn that on too.

Note: I usually recommend aiming your return jets down at 45 degrees away from the closest skimmer to help with pool circulation. But if you have multiple return jets, just point one of them up.

How to Raise Your Pool’s pH Level with Cheap Chemicals

For balanced pool water, keep the pH between 7.4 and 7.6. Don’t go any lower than 7.2 or any higher than 7.8.

There are three chemicals you can use to raise the pH in your pool:

• Borax (sold as 20 Mule Team Borax Powder in the grocery store laundry aisle)
• Baking Soda, a.k.a. sodium bicarbonate (sold as Alkalinity Increaser in pool stores).
• Soda Ash, a.k.a. sodium carbonate (sold as pH Increaser in pool stores or Washing Soda).

Note: Before you add any chemicals to your pool, make sure you know exactly how much water your pool holds so you add the correct amount of chemicals to raise your pH and other levels.

Click the type of pool you have to start the calculator below.

If you decide to use baking soda, just note that this chemical will also increase your alkalinity level. So if both your pH and alkalinity are low, this is the right chemical to use to raise each one.

But if you just want to raise your pH level, then you should use Borax. You can also use soda ash, but it’ll have more of an effect on your alkalinity.

How to Add The Right Chemicals to Raise your Pool’s pH Level

Thankfully, adding Borax, baking soda, and soda ash is really easy.

1. Make sure your pump and filter are running so that the chemical is mixed into the pool water properly.
2. Add a small amount of the chemical right into the pool. Be sure to spread it around as much as possible and don’t add too much all at once.
3. Let the chemical dissolve into the pool and circulate before adding more.

The act of adding any powder directly to the pool water surface is called broadcasting. You’re broadcasting the chemical around your pool.

It takes about 20 minutes after stirring to see results. Check out how much baking soda or sodium carbonate (soda ash) is required based on your pool’s current readings!

Note: You can pre-dissolve it in a bucket of water if you want to, but this is an unnecessary step. It’s more important that you space out your doses if you have to add a lot. This prevents temporarily clouding up the water.

Why Your Pool pH Balance Is Important

If your pool’s pH balance is off, there are some very specific causes and effects. Low pH levels in a pool may lead to:

• Erosion of the metal liner or concrete walls (pools with plaster linings) from acid corrosion
• Reduction in the effectiveness of disinfectants like chlorine or bromine.
• Excessive growth of algae and bacteria in your pool.

Here’s a pH chart that shows how acidic or basic the scale represents.

Overall, having balanced pool water (perfect pH and alkalinity levels) helps keep your pool clear and also makes your sanitizer work better. And if your water is too acidic (low pH) it’ll corrode pool equipment and wear down the liner, requiring more frequent replacements.

Do Your Eyes Burn In Your Pool?

Good pool water pH is better for your health! A pH level of 7.5 is close to that of the human eye and mucous membranes. When the pH is high or low, it can cause itchy, irritated eyes and skin.

What Causes Low pH Levels

Mostly, low pH levels come from natural factors like rain. The natural pH of rainwater is about 5. So after a heavy rainstorm, it’s normal for your pool to have a lower pH. It’s a good idea to test and rebalance after each storm.

Low pH can also happen after a large party or just having a ton of people in your pool in a short period of time. The more people in your pool, the lower the pH will go. This is caused by dissolved bodily fluids. Gross, I know.

Some other causes include:

• Chlorine (about pH 2.8) in the water all week. If you use tablets in a floater or chlorinator, expect pH and alkalinity to slowly drop.
• Overdosing muriatic acid or dry acid (sodium bisulfate) knocks both pH and alkalinity down, sometimes further than intended. Rain.
• Decaying leaves and pine needles can lower pH.
• Low total alkalinity. When it’s too low, pH has nothing to hold it steady and can swing or crash with small changes.
• New water. If your source water is low in pH or alkalinity, every top-off nudges your pool in that direction.

Balanced Water is the Key to a Clean and Clear Swimming Pool

All pools need to be tested and balanced on a regular basis with basic pool chemistry. The key is understanding the pool’s pH level, which will determine how acidic or basic your water is. If you know what balance of chemicals your pool needs for proper maintenance, then all you have to do is follow our quick tips for maintaining it!

This includes keeping an eye on the chlorine levels as well as adding in the right amount of algaecide or shock treatment each week.

Key Takeaways

• Keep your pool’s pH between 7.4 and 7.6.
• If you only need to raise pH, I reach for borax (the 20 Mule Team box from the laundry aisle).
• If both pH and alkalinity are low, use baking soda. About 1.5 pounds (0.7 kg) per 10,000 gallons (37,850 liters) raises alkalinity by roughly 10 ppm and nudges pH up too.
• Raise pH with air. Aim your return jets up, run a water feature, or add an aerator stirs the surface and releases carbon dioxide.
• Figure out your pool volume first, then add product slowly and broadcast it across the surface while the pump runs. Adding too much at once can cloud the water.
• Wait about 20 minutes after adding chemicals, then retest before adding more.