| Make adjusting your water chemistry a breeze
using the Hamilton Index! And no, you don’t need any new
chemicals either! The Hamilton Index is a
better way to adjust the chemicals in the water of
swimming pools and hot tubs. It re-thinks all the “old
ways” of testing and adjusting chemicals in order to
give you better balanced water with much less cost and
effort.
Here’s The History
In the mid 1990’s a California chemical research
group was looking for a way to improve the chemical
sanitization of swimming pools and hot tub spas. What
they developed was named the Hamilton Index. It involves
rethinking the ways people have always been taught to
handle pool and hot tub water chemistry.
Most of the pool and hot tub industry uses what is
called the “Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) for water
balancing recommendations. The LSI was developed in the
1930’s for municipal water systems, and was required to
be heavily modified to work for pools and spas. However
it turns out that using LSI is not the best way to
handle the water of pools and spas. The Hamilton Index
was developed from the ground up to work specifically
for the unique needs of pool and spa water.
The fact is that pools and spas have a fixed amount
of water that is constantly being recirculated into the
same water vessel – which is obviously not how public
water systems operate. Also pools and spas are
constantly being bombarded with a lot of external acidic
contaminants such as rain water (acid rain with low pH),
chlorine, bromine, shock, human sweat and other bodily
contaminants, among others.
The Hamilton Index focuses on alleviating the effects
of external acidic contaminants being added into the
water. In short, the main benefits of balancing using
the Hamilton Index versus other methods include: less
adjusting required, less balancing chemicals, lower
chlorine / bromine usage, less wall staining and
scaling, longer structure surface life and more steady
and predictable balancing.
Exactly How Does This Work?
Keep in mind that most of the “old” information about
how to adjust pool and spa water chemistry has been
handed down to pool and spa dealers by the manufacturers
of the chemicals. This information was then taught to
the pool and spa owners and has been passed around for
years. But with the new information developed by the
Hamilton Index, you can actually use less chemicals and
have better sanitized water!
The basic concept is this. For many years, the
accepted chemical level reading for chlorine / bromine
was 2.0, pH was 7.4 and Alkalinity was 60-80. The
Hamilton Index rethinks this accepted water chemistry.
By analyzing the chemical reactions down to their
molecular level, it actually turns out that these “old”
accepted chemical levels are neither the most economical
nor the best and easiest way to sanitize water.
Many pool and hot tub owners have had a lot of
trouble maintaining their pH and Alkalinity at the
proper levels. If they boost the Alkalinity level, the
pH goes up too much. When they add pH Minus to bring
down the pH, the Alkalinity drops way down. They are
caught in a perpetual “Catch-22” and usually end up
getting very frustrated! Proper use of the Hamilton
Index specifically fights this problem of pH and
Alkalinity “bounce” as well as cuts sanitizer use by up
to 50%.
So what’s the best way to adjust the
chemicals?
According to the Hamilton Index, the Total Alkalinity
level should be kept much higher, at least 100-120
instead of floating between 60 and 80. Remember,
Alkalinity is different than pH and must be tested with
either a test strip or a 5 part dropper bottle test kit.
The benefits of running a higher Alkalinity are: less
sanitizer is needed, the pH is much more stable, there
is a reduced tendency for cloudy water and stale smell,
makes maintaining other chemical levels easier and
reduces the possibility of corrosion to metal parts.
The pH level should be kept much higher, between 7.6
and 8.0 instead of 7.4 to 7.6. The darker red color on
most test kits is better than the middle pink/red color.
The benefits of running a higher pH are: less sanitizer
is needed, sanitizer is more stable, less skin
irritation, less chemical smell, reduces corrosion of
metal parts, reduces chance of algae, improves water
clarity, and higher pH is automatically “locked in” when
Alkalinity is at 100-120.
Your sanitizer level (chlorine or bromine) should be
much lower, 1.0 instead of 2.0. The lighter yellow color
on most test kits is better than the middle yellow
color. The benefits of this are: less sanitizer odor,
less skin irritation, less inert chemical materials
building up in the water, less water foaming, less
sanitizer cost.
In conclusion, here are the main takeaways
about using the Hamilton Index:
1- Alkalinity is the key component here.
2- You can raise water Alkalinity with any Alkalinity
Plus chemical, which is basically sodium bicarbonate
a/k/a baking soda!
3- You don’t have to play around with pH Plus
chemicals that much. By keeping your Alkalinity higher,
your pH will follow. This will make your water more
resistant to those “pH bounce” problems.
4- With the pH and Alkalinity more “locked in”, your
sanitizer (chlorine or bromine) will work more
effectively and you will not need to add as much. It’s
really that simple!
You will quickly find that maintaining your pool or
spa water chemistry becomes much easier, and something
that you only do once a week, rather than playing with
it every few days. Information provided by United
Chemical.
Click here to see all the Pool Chemicals you may need
Click here to see all the Hot Tub Chemicals you may need
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