Can I Mix Chlorine and Soda Ash Together In One Solution Tank?

Hello -  I have a chlorinator on my well, but my water is also acid.  I need to raise the pH and I want to inject soda ash.  Can I just mix the soda ash in with the chlorine bleach?

Frank Smith
Springfield, IL


Dear Frank,
This is a question we get a lot and I wish I could say it was a good idea.  But this won’t work and can cause some problems.  For one thing chlorine is injected at a relatively low rate compared to soda ash solution.  With chlorine you are usually wanting somewhere around 1 to 10 PPM (1 to 10 mg/L) being injected to disinfect the water, oxidize iron or eliminate odors.  However, when you mix up a soda ash solution and inject that to neutralize the pH, you are injecting 100 – 200 PPM.  With a chlorine pump there is simply not enough soda ash being injected to be effective.

By adding soda ash to the chlorine bleach solution the bleach will be adversely affected and not last as long and some sludge can form, which can cause problems with the chlorinator pump.

So it is far better to have a separate properly sized soda ash pump!