Search results

It’s worth a try. I don’t see how it could hurt. Thanks for the suggestion!

Brilliant! I hadn't thought about that. I can certainly take it up quite a bit. Great idea!!

Agree with all you said. I also think there's some copper in the flakes which is what has me worried. I'll flush the heat exchanger, adjust pH and lower CH. Thanks!

The pump does have variable speed. Maybe I need to run it a few more hours every day. I'll lower the pH that should take me to a better CSI at higher temps.

Allen: That was very helpful. The black scales bubbled away with muriatic acid in seconds. I guess I simply have a scaling problem. The calcium likely formed calcium carbonate which when heated changes color. Ultimately, this makes the heat exchanger less efficient and perhaps will damage...

That is a great idea. I'll do it tonight!

JoyfulNoise: thank you for taking the time to explain that!!! I must have seen it mentioned as a way of creating black scale. My calcium hardness levels were at 600 for a while and thought it might be the reason for the black scaling. I am not adding any oxalate or oxalic acid. Any ideas on the...

I want to provide a little follow up. I did perform an Ahhsome purge in the hope the scaling was biofilm. However, I was mistaken in that the material is more like sand in consistency. In the photo, you can see what it looks like. It comes straight from jets (i.e. spa heater). If I...

It's Seattle city water. Pretty much snow melt. Not much in the way of minerals or even calcium.

That's a great suggestion and easy enough to do. I'll get started on that and hope for the best!

The material is more soft than hard. It sinks to bottom of spa but is stirred up easily. It doesn't leave any stain. I'm not sure about minerals in the water but is certainly possible. I use Seattle City water which is pretty good but I have added pool salt in the past. I was also wondering...

Marty: I can definitely capture the flakes. I even brought them into my local pool service but they didn't have a clue. I was wondering if there was a chemistry lab that could figure this out, but I didn't know where to start. Newdude: I was hoping the for the same thing. I just turned on...

I could really use some help understanding the problem I'm having. I have been unable to solve this puzzle. I have a 18,000 gallon in ground pool and a connected 1000 gallon spa that was built in 2010. I use a SWG system to chlorinate. I live in Seattle and temperatures are around 40F in the...

No doubt you're right. I'm just curious if I've diagnosed the scaling correctly and instituting the correct remedy. It's my first pool and I'm sure I made mistakes along the way. I'll aim for better water health.

I'm in the Pacific Northwest. I use the heater only for the spa and it's about 10 years old. I keep the pool setting in normal range but I don't have it in front of me. My pH and FC tend to both run higher. CYA is always normal, water temp in winter is 50F. The scaling I see is not white...

I have a Raypak 406. The spa jets have been spewing black chunks. I took the header of the furnace it was full of thin black scales. I used a shop vac and removed the scaling and replace the broken thermostat. Everything works fine now but I'm concerned the heat exchanger must be damaged...

Yes, I just read one of your posts on a similar subject: the unit measures conductivity, which varies with temperature... Thank you!! :-D

I have an 18000gallon in ground pool with cover. My intellichlor light flashed low salt, but unit was still making chlorine. I checked the control unit that gave me a read out of 2700ppm, water temp 56F. I added 40lbs of salt, no where near enough to bring the level to normal. I waited two...

No doubt true. They also need to balance the loss in sales if they point out just how complex and time consuming caring for a pool is. I actually enjoy the challenge and like to try understand what is going on in the pool, but I suspect many would just as well pay for the service and be done...

Thank you for your posts and for running this website! It sounds like no one is too concerned with the amount of bromine I dumped into my pool. It was probably less than 4 small pucks all winter and something I'm sure not to repeat! I really like the thought of algae consuming the free...

This is my first year as a pool owner. I have an in ground pool 18k gallon and a 1k gallon in ground spa in Seattle. For inexplicable reason I was given a bromine swimmer and tabs for the spa to use over the winter (while I was told to use a chlorine swimmer in the pool). The spa and pool are...