Can water chemistry affect pool plaster ?

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JcSparky

JcSparky

0
Bronze Supporter
Aug 26, 2014
53
Baton Rouge, LA
Pool Size
7600
Surface
Plaster
SWG Type
Pentair iChlor 15
See pics attached of 3 year old pool. There are spots where it appears the plaster is been "worn" and gunite is visible. My pool builder claims my "bad" water chemistry has affected the plaster. Is this possible ? I'll provide my water chemistry numbers soon, but the water itself has always been clear and clean.

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Hello! Yes indeed, water chemistry can affect your plaster. Do you test your water regularly?

Let’s have a look at those test numbers, that will give us some answers.
 
Have you been following TFPC since you joined in 2014 or have you been going pool store route? I've seen some people join and still go to pool store so that's why I'm asking.
 
Yup, looks like a pool that can have low CH and low pH due to use trichlor causing low CSI that etches away the plaster. Those are the conditions that can cause a plaster problem.

Current water chemistry may not be indicative of the 3 year history. We would need to know the entire history, water chemistry, and maintenance of the pool over its life to confirm anything.
 
I don't see any gunite showing.

I see gray mottling, which can be due to bad plaster techniques or possibly chemistry issues.

Did the builder actually inspect the plaster?

We need a full set of chemistry readings from the time that the pool was filled to now.
 
I appreciate everyone's responses thus far. I know what I am about to say is totally against what this site preaches, but had no idea it would affect the finish of my pool.

Just a little background. When I joined this forum in 2014 I had just installed a fiberglass pool with a SWG. Very easy to take care of. Since then we moved and in July of 2018 we had a gunite pool installed that is basically 15 foot by 15 foot (6600 gallons). The pool has an inline chlorinator that I have been feeding tablets. I know, bad idea, but I was all about ease of maintenance which I know is a bad idea. I had no idea it would possibly affect the finish of my pool. I had taken water readings a couple of times a year, mainly focusing on chlorine readings. Today I took the first complete reading this year and here is what my water chemistry readings are as of today:

FC = 9.5 (too high)
CC = 0.5
CH = 200
TA = 130
CYA > 100 (i know this is because the tablets which I will stop using)
PH = 7.8

There ya go. Lay it on me and tell me how bad I've been. But, I am ready to make amends and start doing this the right way.

All advice and help is appreciated !!
 
If you use a lot of tabs, the TA and pH would be very low unless you have been adding baking soda or something else.

Your numbers don't make sense for using nothing but tabs.

What are the numbers for your fill water?
 
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There's no way that the pH would be ok if all you use is tabs for years.

Maybe you have enough of a leak that the fill water has been refreshing the TA if you have high TA fill water.
 
If your fill water CH and TA match your current CH and TA, then you probably have a significant leak.

If yes, the leak actually saved you from serious problems.

Otherwise, your numbers just don't make sense.
 
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I would suggest that you turn off the autofill for a day to see if the pool is leaking.

If all you have used for the last 3 years is trichlor tabs, there's no way that the chemistry you posted earlier could be accurate unless you are replacing the entire volume of the pool on a regular basis.
 
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