High Copper in water.

[RAV]

Hi,
I have a 26,000 gal in ground pool with chlorine and a Pentair heater.

I went to a pool store with my water sample. They said my copper was 3.5 and my heater exchanger must be bad so I need a new one. They also said getting the copper out

of the water will be expensive and suggested I could just drain the pool to about a foot deep and start over. The results from my water test was as following:

CYA 137, Tot. Chlorine 4.8, FC 3.5, pH < 6.6, Tot Alkalinity 0, Adj. Tot Alk. 0, Tot Hardness 40, Copper 3.5, Iron .2

My water color is nice and clear. They said I could add 8 quarts of Pool Magnet Plus, then Sparkle up and then Kleen It. I also needed 56 lbs of Total Alkalinity.

I figured I was better off draining the pool. I am wondering if that is correct. If I do drain the pool when I start over, what will I need to add when I start back up.

I purchased a new heater so I will not keep putting copper back in the pool. I usually used two bags of shock a week as that is what the pool builder instructed me to do when I had it built.

Thank you for any assistance.
Rose

 

[Isaac-1]

If those test results are to be believed it looks like you have probably been using WAY too much acidic stabilized chlorine (pucks), your CYA is through the roof, and your pH is so acidic it likely ate right through your copper heater passages and put all that copper in your water. In other words a BIG mess. Now of course we trust pool store testing about as much as a Ouji board, so my advice and the advice you are likely to get from everyone else is buy one of the suggested pool test kits, learn about managing your pool with the pool school link in the upper right corner of this page and once you get this mess fixed, hopefully you will know how to keep it from ever happening again.

Ike

p.s. I suspect those bags of "shock" were dichlor which also sends CYA through the roof, it is sad but most pool builders know little or nothing about maintaining a pool once it is built

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! Your best course of action is to drain and refill with copper free water. Trying to keep that much copper in solution will be difficult. Eventually it will fall out of solution and stain your pool. Draining is also the only way to get rid of the high CYA. Once you refill, raise the CYA to 30ppm, adjust the pH to 7.5 and raise the FC to around 5ppm.

Please read ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry for more information about pool chemistry.

 

[pooldv]

When draining a vinyl pool it is important to leave a foot of water in the shallow end so the liner doesn't shift or shrink.

+1 on low PH ruining the heater by dissolving the copper from the heat exchanger. It is important to maintain PH between 7.2 and 7.8.

 

[franktroy]

This year I have had the same issue, I opened my pool and it was stained. I tried a ton of chlorine thinking it was organic since I had green algae as well, but when I had my water tested I was told my water has 0.2 of copper (which i think is ppm). I have a well and my pool continually needs more water during the hot summer days here in Virginia. So my only option is to use my well water top off the pool.

The pool store I typically visit recommended three products, 1. Bio Guard Pool Magnet (add and wait an hour), 2. Jonas & Co Ascorb-X and Jonas & Co Stain-X (added one hour after Pool Magnet). For my 33k gal pool the bill for the chemicals came to $290.00 (I almost hit the floor when I heard that). I was very skeptical, but into the second day now after adding the chemicals, the stains are coming out, so I guess copper was the issue. I don't want to spend that much money on chemicals so what are my options?