Sudden high copper levels

[Briwink]

Hi,

For the past 2 months I have had very high copper levels in my pool. I've owned the pool for 4 years and never had this problem before. My ph usually stays very balanced but after returning from vacation for 5 days I tested it and it was pretty low. I read that low ph can eat away at copper pipes. It wasn't low for very long. If some copper did get into the water from the pipes, shouldn't it be dissipated by now after the ph has been balanced for almost 2 months? Any suggestions? I'm getting some staining.

 

[PAGirl]

Do you use algaecides, also? They can be a source of copper.

 

[JohnT]

Copper doesn't leave the water. Once it's there it's going to stay unless you remove and replace water or the copper deposits on something like the pool surface.

 

[Swampwoman]

Briwink, welcome. Do you have a heater? And how old is it if so? If its one of the types with copper heat exchanger, you might want to inspect it for corrosion.
How high is the copper reading?

What do you use to test your water, and what kind of water care regime do you follow? Using a FAS-dpd style test kit (tft100 or Taylor k2006, both avail at http://www.tftestkits.com ) and using the [fc/cya][/FC/cya] parameters will help keep your balance dialed in, and using Pool Math to figure out your CSI will help you keep your water from being too aggressive going forward.

If the copper level is too high, you may wish to do a partial drain to dilute, and then follow up with metal sequestrant.

 

[pooldv]

+1 to copper heater or copper plumbing being eroded by low PH as the source of copper. PH at 7.0 or lower will dissolve copper into the water.

 

[Briwink]

Thanks for your reply. I have a solar roof heater that uses only PVC and vinyl tubing. I think that the small pipe going into the pool might be copper though. I will try a sequestering agent.

The copper staining is only a few spots currently. I have read that vitamin C or Mikes Magic copper stain remover work well but it looks like I'd have to drain my pool first to use it and living in drought challenged California, draining an entire pool to eliminate some copper staining wouldn't make sense. There is a tool with a soft abrasive head that supposedly removes stains from a plaster pool. Would gently rubbing the stains out cause damage to the plaster?

thanks

 

[pooldv]

You can rub Vit C tablets on the stains with no risk to plaster damage. Or you can crush up a bunch of them, put them in a sock or knee high and rub the stain. Or you can do an ascorbic acid treatment which does not require draining.

More here, Pool School - Metals in the Water and Metal Stains
And here, Ascorbic Treatment to rid Pool of metal stains