Product Review - HASA "Super Stain Out"

[taekwondodo]

I have a customer that, once we got the pool clear, had a looonnnggg brown (-ish) stain that went down the pool's floor from the spa spill-over to the drain. This was a pebblesheen pool. Initially, it looked like algae, but what happened (apparently) is that the whole pool deck, spa-spillover, "tile" and coping are made with this reddish flagstone.

After having another pool guy look at it - we agreed that it was likely iron.

After calculating that I would need about $50-$100 in ascorbic acid, the guy at my distributors handed me the Hasa Stain Treat (~$20 retail). I figured it was worth the try.

I turned off the SWCG on Friday, then on Monday stopped circulation and poured the whole quart over the stain area. I expected very little impact/effect. Customer re-started circulation the next day.

Today, I stopped by and, I was wrong (don't tell my wife you hear me say that). Not only was the whole stain gone, but all the pebble looked "better"...

For ~$20 retail - I'm very, very impressed.

- Jeff

(AND YES - I KNOW THIS THREAD IS WORTHLESS WITHOUT PICTURES...)

 

[chem geek]

In the text you wrote "Hasa Stain Treat", but it's really "Hasa Stain Out" as you wrote in the subject line. Hasa Stain Out and Hasa Super Stain Out are both metal sequestrants and as such they will both remove relatively fresh stains and will prevent future stainings by keeping metal soluble in the water.

This is not a surprise and metal sequestrant products have worked before to remove some stains. Certainly one can initially try using a metal sequestrant since they will need that anyway, but if it doesn't work than a stronger reducing agent such as ascorbic acid can be used though that is more expensive.

The only problem is that this metal sequestrant may break down more quickly from chlorine causing a higher chlorine demand and requiring more product to be added more frequently compared to an HEDP metal sequestrant. Hasa does not disclose their ingredients in these two products. I described this problem of high chlorine demand in this post when I used an inferior metal sequestrant in my own pool.

If you want to try experimenting with different products for removing metal stains, you can see if CuLator Metal Remover works to remove metals from the water without needing to continually add metal sequestrant. The product isn't cheap, but if one has to buy the Hasa product and re-apply it every month or so, then that could add up whereas the CuLator physically removes the metal ions from the water. So you would use something like the Hasa product once, and then use the CuLator.

 

[OhAllWet]

Now that I know I have Iron stains, if I was to try CuLator for a 24' above ground pool, how long would I need to wait to see if the staining will come out on it's own? Since I only have another month or so of Northern pool time left, would that be enough time? Would a week be long enough to see the stain go away? Thanks much!

 

[chem geek]

The CuLator is a new product so we cannot recommend this until it's been tried successfully. Also, it does not remove stains themselves, but rather removes metal from the water. So one still needs to use a metal stain remover such as a metal sequestrant and/or reducing agent, but instead of having to frequently add metal sequestrant, one can use the CuLator to remove the metals from the water. It would probably work better if one is actually measuring metals in the water (i.e. in metal tests) since it will be easier to know that the CuLator was working.

So for now, stick with the procedures in Metals in the Water and Metal Stains though you can use a metal sequestrant product such as Hasa Stain Treat that Jeff used since it's inexpensive and might work. We'll need to see if it increases chlorine demand a lot after its use.