Cleaning pool surface

[Piney]

Greetings--

New "concrete" pool owners. We've had a vinyl lined pool at the other house for several years so not a pool newbie. Our newly purchased house (Baytown, TX) is a concrete pool.

The surface looks dirty. How does one go about cleaning the floor/walls of this type of pool ?

I assume that a good stiff scrubbing would help-- do they make a stiff (wire?) brush ?

We dont have any plans of draining the pool to do this at this time.

Suggestions ?

Thanks--

 

[ktdave]

They do make both a wire brush and a combo nylon/wire brush for pools.

 

[JasonLion]

Yes, there are wire brushes for use on plaster pools. You don't want to use a wire brush on plaster while it is curing, but after the first several months a wire, or mixed wire and nylon, brush is the way to go.

A "dirty" surface could also be scaling. Calcium scale is white, but it is fairly common for either organic or metal impurities to get embeded in the scale. Scale is usually much rougher than the plaster would normally be.

 

[Piney]

Yes, there are wire brushes for use on plaster pools. You don't want to use a wire brush on plaster while it is curing, but after the first several months a wire, or mixed wire and nylon, brush is the way to go.

A "dirty" surface could also be scaling. Calcium scale is white, but it is fairly common for either organic or metal impurities to get embeded in the scale. Scale is usually much rougher than the plaster would normally be.

Remember-- Im a newbie to a concrete/plaster pool here What is calcium scale ? How does one determine its cause ? How does one effect its removal ?

 

[JasonLion]

Over the long run plaster can disolve in water and/or percipitate out of the water and deposit back on the walls of the pool. To prevent this you need to maintain the waters calcium saturation near equalibrium. If the water has too little calcium in it plaster will disolve off the walls. If the water has too much calcium in it calcium will depoit back onto the walls. Calcium saturation depends on a number of factors, not just the calcium level but also PH, TA, CYA, temperature, borax, salt, etc. You can use the CSI feature in my Pool Calculator to estimate you calcium saturation.

Once calcium scale has deposited on the pool it can be very difficult to get off. If you catch it early you can lower the PH to between 7.0 and 7.2, optionally add some sequesternat, and brush vigorusly and over a couple of weeks it will come off. Once it gets thicker you will need to either do an acid wash or something like a Jack's Magic The Copper & Scale Stuff treatment, both of which are major projects.