couple of questions

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4x4tx

4x4tx

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2007
401
Greater Houston
Pool Size
17500
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
First question I have is I thought I had a bulb out in my spa...it never worked last year but the pool light did...well recently the pool light went out as well so first thing I checked with the electrical reset which had been tripped...the pool light now works again but the spa light is no good..well i drained the spa and replaced the bulb which i think i did correctly....i guess it is ok for water to get behind the light? it was wet back there...i saw inside the light it seems to be sealed by some sort of gel...well anyway i replaced the bulb which appeared to still be ok, resealed everything and still it doesnt work....any other tricks? Wonder if this is covered under my home/pool warranty? It is not that big of a deal but does bother me and now I am worried about getting shocked when the light is on....

Second question is who makes a good citric acid? I have a pin oak tree in my back yard that is staining my skimmer baskets, pool outlets etc...even my new cleaner is stained a light brown....pool guy says its the leaves from the tree...
he said i could buy some stuff at leslies that would clear it up but eventually it would come back...he said to take the chlorine level down to zero, dump in about 45 ozs of this stuff and let it run for two weeks?
What is he talking about and is there anything else to do? He said pin oaks are about the worst tree to have around to have a pool also...btw I am in the houston area

Lastly my plaster is looking real rough and feels like sand paper....when i drained the spa i took some pics of it...it looks pitted..is this the result of bad pool chemistry by the previous owner? what is the fix?
 
Can't help on the light. Either trace the circuit to see where power stops or get a qualified electrician to trace it for you.

Chlorine down to Zero won't work. You'll have even more problems even if it does get rid of the stain....which I doubt. Just guessing a little but probably HIGH levels of chlorine will get rid of your stain...it's probably tannic acid if it's from the trees and I've had some good success simply by holding the chlorine levels up around 6-8ppm for a week or so.

Very likely bad pool chemistry for the plaster. Your pH has probably been very high along with maybe your CH too high. Do you have a current set of test results you can post? It may still be too high.
 
HI :wave:

If the water you found was in the light itself (behind the lens) it shouldn't be there! The light itself should be watertight. I think that what may have happened is that the fixture leaked, water got in and corroded one or more of the electrical connections (this may be as simple as one of the contacts oxidizing - in which case a little rub with some sandpaper will clean it, or one of the internal wires rusted through - in which case you'll probably need a new light :( )

As for what Dave said, I think he got it reversed (sorry Dave) high pH and high calcium should lead to 'scalling' - but you've got 'pitting' which occurs when the pH and calcium are too low (the pitting is the calcium in the plaster being leeched out to fulfill the water's desire to be ~ in balance)
 
Frequently, people report scaling issues as "rough plaster". The calcium buildup on the walls can, indeed look like pitting when it is, essentially, the opposite. So, to get us all on the same page, Ted and I both suspect you have a "scaling" condition from high pH and possibly high calcium. You may still have it.
 
I took some pics. I will post them shortly.

As for the light, no water was in the light fixture itself, but behind the light fixture....i guess i mean just in the hole in the pool wall..the lens, gasket and inside of the light were water tight...just kind of freaked me out to see the cord wound up around the light fixture and see water back in there around the cord
 
4x4tx said:
I took some pics. I will post them shortly.

As for the light, no water was in the light fixture itself, but behind the light fixture....i guess i mean just in the hole in the pool wall..the lens, gasket and inside of the light were water tight...just kind of freaked me out to see the cord wound up around the light fixture and see water back in there around the cord
Click to expand...

Perfectly normal! The extra cord is so that you can change the bulb by bringing the fixture onto the deck (not have to drain 1/2 the pool) You have a 'wet niche' - the water surrounding the fixture acts as a heat sink so that the bulb doesn't overheat and blow out prematurely. Speaking of which, if you change the bulb resubmerge the fixture before turning it on to test the new bulb - they can blow out in a few seconds if the fixture isn't in water.
 
thanks. that was what was so frustrating, after draining my spa into my pool, taking apart the light, heading to leslies to get a new bulb, getting it all back together, having to refill the spa, and then for it not to work...ah! I hope my pool warranty maybe covers it.

Still waiting on the pics of the pitting....

no one has any comments on stain remover or citric acid? Vitamin C maybe? Someone told me to just drop in some vit c tablets?
 
Given your description I doubt that Vitamin C will help, but it is very very easy to try out Vitamin C to see if it does anything. Crush a few Vitamin C tablets and put the powder in a sock, rub the sock gently on a stained area for 30 seconds and watch to see if the stain goes away (can take a couple of minutes in some cases). If it does you can do an ascorbic acid treatment to clean up the entire pool.

From your description you have either calcium scaling or plaster pitting and either way that is much more difficult to take care of than the problems Vitamin C can handle.
 

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Havent gotten my pool testing yet but did order a test kit today. I will take a sample into leslies tomorrow anyway...

here are some pics of my pitting..edit for some reason it says my pics are too big even though i resized them..not sure how to get them on here
 
4x4tx said:
Havent gotten my pool testing yet but did order a test kit today. I will take a sample into leslies tomorrow anyway...

here are some pics of my pitting..edit for some reason it says my pics are too big even though i resized them..not sure how to get them on here
Click to expand...

Host them for free at photobucket or imageshack.
 
Ok try this
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h71/c ... C00334.jpg

i am guessing that is pitting?

I posted three pics in that album..one is on my spa floor....apparently between the two drains in the spa there was a water feature hole that had a pvc pipe that screwed down into it....the previous owner broke off the pipe while screwed in...how can I go about getting that piece of PVC pipe out that is still screwed in so I can replace the water feature?
 
Leslies pool test results
5 FAC
7.6 PH
90 TA
calcium hardness 450
CYA 50

what does that tell me about the pitting? anything else I need to do, they said I was good to go.

Duraleigh,
I bought a test kit last week and got a DHL shipping number but then got a email that said it had been cancelled? Any ideas?
Thanks
 
4x4tx said:
I posted three pics in that album..one is on my spa floor....apparently between the two drains in the spa there was a water feature hole that had a pvc pipe that screwed down into it....the previous owner broke off the pipe while screwed in...how can I go about getting that piece of PVC pipe out that is still screwed in so I can replace the water feature?
Click to expand...

Can you tell me a little more about the water feature pipe (size, is it broken off flush with the floor, how far down are the threads...) - I, or someone else, may be able to come up with a workable way to remove it. :)
 
Not sure about the size, I would say 1/2" maybe, possibly 3/4"? It is broken off flush and probably threaded 3-4 rows down...there is nothing to grip to twist it out.. appreciate any suggestions!
 

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