Newly renovated gunite pool

[cedarcircle]

We just had a total renovation of our gunnite pool which is 20 x 40. The deep end was brought up
to just 5" and a pebble tec finish was applied along with new coping, new polaris cleaner, new salt
water chlorine injector, new heater, new sand for the filter, etc. The builder put in 12 gallons of
muratic acid after we filled it and it tested off the chart for ph. Way too high. He put in a 25lb
bag of sodium bicarb a couple of days later and then 2 days later a bag of soda ash. I have been testing
a couple of times a day for PH, TA, and Calcium Hardness and using the Taylor Watergram wheel
to try to get ph right. Its now been 7 days and the pool is very cloudy. I brush it and stir up the white
haze which then settles after a couple of hours and coats the steps. Yesterday the TA was at 275 ppm and PH was 8.0 so I added a gallon of Muratic acid. Today PH is about 7.2 but its still very cloudy. We have
been running the pump 12 hrs per day. Any ideas?

 

[257WbyMag]

Welcome to TFP!

Sounds like they did an acid start for your newly surfaced pool. So, what has your contractor told you to do and what have they told you to expect? With the new surface, you want to make sure that you are following their directions so that you don't end up voiding your warranty.

 

[cedarcircle]

We had the builder back out and he said everything is ok. It is still cloudy and he said that was due to the plaster curring. We have to add small amounts of acid ever couple of days. I am concerned about how long it will remain cloudy. The ph is 7.4 this morning.

 

[ping]

Keep brushing the pool at least once a day and keep a watch on the chem levels. The plaster dust will slow down and should stop after a couple of weeks. Ask the PB when you can vacuum, some suggest to wait a month.

 

[Just-a-PB]

Pebble tec products dont have plaster dust.
That is a very strange startup procedure. A pebble tec pool should start clear and stay clear.
I cant imagine dumping 12 gallons of acid in it on start up.
Ph creeps up a bit, but not that much.

On the very dark colors we will comeback after a full cure and do a low ph for a few days to remove any efflorescence that has come through. We always hang a pump in the pool to keep it moving.
Is it actual pebble tec? Did they acid wash it prior to filling? What color is it?

 

[cedarcircle]

Pebble tec products dont have plaster dust.
That is a very strange startup procedure. A pebble tec pool should start clear and stay clear.
I cant imagine dumping 12 gallons of acid in it on start up.
Ph creeps up a bit, but not that much.

On the very dark colors we will comeback after a full cure and do a low ph for a few days to remove any efflorescence that has come through. We always hang a pump in the pool to keep it moving.
Is it actual pebble tec? Did they acid wash it prior to filling? What color is it?

It is tahoe blue pebble tec. It has been about 3 weeks since we filled it and there is still a lot of white dust
which settles on the steps and bottom. We have been running the filter for about 10 hrs per day and the polaris cleaner 6 or 7 hrs. It stirs up the dust but the pool is still cloudy. We have backwashed a few times and I can see some of the dust being flushed. PH seems to be stable now and we added some chlorine to keep algae down. I am calling the builder again on Monday for advice. It seems like it should have cleared up by now but you can only see about 20" deep and then its a very pale blue cloudy color.

 

[Just-a-PB]

I would give these guys a call and tell them what is going on.
They have pretty strict procedures for those that install their products, and it doesnt seem like they are following them.

Pebble Technology International
Customer Support
800.937.5058
[email protected]

 

[cedarcircle]

We are in pool heck here. The pool was totally renovated last fall. We filled it and it looked great after the water cleared. Everything seem to work well except that we had a small leak from the Hayward pump. We decided to fix that over the winter. Anyway we noticed that the water level would drop after a couple of days to just below the skimmers so we were adding water every couple of days. I googled it and thought it was due to increased evaporation from cooler night temps. After a week or two I decided it was a leak. I called the builder and he sent a guy out and they said it was a leak and asked us to stop putting water in and let it go down. We did this and it went down to about a foot or slightly more below the skimmers. It was still well above the light, returns, skimmer, equalizers, and Polaris outlets. It stayed that way all winter and didn't loose any more water. Its a 5 1/2 foot deep pool. The builder said he couldn't send anyone to work on it till it warmed up because they would need to get in the water. Well now we have been bugging him for a month about it, he finally came out about a week and half ago and said he would send a leak detection team out, but he is very uncommunicative and we can't get him to answer or call back with a firm date. We are totally out of patience and have found another leak detection service and are planning on having it done by the end of the week if our builder doesn't reply. Any ideas was could cause the leak. We are running the filter on main drain and it is intermittent. It runs fine and then slows to a trickle and then starts over again. I think the leak is in the wall.