Confused about copper staining from heater!

[ignorance]

Please help an almost clueless new pool owner here! I purchased a 20 yr old house with a 15 yr old 36,000 gallon Anthony pool & a good size spa with almost black finish. The top steps and the sitting shelves areas are all pale blue/green and the bottom is covered with big ugly teal green patches. The pool is undergoing replastering now. The contractor said that my old black finish was partly ruined by the cooper deposit generated by the ancient Anthony heater which is all rusty but functional. he wants me to either bypass the heater or put in a new one.

I was disappointed that Leslie quoted me about $2,400 to install a new one with 250K BTU. I was shocked the owner of another local pool supply company quoted the prize of of $4,500 for the installation of either the Hayward or Pentair. He said that I would be wasting money and I should keep my old heater. He said that there is no problems with cooper deposit as long as the CHEMISTRY IS RIGHT no matter how old my heater is. I'm afraid that the replastering contractor may not provide the warranty and I certainly don't want to ruin the new light 'China Blue' (lighter than Tahoe Blue). After paying for the replastering, it's really tough to shell out another big expense.

What should I do? Thanks!

 

[ignorance]

Old Heater. The cause of severe green/blue discoloration?

This thread is posted here because I received no replies from chem 201. It probably is a beginner's question.

Please help an almost clueless new pool owner here! I purchased a 20 yr old house with a 15 yr old 36,000 gallon Anthony pool & a good size spa with almost black finish. The top steps and the sitting shelves areas are all pale blue/green and the bottom is covered with big ugly teal green patches. The pool is undergoing replastering now. The contractor said that my old black finish was partly ruined by the cooper deposit generated by the ancient Anthony heater which is all rusty but functional. he wants me to either bypass the heater or put in a new one.

I was disappointed that Leslie quoted me about $2,400 to install a new one with 250K BTU. I was shocked the owner of another local pool supply company quoted the prize of of $4,500 for the installation of either the Hayward or Pentair. He said that I would be wasting money and I should keep my old heater. He said that there is no problems with cooper deposit as long as the CHEMISTRY IS RIGHT no matter how old my heater is. I'm afraid that the replastering contractor may not provide the warranty and I certainly don't want to ruin the new light 'China Blue' (lighter than Tahoe Blue). After paying for the replastering, it's really tough to shell out another big expense.

What should I do? Thanks!

 

[chem geek]

Re: Confused about cooper staining from heater!

The "rusty" is probably referring to metal iron parts of the heater, but it is the heat exchanger that has contact with the water and that is likely to be copper and may not be rusty, but rather the pH may be been too low in the pool from the previous owner and that had copper come from the heater. Or the previous owner may have used copper-based algaecide.

If you remove copper that may already be in the water and you then maintain proper pool pH, then you should be OK and not get more copper in your pool. So the latter guy was right that you should be able to keep your existing heater, but again your water may already have copper in it that you will need to remove one way or another.

 

[chem geek]

Re: Old Heater. The cause of severe green/blue discoloration?

I responded to the other thread. Your other local pool company is correct that with proper pH you should not have more copper getting into the pool. First of all, it's not certain that the copper came from low pH corroding the copper heat exchanger anyway -- when you say rusted, was that corrosion of the heat exchanger or only of other parts in the heater? The previous owner could have used copper-based algaecides. You need to remove the copper from the water if it is still there and then just maintain proper pH and other aspects of water chemistry.

 

[ignorance]

Re: Old Heater. The cause of severe green/blue discoloration?

Thank you so much the replies in both thread. The outside of the metal enclosure is all rusty but the interior looks fine. I don't know how to check if the hea exchange is corroded. The pool has been completely drained for the replastering. It is probably is a good start. I will make sure that I won't use any cooper based algaecides.

 

[jblizzle]

Threads merged by moderator. Please do not double post. It just results in confusion and more work on the part of moderator/admin and responders. Thanks.