Winter pool tile cleaning methods

[iggy]

Hi All.
It is now winter in the desert and I have lowered the water level below my tiles.
I would like to do some preventive maintenance and clean the tiles which have built up some calcuim/lime staining between the tiles in the grout as well as some on the tiles.

My plan is to do a acid/water wash with the green scrubby pads and make the mixture strong enough to bubble it away. I don't think that any sprayer bottle would work as it would distroy the pump. Any suggestion on your methods you have used to cleean the tiles and grout lines?


Thanks,
Iggy in the cool part of Arizona 8) :lol:

 

[meatloaf]

I've tried allot of different cleaners to remove hard water deposits that have accumulated on my tiles, the best thing I found was a pumice stone and some elbow grease.

I also live in Arizona but I've never found the cool part, just where is that??? :?

 

[JohnT]

I have sprayed diluted muriatic acid to clean brick, and the spray bottle held up fine. Acids don't eat plastic or you couldn't store them in plastic jugs.

 

[learthur]

When we bought the house, the tile had a lot of buildup. It was expensive but I hired a franchise called Tile Savers to sandblast the tile clean. Worked great. Took them 4 hours and $800!

 

[duraleigh]

My plan is to do a acid/water wash with the green scrubby pads and make the mixture strong enough to bubble it away

JohnT is, of course, correct about acid not reacting with plastic. If I'm not mistaken, I think you will find the 3M scrub pads will be eaten. I seem to remember using them in an acid wash application and they didn't hold up well.

Most "deck" brushes are acid-resistant (not the nylon ones but the natural bristle ones) and will give you enough abrasive action to compliment the chemical reaction of the acid.

 

[cliff_s]

The only way to clean the white bath tub ring is to have it done
professionally. They will use glass beads to blast off the calcium, this is the only
process that really works.

If you don't want the white ring then you will have to reduce the calcium in the
water. There is a company in Phoenix(might be elsewhere) called Calsaway.
They have a process that removes the calcium from your pool water and will keep the
white ring form coming back.

I tried some rather expensive products that did nothing. Don't bite on the pool store
trying to sell you any of these products, they just don't work.

Cliff s

 

[budster]

Two products have good success on Hilton Head Island (the service companies there). One is the Bio Dex 300, and the other is the Poolboy product which mixes with Muriatic acid. The latter is referenced somewhere else on this forum. Good luck.

 

[duraleigh]

They will use glass beads to blast off the calcium, this is the only
process that really works.

Muriatic acid will eliminate calcium deposits when used in the correct strength.

"Correct strength" is the caveat......incorrect strength can also eliminate your fingers!! :lol: :lol:

 

[pedroheredia672]

Very useful to us newbies, thanks.