Baking Soda Blaster to Remove Calcium?

[J4CKBOLT]

I have Calcium build up along the water line (tiles and stone) in my 3yr old pool. I have tried using a brush and pumice stone but it does not come off reasonably easy. I read about using a soda blaster to remove CA buildup. I already have a large vertical tank air compressor my questions are: have you used a soda blaster? Was it easy to remove Calcium without damaging tile? Do you recommend a specific brand/ model of blaster gun?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

You can't use baking soda to blast calcium, it's too soft.

You need to use a material called kierserite (hydrated magnesium sulfate). It has a Mohs hardness that is perfectly matched to calcium carbonate. It goes under the trade name of MaxxStrip (careful with that search term, it can bring up "unwanted" websites).

Also, you'll need a 50lb or larger media hopper, an air nozzle with a ceramic tip designed to work with blasting materials and a screw compressor. A standard tank compressor or pancake compressor won't be able to deliver enough CFM's of air flow at the required pressure and you'll likely burnout or overheat the piston compressor motor trying to use one.

 

[J4CKBOLT]

Ok looks like my investment to make this happen is a lot more than I thought. Dang. Was hopeful this would be a fairly cheap DIY weekend project. Thx for the info.

 

[1poolguy]

We have tried the soda blaster and it did not work well and made a mess. We found that the pumice stone works well but it is labor intensive. On the heavy build up spots we us a flooring scraper that we got from Home Depot. It has a heavy duty razor blade and it works good to chip it off but the blades don't last very long before they dull. We have a infinity tile wall that we have to clean and it is a pain in the butt. Good luck

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Soda blasting with kierserite (by a professional with the right equipment) does work. Here's before and after shots of the work I had done -

BEFORE -

AFTER -

Kierserite is perfectly matched in hardness to calcium carbonate whereas "soda" (sodium bicarbonate) is too soft and glass beads are too hard. In fact, glass is so hard that it will often cause microscopic scratching of the tile glaze surface which results in a permanent tile haze. Kierserite only removes the scale and doesn't cause any other damage.

But again, it can only be done with the right equipment.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Here are some common Mohs hardness values -

Sodium carbonate : 1.3
Sodium Bicarbonate : 2.5
Aluminum metal : 2.75
Calcite (CaCO3) : 3.0
Kierserite (MgSO4·H2O) : 3.5
Glazed Ceramic Tile : 5 to 6
Pumice stone : 6
Garnet : 6.5 to 7.5
Glazed Porcelain Tile : 7
Glass (Quartz) : 7
Corundum (Al2O3) : 9

So sodium bicarbonate is often used to strip paint off of aluminum and other metal parts (as well as graffiti off of walls) as it will easily remove paint without scratching the underlying surface. Glass beads will scratch ceramic tile but should be ok against porcelain tile while garnet can easily scratch porcelain. Glass bead blasting is very good for removing calcium deposits on plaster/aggregate surfaces because it's hard enough to do the job and no one will notice a fine scratch in their already rough PebbleTec surface.

So, when getting pool tile cleaned, always ask what materials will be used as you could wind up with calcium free tiles that look terrible. Many tile cleaners will use glass at low pressure to try to minimize scratches and then hide the scratches they do cause by applying a "surface sealer" (claiming that it will keep calcium from reforming, which it will not). The surface sealer is typically just an low weight oil OR a teflon-based sealant that will wash away well after the cleaner has left or, if it's a teflon sealer, will typically yellow over time from UV exposure and look terrible.

 

[J4CKBOLT]

Going to live with the Calcium buildup until I can save enough $$$ for prof. Cleaning.

 

[KDpoolguy]

Definitely call the pros for a media blast. Had mine done today, will try to attach image of product they used. Before we bought house prior pool man sucked at managing pH so calcium buildup was difficult to get to a clean level again, though my elbows are greased from pumice scrubbing and muriatic acid washes.
Now I need recommendations for pool tile sealer, Amazon has a 8 ounce product for $49! Gotta be a generic alternative!

 

[Esloser]

I used muriatic acid to clean this off my tile. It desolved it pretty quickly. I used half acid and half pool water.

 

[KDpoolguy]

This is the product they used media blast, glass.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Glass media can damage tile glaze and cause permanent hazing on certain types of tile. Glass media can be used on plaster and pebble-aggregate surfaces for calcium removal.

Kierserite is the best media of choice for taking off calcium scale from tile surfaces. It is hard enough to remove calcium but soft enough to not damage tile. See post #5 where I show before and after photos of my tile blasted with kierserite. Kierserite goes under the trade name MaxxStrip from ESCA Industries.

 

[blakeusa]

Muratic Acid... then neutralize with baking soda. The MA will do the trick. May need to scrub a bit, but give it time to work.