Calcium build up in pool heater. Heat exchanger

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bennett.tim72

bennett.tim72

0
Aug 9, 2014
102
I'm trying to find any information on how to acid wash my pool heater. I have a Pentair mastertemp 250.
My flow is being blocked by calcium build up apparently.
Anyone out there acid washed thier heater or pool equipment?
How do I go about it?
 
It can be dangerous to try to acid wash a copper or cupro-nickel heater. Low pH, 7.0 or lower will start to dissolve copper from the heat exchanger. Dissolved copper in the pool can cause staining of the pool surface, people and dogs. Plaster and FG stains can become nearly permanent. And the only way to remove copper from the water is to drain and refill.

But, if you want to, you can try lowering your CSI to -0.8 or -0.9 and it will slowly dissolve the scale. More here, Pool School - Calcium Scaling.

Or if you want to be really agressive you can try a no drain acid wash, The Zero Alkalinity Acid Treatment

In the future, properly balanced water will never scale if you keep your pH, TA and CH balanced.

Adding your pool info to our sig will probably help us to help you better, here's how,Pool School - Read This BEFORE You Post
 
itsjusttwill said:
Hello. Can you tell me how you actually descaled your pool heater ? Please save my summer
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I had the same issue with my above ground heater. Clogged with very hard calcium deposits and no water could get through. Do not use any acid or vinegar because they will destroy the heater. I had to take the heating tubes out, which was very easy, and rent a hammer drill and a very large Masonry drill bit. You will need to secure the heater so it doesn't spin around when you are Drilling. The four copper tubes took me 3 hours to drill them out.
 
ddurkin1221 said:
I had the same issue with my above ground heater. Clogged with very hard calcium deposits and no water could get through. Do not use any acid or vinegar because they will destroy the heater. I had to take the heating tubes out, which was very easy, and rent a hammer drill and a very large Masonry drill bit. You will need to secure the heater so it doesn't spin around when you are Drilling. The four copper tubes took me 3 hours to drill them out.
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It was extremely difficult but it was better than spending $2,000 for a new heater. I really did not know that calcium deposits are harder than concrete, or at least it seemed to be.
 
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