First Fill in Hydrazzo pool. When to turn on heater?

[Dori123]

We filled our 20,000 gallon pool three days ago. We have a Hydrazzo finish but it has not yet been polished. (Too hot and dry; we will need to have it drained and polished in the fall.)

PB put some muriatic acid in because our water is naturally high in Ph. It has been consistent at 7.8 since we filled it. I do not believe this was a true "acid start" but I am new at this and our PB is a man of few words...

Alkalinity is a little high at about 200.

We do not see any more plaster dust and we are brushing it 3-4+ times per day.

Our PB told us we could start swimming anytime and that we could turn the heater on. We have kept it off based on what we have read in this forum.

But we are wondering -- if there is no more dust, the chemistry seems okay and the PB says it's okay -- is it really okay to turn the heater on?

(PB has not been excellent so we want to get a sanity check before doing something that might negatively affect the finish...)

TIA!

 

[HermanTX]

Have you read the start up instructions from Hydrazzo? Most plaster applicators state 2-4 weeks before starting the heater.
If you do not have faith in your PB then read the warranty guidelines by the pebble mfg.
Also, do not put in a cleaner that that has tracks or wheels as that could leave indentions.

I know it is hot in Utah but it is interesting that the PB said to fill it now before polishing the plaster. Seems like you could have run a sprinkler for a day because they use hydraulic sanders so the pool would have been moist when they are polishing.

 

[HermanTX]

I found this on the website. It is silent on use of heater but does discuss not to use a wheeled cleaner.

http://clindustries.com/MSDS/Start_Up_Procedure.pdf

 

[Dori123]

Have you read the start up instructions from Hydrazzo? Most plaster applicators state 2-4 weeks before starting the heater.
If you do not have faith in your PB then read the warranty guidelines by the pebble mfg.
Also, do not put in a cleaner that that has tracks or wheels as that could leave indentions.

I know it is hot in Utah but it is interesting that the PB said to fill it now before polishing the plaster. Seems like you could have run a sprinkler for a day because they use hydraulic sanders so the pool would have been moist when they are polishing.

Yes, I have read the instructions. But they don't address when to turn on heaters (at least, I haven't found it and I have scoured their website).

We were told that CLI recommended the two-part approach to fill now and polish later due to the unusually high heat. I do have faith in the plaster team -- they were great. They did not have an opinion on the heater other than to wait for no dust, stable chemistry and listen to our pool builder's startup guy.

 

[ajw22]

From Plaster Installation and Maintenance - Further Reading

Why no heater use for first 30 days? With new plaster there is a lot of plaster dust in the water and the pH is usually very high. When you heat water the potential for scale formation in the heater increases significantly. The actual timeframe for waiting to use the heater has no real merit. As long as the plaster dust is under control and the pH is in range there is no reason not to use it. Your risk of rushing to use the heater is scale clogging up the heater coil.