Is the salt causing coping erosion?

[michaelbuday]

My pool is ten years old. It was converted from tab feeder to salt (IC40) two years into its life. Overtime, a portion of the poured concrete pool coping below and way off to the side of the spa spillway has become deeply pitted. I run the spillway for 45 min each day, and I can never detect any droplets of water landing on that portion of the coping, but I can’t think of any other reason why that small section, about six inches long, has deteriorated.

Near that area, where the grandkids get in and out of the pool, the coping is also showing some “pitting.” Having said that, the spa coping, where salt water often sits pooling given how much the grandkids love being in there, is virtually perfect!

I keep my salt level between 3200 and 3400, and all other pool chemistry is within normal limits.

My questions:

1. Is the spillway causing the small area of coping erosion?
2. Anything I can do to patch, color match and smooth that pitted area?
3. Is there anything I can apply to the coping to protect it if salt is the culprit?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[ajw22]

I don't think what you call the erosion has anything to do with your pool salt level.

You have a joint in the coping above the spa directly over that corner. You have cracks down the corner. You have cracks between the stones on the edges of the corner. All ending up in that erosion area.

It looks like you have water traveling down from the joint down the corner of the spa causing various cracking and that erosion may be efflorescence from stones and concrete. The stacked stone that you have is more difficult to maintain then tile on spa walls.

The concrete just has a natural outdoor weathered look. I think anything that you try and put on it will just look worse.

 

[michaelbuday]

Thanks so much for your detailed reply. Have to admit, I never thought about the spa coping joint (and the stacked stone) directly above the eroded area - but it makes sense. The mystery is though that the spa is not used all that often, and the only other source of moisture is rain - which sadly - here is SoCal doesn’t occur that often!

I’ll do a simple test to see what happens when water is splashed on to that section of the spa coping.

Many thanks again for your help.