New Plaster- Well Water- No Guidance!

[katiejean13]

Pool builder has been terrible about communication and it continues. We are on a well and told them we wanted to coordinate with a water delivery service for our 12,000 gallon gunite pool. They strung us along with plaster dates and eventually told us to cancel the water trucks until they get a better date. They then inform us Wednesday that they would *try* to come Friday or Saturday... Of course by that point, the water delivery company doesn't have any availability. We were hoping weather would push us to Monday and we would be able to coordinate water. Surprise! They show up this morning unannounced. We have yet to hear from the pool builder as to what we need to do once they are finished plastering.

Luckily, the water delivery company was awesome when I called this morning and said they can squeeze us in first thing tomorrow morning. My question is, the plaster crew will be done about 1pm. Water trucks are scheduled to arrive at 8am tomorrow. In the interim 19 hours, should we begin filling the pool with water from our well? We will still plan to have the good water delivered, as we figured the majority being quality water can only help. But should we leave it without water and fill the whole pool with good water, or start with well water and supplement tomorrow with fresh?

 

[Texas Splash]

You should be okay to wait, but speak to the plaster sub supervisor and/or main contractor to confirm. It would be good to avoid well water if possible so you don't get any iron in there. Even if they added a sequestrant it could get tricky. Others have ben okay waiting for a short period, just confirm with them.

 

[proavia]

Is the pool finish plaster or a pebble type product that might require an acid wash the morning after install?

 

[ajw22]

Many plaster finishes are a two day process before filling when polishing or an acid wash is done the second day.

The pool should be tented to keep the sun and heat off the plaster as much as possible.

Starting to fill the pool with well water will not accomplish much if your well has limited flow capacity.

 

[katiejean13]

Is the pool finish plaster or a pebble type product that might require an acid wash the morning after install?

Pebble product

 

[proavia]

Chances are your pebble finish will need an acid wash prior to adding any water.
Usually, they allow the new finish to setup overnight and acid wash the next day.

Talk to the plaster supervisor and find out the procedure and when they will return tomorrow to do the acid wash (if needed). Also, get the manufacturers startup guide and review it.

 

[katiejean13]

I should also add, the pool company has not yet completed all the plumbing and have to come add some more valves before they can start it up. Is this going to be an issue with water sitting in the pool for two days without a pump or filter running?

 

[ajw22]

I should also add, the pool company has not yet completed all the plumbing and have to come add some more valves before they can start it up. Is this going to be an issue with water sitting in the pool for two days without a pump or filter running?

No. Just brush the pool a few times a day and follow the startup guide adding liquid chlorine and stirring it is with your pool brush.

 

[katiejean13]

Our PB has been pretty awful. The plumbing and equipment was set up a few weeks ago, but missing valves (guess they wanted their check). They said they would just finish the plumbing upon startup and scheduled plaster. They have since plastered our pool Friday, we got conflicting information from them verbally vs in writing as to if we could leave it for ~20 hours without any water, got nervous due to what we read about warranty requirements and started to fill with well water. Got a water delivery truck to deliver the remaining 2/3 of the water Saturday morning, but our water is GREEN. We got the water tested this weekend and it tested 0.3ppm for IRON. It is now Monday afternoon, going on 48 hours of green water with zero filter or pump running. We are super concerned about our light color pebble plaster staining and not confident they will do anything about it. They said they *might* show up Monday/Tuesday to start up the pool and put in initial chemicals, but from then on, we are on our own, as they "do not have a service tech on staff and can't provide instructions".

Should we be worried about stained plaster given the water has just been sitting there for a few days? The pool store we got our water tested at said we could try CuLator after they start it up, but basically advised that we don't add anything until we are able to get water circulating.

 

[ajw22]

At this point all you can do is wait for the PB to show up and put in their initial chemicals.

You should be there and collect all bottles of what they use and make notes on exactly what they added and how much.

Initial fill of pool water often looks green until chlorine and other chemicals are added.

If you have iron in the water or iron staining you will need to deal with it after your plaster startup. Iron staining is on the pool surface, is not permanent, and can be lifted with ascorbic acid treatments. It will take a drain and refill with fresh water to remove iron from the water although some folks have been successful filtering it with polyfill.

If you are going to use your well water for fill water and it has iron then you should get an iron filter - Iron Fill Water Filter - Further Reading

 

[Jaffles]

Hang in their Katie. I know it means more to you than the PB, and they don't see your new pool as an emotional and exciting preposition of good times and happiness to come. To them its just another pool, another job, and a way to pay the bills. Slack as they may be they also don't want warranty issues. Keep on them though, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

 

[katiejean13]

As feared, we have iron staining on our aqua cool plaster... they added sequestrant upon startup, along with acid and a day later added shock to the pool and stabilizer to the skimmer. We had to drain about 3-4 inches, so he told me to add another bottle of sequestrant after we filled it back up. We were also told to add another cup of shock today. Pinch a Penny tested the water Wednesday and said all chemicals are in range.

What can we do to get the iron stains out. It's all I see every time I brush! We are only on day 4 and I really want to tackle this before it's there permanently! They also didn't show us how to clean the cartridge filter, but I think it will need to be cleaned here soon.

 

[Texas Splash]

Pinch a Penny tested the water Wednesday and said all chemicals are in range.

This will be an issue. You must test your own water at home. Accurate testing is even more important with confirmed iron in the water. You will require very accurate & consistent pH and FC testing to prevent further iron staining.

What can we do to get the iron stains out.

Minor staining or spots here & there can be with Vitamin C tablets. You can rub them on a stain or place several tablets in a thin sock or nylon, crush them up a bit, and rub that on a stain. If the staining is widespread, you may need to consider an Ascorbic Acid treatment at some point in the future.