Plastic items becoming brittle

[Poolecw]

A friend of our called me over to help with her SWG system. I posted about that problem in the appropriate forum. While there, she told me about another issue that I'm going to share here.

Various plastic components in her pool is deteriorating at a really fast rate. She had gone through three skimmer baskets in 1.5 years and the rungs of her ladder have broken apart. I know that this is due to a water chemistry problem, but is it due to high chlorine or high salt levels? She hasn't been testing her water (besides using a quick drop test for FC and pH), so I pointed her to the Pool Math app as well as TF test kits.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Plastic can degrade from any number of chemistry issues. Unfortunately, without knowing details about how she cares for her pool water and accurate test results to tell us what the water balance looks like, there’s no at to know for sure.

 

[Poolecw]

Plastic can degrade from any number of chemistry issues. Unfortunately, without knowing details about how she cares for her pool water and accurate test results to tell us what the water balance looks like, there’s no at to know for sure.

I'm not sure how she maintained her pool last year. I do know that last year was Year #2 since new. She simply set the SWG at 100% and let it ride.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I'm not sure how she maintained her pool last year. I do know that last year was Year #2 since new. She simply set the SWG at 100% and let it ride.

Yeah, that’s not good. Her FC levels are probably all over the place, both high and low, and her pH probably is very high all the time. Not maintaining balanced water chemistry will lead to problems.

Word of Advice - it’s her pool and her problems, don’t inherit them. Some people are very efficient at dragging others into their problems and then dumping everything on them. You’ve got your own pool to care for, you don’t need her problems stacked on top too.