Scale Pandemic?

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iceflow

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Jul 25, 2010
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Folks,
See Pic. Pool is covered in mostly 'sandy' colored discoloration. Some 'turquoise' shading also in areas. I can remove it by scraping....but...am I removing scale sitting on top of the plaster or the plaster itself? Either this has been going on year after year and has gotten so bad it's unmistakable now or something very different has happened in the last 12 months. Pool is 23 or so years old. Pool heater is working and appears to be ok, that is 11 years old. Pool 091621.jpg
 
Please post a full set of test results. No way to know what's going on without that. Also, please describe your typical pool care/chemical routine, we need to know exactly what has been going into this pool.

What is your location and what is the chemistry of your fill water?

I will say this, if the plaster is 20+ years old, then it's reached its end of life. You should consider a replastering job in your near future if you plan to stay in this home.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Please post a full set of test results. No way to know what's going on without that. Also, please describe your typical pool care/chemical routine, we need to know exactly what has been going into this pool.

What is your location and what is the chemistry of your fill water?

I will say this, if the plaster is 20+ years old, then it's reached its end of life. You should consider a replastering job in your near future if you plan to stay in this home.
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Thanks for the response. It has crossed my mind that this just may be a symptom of aging plaster. I also notice that as I brush a white cloud is present and I'm sure that was not like that last year. At the moment I'm testing with Clorox multi strips. My Taylor kit is too old I think for anything useful. I'll post the 'readings' from the next strip test. The plaster appearance seems to have gone downhill in 12 months or so, but that could be a gradual build up over the years until it is impossible not to see what is going on. Difficult to say.
 
iceflow said:
Thanks for the response. It has crossed my mind that this just may be a symptom of aging plaster. I also notice that as I brush a white cloud is present and I'm sure that was not like that last year. At the moment I'm testing with Clorox multi strips. My Taylor kit is too old I think for anything useful. I'll post the 'readings' from the next strip test. The plaster appearance seems to have gone downhill in 12 months or so, but that could be a gradual build up over the years until it is impossible not to see what is going on. Difficult to say.
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Yea. Don’t worry about posting test strip results. They won’t help. Just get the test kit refilled and post accurate results. You may have algae if you haven’t been testing well for a while.
 
I think what needs to be said is this - it's your pool, your personal time that you want to invest in it and your money to spend on it how you see fit. If nothing else, TFP has demonstrated quite clearly over the 15+ years of it's existence that test strips are simply inaccurate and incapable of producing the detailed results that a pool owner needs to properly care for a pool. Yes, test strips are produced by and sold by all parts of the pool industry and they are used widely by pool care companies but that does not mean that they are accurate enough or capable of giving you the information you need to take care of your pool the way TFP recommends you should. Clearly TFP has not convinced you that you should care for your pool using the highest quality, drop-based test kit and so that is a choice you have made. But, for TFP, it is the stated policy that we can not give good advice when there is not good data to rely on and test strips are not considered good sources of data.

That said, if you want to get a good test kit and post results from that, then the Guides and Mods here will be more than happy to give you good advice. There are ample resources on this forum that are completely free for you to use to help diagnose what you are seeing. There are many possibilities for sources of plaster problems but I think it can be clearly said that a pool with 20+ year old plaster is at the end of its useful life and it will not look good. There is no magic fix here and it certainly sounds like the surface is simply deteriorating. That degradation could be accelerating because of poor water chemistry (caused by faulty readings from test strips and/or improper chemical additions). All you can do is clean it up as best you can and then put money aside for a replastering of the pool surface if that makes financial sense for your situation.

Good luck to you.
 
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I've never said a good test kit doesn't matter. The pool has looked good for years. I've up until recently used the basic Leslies kit (that replaced the Taylor kit I had used) and along with Clorox Xtra Blue and chlorine pucks it's looked fine. Once the Leslies kit ran out I got some test strips about two months ago. I personally think this is aging plaster.
Thanks
 

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Well if I could, I wouldn’t. You’ve had your say. I also found this weird, that you would take the time to look at someone’s post history and then make assumptive comments.

You have been a member for 11 years, you have 200 posts and 40 threads and you still don't get that a good test kit matters?
 
You start a thread about scale with no chemistry readings.

By now, it should be obvious that we would need that to help you, but you have not provided a single number.

You don't have a good test kit

So, I don't know what assumptions are being made.

If you thought that a good test kit was important, you would have one.
 
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