Texas Hill Country- pool replastering and new coping with SWCG

[DPNBoerne]

Good morning- I'm a long-time conventional chlorine pool owner- not an expert- still learning every day. I converted to SWCG last year as we have constant liquid chlorine shortages or suppliers improperly handle it (heat). Plus tired of carrying it and I have no place to store it in bulk even if delivered. SO... I went SWCG.

Time came where we needed to replaster and replace flagstone on 15+ year old pool (we are the fourth owner of the house). I hired one of the best contractors in the San Antonio metro area and they've been fantastic. Putting in LX Baby Blue plaster, new waterline tile, and bullnosed Texas CutStone coping. We don't have any metal steps, ladders, waterfalls or sldes- plain kidney shaped pool. Plaster has not gone in yet- all this is happening as we speak.

HOWEVER... they will not warranty their work if a SWCG is installed. The job site supe even said they have removed dozens and dozens of generators in our area over the last five years during pool renovations. Here I bought all the SWCG gear and was really enjoying the benefits. They weren't trying to sell me a chlorinator, either so that wasn't their motive. He said even with proper chemistry, the salt eats the plaster and pits/eats coping very quickly.

Anyone else here in the Boerne/San Antonio area have this experience? I want to ask you all because we have our incredible heat, massively hard aquifer/well water and so forth.
I really want to keep my SWCG. I'm not worried so much about a warranty as nowadays warranties are almost of no value with their restrictions- even on kid toys! LOL

I've searched the web till my fingers have bled and just cannot get a good feeling about it. I have a 28K gallon Gunite pool, 4ft shallow end, 10ft deep end, Hayward heat pump, Hayward T-15 Cell and associated control board, Hayward variable speed pump, and I test my water at LEAST four times a week with my Taylor K-2006. Thank you- just at a loss- so much info out there but need a Central Texas focused bit of clarity. Maybe some other coating to get a longer life? I've retired and we only plan on keeping the house for another 4-5 years but work needed to be done. The original flagstone has always been awful/flaking and the pool has needed replastering for a while now and finally saved the funds up for it.

 

[reggiehammond]

There's salt in a normal chlorine pool - many at the same levels as a "salt" pool. The industry, at large, is just stupid about this topic. No way to explain it - it's just ignorance.

I have several thousand square feet of flagstone on my property (~4 acres) and the flagstone fails the same way next to the pool, as it does a thousand yards away. It's just weather, sun and time.

 

[DPNBoerne]

Thank you Reggie, Still wondering what's going on where the supe I mentioned sees SWCGs doing so much damage on the renovations they get called in to do. Again- they weren't upselling me on anything. Thanks again for your time!

 

[Newdude]

GOOD news DPN !!!! You have a pool. The ocean has salt water. There is a 10X salinity difference between the two.

Poor quality materials deteriorate from the elements and moisture. Blaming the SWG is nothing but a scapegoat.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum.
I do not live in your area, though we have many, many members that do and I am sure they will stop by.
As far as the damage they stated, that would have nothing to do with a SWCG or salt in a pool. It would have to do with improper pool water chemistry management, and specifically with mismanagement of CSI. Low pH is the normal issue. Odd that occurs with a SWCG as typically unbridled use of trichlor is what drops pH to very low levels. You will find many pool services still use trichlor tablets when a SWCG is on the pool, as they do not know how to manage pool water chemistry.

Your post states you understand pool water chemistry. You will have no issues.

Take care.

 

[DPNBoerne]

GOOD news DPN !!!! You have a pool. The ocean has salt water. There is a 10X salinity difference between the two.

Poor quality materials deteriorate from the elements and moisture. Blaming the SWG is nothing but a scapegoat.

LOL! Thank you Newdude!! Well taken!

 

[DPNBoerne]

Welcome to the forum.
I do not live in your area, though we have many, many members that do and I am sure they will stop by.
As far as the damage they stated, that would have nothing to do with a SWCG or salt in a pool. It would have to do with improper pool water chemistry management, and specifically with mismanagement of CSI. Low pH is the normal issue. Odd that occurs with a SWCG as typically unbridled use of trichlor is what drops pH to very low levels. You will find many pool services still use trichlor tablets when a SWCG is on the pool, as they do not know how to manage pool water chemistry.

Your post states you understand pool water chemistry. You will have no issues.

Take care.

Thank you for the information and encouragement! You've thrown me a mental life ring!!

 

[Texas Splash]

Not knowing better, I have some of the cheapest flagstone around our pool. Still, the salt had no effect. It took me 7 years to covert to a SWG to and my salt level was already high enough to where I didn't have to add much salt. These installers don't know as much as they think they do. Maybe they should take a Taylor K-1766 around their neighborhood and do some testing.

 

[DPNBoerne]

Not knowing better, I have some of the cheapest flagstone around our pool. Still, the salt had no effect. It took me 7 years to covert to a SWG to and my salt level was already high enough to where I didn't have to add much salt. These installers don't know as much as they think they do. Maybe they should take a Taylor K-1766 around their neighborhood and do some testing.

Thank you Texas Splash! Just blows my mind a big, super-established outfit is so against SWG. I'm thinking maybe they are tired of getting grief from pool owners that don't take care of their chems???? Everyone has been great here- thanks for your time!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I'm thinking maybe they are tired of getting grief from pool owners that don't take care of their chems????

DING DING DING DING DING

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN-DINER!!!

We had a thread on here many years ago where we discussed the degradation of stone around pools. There was an In The Industry user that popped on to argue that he was an expert and the stories about salt ruining pools were all TRUE and that we all didn’t have the experience he did as the service manager for his pool company.

“THOUSANDS OF POOLS SERVICED!! CPO AND TRAINED EXPERT!!! TFP is just a bunch of pajama-wearing teenagers hyped up on Mountain Dew and sitting in their moms’ basements just being keyboard-warriors! RESPECT MY AUTHORITY!!!”

Well, after several posts where he could not plausibly come up with any mechanisms for how exactly the SWG’s were to blame, he basically admitted that the pool company he worked for discouraged SWG installs because most pool owners just treat them as making their pools maintenance-free and they stop taking care of their water. Then everything gets out of balance and they start blaming the service company. Then they complain that the SWG was supposed to make their pools maintenance free and they get angry at the builder for selling them one. Then the cell fails from calcium build up because no one checks if the water has the proper saturation balance and the whole pool goes green. Then the company is on the hook to fix it.

So, rather than deal with that, they go back to their tried and true method of dumping endlessly large numbers of pucks in the floater, skimmer, in-line chlorination, etc. They jack up the TA to keep the pH from crashing and they basically manage the pool their way. Homeowner gets a (nasty) chlorine pool that’s clear and they get their standard 15min service routine for one visit a week at $300+ per month for the service contract. No more headaches.

 

[Saturn94]

RESPECT MY AUTHORITY!!!