What's my pool made of?

[yann]

Hi all

I'm fairly new here and a new pool owner.

I purchased a house with a pool 3 months ago, and I didn't think of asking the previous owner what was the pool made of.
As a total noob, I had no idea it would matter.

Somehow I always assumed it was concrete.

Since I've been on this forum, I realised how important it is to know the pool build.
Previous owner had the pool quite well balanced.
So assuming he took good care of it, I realised today that maybe he had a good reason to keep his CH at 180ppm.
Silly me assuming it was concrete, I followed pool $hop recommendation to raise to 250ppm.

Now I want to be sure, so how can I tell what's the pool made of?
I know it's not vinyl!
How do you tell whether its fiberglass, concrete, plaster?
Is concrete and plaster the same in terms of water balance?

Please forgive my total stoopidity!

Cheers

 

[chiefwej]

The three most common in ground pools are vinyl liner, fiberglass and plaster surfaces. You have ruled out vinyl. Fiberglass is also pretty easy to identify. If it's not vinyl or fiberglass, then for our purposes its a plaster finish. Plaster can have pebbles imbedded (AKA Pebble Tech). The actuall construction is concrete, either shotcrete or gunite. Very similar construction. It's then coated with a plaster interior.

There are a few other constructions and interior finishes but they are rather uncommon.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Yann,

Concrete pools are generally plaster pools. Concrete is not waterproof so they just coat the inside with plaster which is waterproof.

A fiberglass pool would be very smooth (almost like glass or a ski boat's hull).. Their skimmers are "bolted" in and have a square flange on the inside of the pool, rather than being buried in the gunite (concrete) structure.

Here is our recommended levels.. Pool School - Recommended Levels . I don't see your CH level being a problem...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ps0303]

Add a picture and we should be able to tell you.

 

[yann]

Thanks all

I think it's concrete / plaster

See below
View attachment 68621

Cheers

 

[pooldv]

Yes, that is a concrete and plaster pool. Looks good!

 

[yann]

Thanks mate!

Yeah looks good, but way too cold for now...

Looks good thanks to you guys at TFP!

 

[wayner]

Yeah looks good, but way too cold for now...

That's because you are on the underside of the planet - plus it looks like you get a lot of shade with the bush and the fence a few cm from the pool.

 

[yann]

Its a beautiful side of the planet
and heading towards summer now

picture was taken late afternoon.
pool is getting full sun from 10am to 4pm at the moment

will get lots more as the sun comes up in the sky.

 

[ps0303]

If you're on the under side of the planet, how does the water stay in?? LOL JK

 

[jblizzle]

There is no other side, haven't you heard, the earth is flat

 

[yann]

If you're on the under side of the planet, how does the water stay in?? LOL JK

Loaded the pool water with iron and placed few magnets at the bottom of the pool