Tri-County Pools: S-A-F-E-T-Y

Tri-County Pools: S-A-F-E-T-Y

S-A-F-E-T-Y

S-A-F-E-T-Y

You, your family, and friends will enjoy a happier, healthier pool and spa experience if you remember the FSPA rules of S-A-F-E-T-Y.

S is for more than just SUPERVISION - children must be watched closely

* There's no substitute for an ADULT watching a child
* Do not let anything or anyone distract you when a child is in or near a body of water, not even for a second
* Keep your eyes on the pool at all times

A is for ALERT - Pay attention, Play smart

* Toys: A favorite toy left near the water can be a very strong attraction for a child. Toys, tricycles and other playthings should be stored away from the pool or spa area.
* Store all chemicals, cleansers and accessories safely and securely in appropriate areas.
* Sunscreen: Choose It and Use It! The sun is strongest in the summer months. Be sure to apply sun protection regularly while enjoyed the pool. No sun, just clouds? Be alert - Continue to use sun protection.
* Remember to serve all food and beverages in non-breakable containers in the pool area.
* Get out of the pool at the first sign of thunderstorms.

F is for FREE - Be Substance-FREE

* Never use a pool or spa while, or after, consuming alcohol or any drugs. Consult a physician if taking any mediation on a regular basis prior to swimming or using a spa.

E is for EMERGENCY Procedures - Get training and education

* Learning CPR , cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is a skill that may save a life. The local YMCA, the Red Cross and many local hospitals offer classes.
* Keep a charged portable telephone by the pool -
Parents won't have to leave children unattended to answer the phone. And if you need to call Emergency Services, your phone is within seconds reach - your call could make a REAL difference!
* Rescue equipment - Is your pool safety ready?
Ropes and float lines placed across the pool alert swimmers to the separation of the deep and shallow ends of the pool. Rescue equipment such as life rings and shepherd's crooks can be used to pull someone in trouble to safety.
* Keep a list of emergency contact numbers pool side.

T is for TEACHING - Never too old or too young

* Swimming Lessons - Everyone should be taught swim. Children of all ages should be enrolled in swimming lessons or a program to familiarize them with the water. Check your local YMCA, Parks and Recreation departments or other local programs near your area.
* Diving - Learn safe diving. Know the depth of the water prior to diving. Never dive into shallow water. Never dive into an aboveground pool.

Y is for YOU
By thinking about SAFETY all the time, YOU are being a RESPONSIBLE pool owner and user! Thank You!

Tri-County Pools: Pool finishes stay beautiful when salt water stays balanced.

Tri-County Pools: Pool finishes stay beautiful when salt water stays balanced.

Pool finishes stay beautiful when salt water stays balanced.

New Balance

By Karen Erstad
August 2010

	Pool finishes stay beautiful when salt water stays balanced.

Much like the coats of paint covering their houses, homeowners want beautiful and durable finishes on their pools, but the staying power of a good pool finish is highly dependent on its environment. Getting 20 to 25 years out of a pool finish requires diligent monitoring of water balance, says Randy Dukes, technical sales representative for Aquavations, South Miami, Fla.
"Cementitious pool finishes are cosmetic coatings applied to the shotcrete shell, the structural part of a swimming pool, and they are generally applied ⅜ to ¾ of an inch thick," says Dukes.
"They are not structural, and they are not waterproofing agents. They are semi-permeable, cosmetic applications. So sound technical practices in water chemistry are absolutely imperative when it comes to maintaining a surface that comes in contact with water 365 days a year. Properly maintained water is the key to the service life of any cementitious finish — that water needs to stay balanced."
While maintaining balanced pool water is not always easy, pool professionals do have an ally to turn to: the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI). This index determines water balance based on readings of pH, total alkalinity, calcium hardness and water temperature. This tool is not new to the industry, but it may be underused.
When dealing with pools with salt chlorine generators, it's critical to use the LSI because it accounts for the difference in total dissolved solids in the water, says Bob Harper, general manager of Pristiva, a salt manufacturer owned by Compass Minerals, Overland Park, Kan.
Harper says a factor of 12.3 is used in calculating the LSI in salt water pools to adjust for the 3,000 to 3,500 ppm of salt which has been added, whereas a factor of 12.1 is used in traditionally chlorinated pools.
"Also understand that the higher ionic strength in a salt pool typically means higher calcium carbonate solubility," he says. "The pool's appetite for calcium is actually greater because water will balance itself, taking what it needs if you don't provide it, and you can run into problems like etching of fresh concrete, where it's almost like grooves or pitting in the finish of a pool because the water is taking the calcium out of the finish.
"Another particular problem is called efflorescense. This again has to do with ionic strength and equilibrium, and this is when salt comes in contact with cement surfaces or finishes and typically what happens is the surface is trying to be in equilibrium with the material that's laying on it, so the water will actually draw up calcium salts through the surface itself, which will form deposits. Those deposits typically show a discoloration — it's usually a whitish color. So it'll give a lightening effect to the look of the finish, and this can show up more readily on a pigmented plaster or aggregate finish. The real key to preventing efflorescense is to use a salt with a rapid dissolution rate and then brush the salt vigorously so it doesn't lay in any one particular spot on the surface for any given period of time."
If you do encounter balance issues with salt pools, you're more likely to experience problems like scale and others related to high-pH conditions, because pH tends to rise in salt pools due to the electrolytic process of producing chlorine. For every chlorine molecule produced by the generator, two sodium hydroxide molecules are produced. Chlorine lowers pH and sodium hydroxide raises it, but since twice as much sodium hydroxide is produced, pH goes up.
One way to deal with this slow drift upward in pH is to install an acid feeder, says Dukes. "These feed trace amounts of diluted acid to the pool during the operation of the equipment and the cell and help maintain the pH, so that the pool service guy doesn't have to be there two or three times a week or the homeowner doesn't have to go out and add a cup of acid every other day.
"Putting acid in the pool will drive the alkalinity down, so every couple of weeks, you need to add sodium bicarbonate to get the alkalinity back because low alkalinity will make the water corrosive."

At Start-Up And Beyond

Starting up a pool with a salt chlorine generator can present special challenges. The salt, of course, cannot be added until after the initial finish curing period of 28 days. Dukes recommends using dichlor to chlorinate during that time because it's a fairly pH-neutral product, and it's 57 percent cyanuric acid by weight. Then, when it comes time to add the salt, check to be sure there's a free chlorine level of 1.5 to 3 ppm in the water, says Dukes. If your reading is below this, the salt chlorine generator will work much better if you shock the pool to remove the combined chlorine.
"A lot of municipalities are on chloramines, which is ammonia and chlorine, and the salt generators are not capable of overcoming this combined chlorine," says Dukes. "So they need to develop some free chlorine rather than expecting the chlorine unit to overcome that combined or total chlorine. I think this really fools people. They get the pool up and running, they get the salt chlorine generator out there, they turn it on, they've got combined chlorine and they can't get any free chlorine out of the salt generator."

In salt pools, Harper recommends using a non-phosphorous-based sequestering agent. "Traditional pool chemicals tend to break down in the harsh conditions inside the salt chlorine generator cell. The most commonly used chemistry for sequestering agents are phosphorous-based, and while these have been used for decades in the pool industry, they have just proved to be ineffective in salt water pools because not only do they break down so they're rendered ineffective, but the byproducts of many these are orthophosphates, which can create a lot of problems in a salt water pool."

Another Alternative

To avoid the potential pitfalls of the high TDS levels in salt pools, Jon Temple, a veteran pool plasterer and owner of Tempool, in Jacksonville, Fla., likes to use ozone as the primary means of sanitization and a salt chlorine generator as secondary means. "This way we're able to put less salt in the pool, and turn the machine down lower to back up the ozone, so we're creating fewer total dissolved solids," says Temple. "I really got into that when I worked over in the Middle East because there's no chlorine there, so they really use a lot of ozone."
If you do encounter a pool with excessive total dissolved solids, Temple says there are a couple of options. You can dilute the water or use a chemical to help filter out the total dissolved solids. "Jack's Magic has a product called The Magenta Stuff, which is what I use, and that's helping out a great deal. You can use that accompanied by a Jack's Purifiber, and that helps get some of the total dissolved solids out of there."
Because an ounce of prevention is worth probably much more than a pound of cure, it's really ideal to keep the water balanced in the first place. To do that in a salt pool, Temple says it's important to regularly clean and recalibrate the salt chlorine generator cells. "Salt chlorine generators cost around $1,500, and the cell in them tests the water to see how much new chlorine needs to be made. Well, I have an electronic tester that cost me around $2,200, and after every three times of checking water, I have to recalibrate it so I get an accurate reading. If the machine that's in the pool on the salt cell only cost a couple hundred bucks, I'm sure it's not getting accurate readings after a while. It needs to be recalibrated. The industry has to show maintenance people and homeowners how to clean the cell and to make sure it's actually functioning properly. The water also needs to be tested regularly with a test kit. Salt cells are not maintenance free. They still require somebody to get out there and test the pool and maintain it."

Sequestering agents

Sequestering agents

A sequestering agent is a chemical that combines with metal ions to help keep them in solution and prevent them from falling on the pool’s surface and leaving a stain.

These products, which can also be used to control scale buildup, are used mostly for prevention. They won’t remove old, existing stains (that’s a job for a dedicated stain remover), but they will work on potential stains and keep them from becoming visible.
We Recommend:
The Purple Stuff™, High Quality Jack's Magic Salt Solution

Jack's Magic Purple Stuff™ is the stain preventative of choice, and a must product for salt (chlorine) generator pools. Unlike traditional sequestering agents, The Purple Stuff™ works extremely well in high salt and high TDS pools. The Purple Stuff keeps silica in solution while greatly reducing the incidence of cell fouling (scaling) in salt (chlorine) generators. If you have a saltwater chlorine generator - Jacks Purple Stuff™ is for you!

   

* Directions
    * » Add Monthly To Help Prevent Staining - 1 quart monthly, for every 10,000 gallons
    * » Follow manufacturer directions specifically
    * » Read the Material Safety Data Sheet

    * Benefits
     • Extends The Life Of Chlorine Generator Salt Cells
     • Controls minerals, but keeps your salt levels active

Source water can sometimes be rife with metals, so the use of a preventive sequestering agent is critical.

Metals often are a problem even if they’re not in the source water. For example, iron can find its way into a pool if there is a notable amount of construction in the area or if old pipes are being dug up for renovation.  A sequestering agent will keep the staining at bay, which is important because iron can wreak havoc on a pool’s surface when certain chemicals are added to the water.

“If you get iron in your water and then shock it, it will turn the steps yellow-brown,” Eastergard says. “Then the customer thinks they’re dirty and you’re not cleaning the pool. This stuff just plates onto the shell material, and it can plate onto the plastic fittings.”