Replastering - FIll Water Chemistry

[DBissett]

I've gotten several estimates and talked to one PB about modifying the plaster according to Onbalance recommendations and they refused. The plasterer said they'd been trained by Quartzscape and he would not deviate from that. Will have same talk with others but may be stuck with standard procedure and acid washing the plaster after application. If the standard acid wash is done before filling is there any point to doing a bicarb startup? Testing the fill water today with Taylor kit produced this assessment...

pH - well over 8
TA - 70
CH -60
FC - .5 or less

I have no test for metals. Should I rely on Leslie's for this? One company said they automatically add a sequestering agent while filling. If somebody else does the job should I ask for this?
This job will probably get scheduled in 2-3 weeks and any advise will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[HermanTX]

For Houston, that is a pretty low TA and CH. I can understand the low CH if you have a whole house water softener.
It is good practice to add a sequestering agent upon first fill.
It is best to follow the Quartzscape start up procedure to protect your warranty initially.

 

[DBissett]

WE do have a whole house water softener but I turned that off, as I do when I add water to the pool. Just to be sure I retested from a faucet that bypasses the softener and got the same numbers. I was surprised too when I first tested the water a few months ago. A couple years ago we moved from central Houston where we had very hard water and the usual calcium buildup everywhere to a suburb where we have a different treatment facility in the area water district. I installed the water softener thinking the local water would be like Houston water and it isn't. So our water now is VERY soft, so much that I'd like to decrease the amount of softening it does and can't. The warranty issue was the main objection to modifying the procedures but when I first asked the PB about this he said the warranty only covers defective material and complete detachment of the plaster from the wall, which he's seen twice in 20 years, but his plasterer wasn't interested in doing anything different. I can understand this but it might leave me with no choice but to go with SOPs.

 

[pjt]

suburb where we have a different treatment facility in the area water district.

What part of Houston? In The Woodlands, my fill water TA is 330 and CH 75.

Who's maintaining the water during the first few days of startup?

 

[DBissett]

We are in Huntwick Forest and are serviced by HCWcid116.

 

[HermanTX]

WE do have a whole house water softener but I turned that off, as I do when I add water to the pool. Just to be sure I retested from a faucet that bypasses the softener and got the same numbers. I was surprised too when I first tested the water a few months ago. A couple years ago we moved from central Houston where we had very hard water and the usual calcium buildup everywhere to a suburb where we have a different treatment facility in the area water district. I installed the water softener thinking the local water would be like Houston water and it isn't. So our water now is VERY soft, so much that I'd like to decrease the amount of softening it does and can't. The warranty issue was the main objection to modifying the procedures but when I first asked the PB about this he said the warranty only covers defective material and complete detachment of the plaster from the wall, which he's seen twice in 20 years, but his plasterer wasn't interested in doing anything different. I can understand this but it might leave me with no choice but to go with SOPs.

That specific water district must do something different. Which is great. Your TA will be easy to manage and you will have to add CH to hit the target.
Check with your water district if they charge the sewer fee based on water usage. If so call them to tell them when you fill the pool. My district charges a flat fee for sewer so it does not matter.

If you plan to follow TFP after your initial fill and time period - then your target TA will be 60-80 rather than 100-120 which is the traditional pool store target.
Good Luck and keep us posted.

 

[DBissett]

I decided to test the water coming from the softening system and got these results...

pH - 7.2
TA - 150
CH - 0 (adding 11L at step 3 turned the water blue, not red)

So the results reported above must be accurate from the softener bypass.

 

[HermanTX]

I decided to test the water coming from the softening system and got these results...

pH - 7.2
TA - 150
CH - 0 (adding 11L at step 3 turned the water blue, not red)

So the results reported above must be accurate from the softener bypass.

The Zero CH makes sense. That is what supposed to be after the water softener. But the higher TA is confusing compared to your earlier test of 70. Truthfully - a TA of 120-150 from a water district in Houston area is the norm - which is why the 70 reading was questioned.