Oops...dropped paint brush in pool.

[Butterfly]

....and yes, it had paint on it! Well, when trying to paint the inside of the decking concrete, the brush fell into the deep end of the pool....but dh grabbed it quickly and got it out! It created a cloud of paint which we sloshed and it just kinda disappeared. Since we could not see any of it we kinda' feel that it will not hurt anything, but just wanted to touch base with you folks to make sure. To be on the safe side, we gave her an extra jug o'bleach tonight knocking it up to around 8FC. We have more painting to do (and caulking) and I can't find any 'paint clean-up' stories on this site or on Ben's. All comments appreciated. :-D

 

[Guest]

i would imagine with 18000 gallons of water, that little bit of paint would not hurt, if it was a whole gallon then YES but only the maybe half an oz at most on the brush will be so diluted it wont do a thing.

 

[chem geek]

I assume it was an water-based acrylic paint (as opposed to oil-based paint). The acrylic is just an organic compound and is extremely soluble in water so is much like any other organic in water and will remain a dissolved solid. It may eventually get broken down by chlorine, though it may take a very long while (since it usually does not have nitrogen groups) unless you have an enzyme in the water, but that's fine since it will just remain dissolved and will do no harm.

Richard

 

[Butterfly]

:-D ...Thanks guys. Yes, Richard, I think it is an organic. Concrete stain by BEHR, Concrete Stain, Siliconized 100% Acrylic, soap and water clean-up. (came with the pool which came with the house )

BTW, Richard, what would we do if we had a BIG boo-boo with the paint?....like maybe the bucket fell in? I remember reading on Ben's site where a pb returned to a new pool build to repaint the rocks overhanging the pool and the whole bucket went in the pool. Cannot find that link to see what to do. Thanks again.

 

[chem geek]

Even if a gallon of acrylic paint fell into a 10,000+ gallon pool, I don't think it would be any sort of problem. A 10,000 to 1 dilution of an organic that is nearly infinitely soluble in water (as acrylic is) should not be an issue. The resin and binder will just be dissolved organic solids and only the pigment might be visible. The pigment is the most likely of these compounds to be broken down by chlorine, similar to dyes you can add to the pool, since the same characteristics that make the pigment colorful tend to also make the chemical susceptible to more rapid oxidation (i.e. breakdown from chlorine).

To accelerate any such oxidation of the organics, you can just increase chlorine levels by shocking the pool. If you have measured Combined Chlorine (CC), then just keep the shock level until that drops to minimal levels (< 0.5 and usually <= 0.2) which should happen over time, especially with exposure to sunlight.

Richard

 

[Butterfly]

Thanks Richard. That makes us feel much better! :-D

 

[Guest]

This is the type of problem that enzyme products are excellent in helping. Natural Chemistry even has one that is extra strength for pools that have been fouled by large quantities of paint, oi, etc.

Also, Proteam has a sodium percarbonate product called System Support that is a potent oxidizer that can help unfoul a pool but it will destroy all chlorine in the water when you treat with it.

 

[Butterfly]

Thanks Waterbear. Glad to know there are some products out there for us should we need them. Guess you can tell we don't spend much time in a pool store looking at 'stuff'. I was kinda' thinking that BLEACH could handle almost anything.

Ok, enough, but can't let you go without telling you that when we hit the SC Lottery, we will put a screen room in our back yard like yours!! It is absolutely beautiful. Take care and thanks again for all the info.