My salt water pool is about 11 years old and looking kinda dingy. Some staining is all there is - plaster is all intact. I've never had it acid washed.

Anyone had someone acid wash your pool? The one friend of mine in the business said don't do anything until you need to replaster since it doesn't cost a whole lot more to do that. But I just want it to look nice. We also are toying with selling the house and I'd prefer the pool look great to help me get more $$$.

If its the basic white marble plaster, and 10 yrs old its just about reached its life span anyways. If you are selling the home drain and acid wash, leave the resurface to the new home owner because its coming soon. If you are keeping the house resurface with pebble tech which has a 30 warranty and be done with it.

what if it's pebbletech to begin with and could use an acid wash... how much does that run?

My pool guy texted back 400 is what he would charge. That's draining of the pool, the acid wash, soda ash neutralize, refilling and re treatment of the water.

Only things I acid wash are my jeans.

Nope, my pool acid stays dirty

Mine is basic white plaster. Quote I got was $600. It's about a 15,000 gallon pool.

That's a little high, mine comes in at 25000. If you live around the Houston area I can recommend some guys. I'm in Seabrook

I think glass bead should be used to clean Pebble Tec.

Seabreeze said:

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If its the basic white marble plaster, and 10 yrs old its just about reached its life span anyways. If you are selling the home drain and acid wash, leave the resurface to the new home owner because its coming soon. If you are keeping the house resurface with pebble tech which has a 30 warranty and be done with it.

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I have a light blue pebble tech surface. It is about 14 years old. For a while now there are areas that look like the rebar is staining through.

I guess it's time to redo things.

I'm guessing this is not under warranty?

Pebble Tech will warranty the original owner under which it was installed. Warranty does not transfer to new home owners. Warranty is good for 30 yrs. Installers that use pebble Tech have company reps at every install to make sure the application is done to their standards. So simply yes, if you had it installed they will warranty it

We have a dark blue Pebble Tec (6 yrs old) and there are some faded areas. I'm not sure if they're from not dissolving the shock granules fast enough? How exactly do you refinish or refurbish Pebble Tec?

Dont throw shock into your pool. Take the shock poor into a bucket with water and mix. Poor mixture into the skimmer and allow it to be distributed thru the filtration system. Neve apply shock granules by just tossing it into the pool.

When mine was applied several areas wore off due to the amount of swimming, so I would see the yellow gunite. Called the installer and pebble Tech and had it fixed (which I didn't pay a dime for). So far so good, has been 3 yrs with zero problems

We'll, there are a few places I can see the ends of rebar. I guess that means in need a replaster, correct?

If you can see rebar, then yes. You may actually need to build your pool up. At no point should your foundation be showing thru your pool.

This is not good advice. Please never pour any chemical other than stabilizer into your skimmer. At best, you will drastically reduce the life of your equipment. At worst, you will blow up your equipment.

Acid wash is a temporary cosmetic bandaid that will even further shorten useful life of the surface.

We will agree to disagree

The only thing we put in skimmers is DE after we do a backwash. We occasionally put a chlorine tab in them in Summer.

We throw shock in several areas and use brush to stir up, along with running pump and water feature.

Seabreeze said:

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We will agree to disagree

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Breeze - what are your credentials?

I've never known anyone to chlorinate their pool thru the skimmer.

How do you wash pool acid?

I would avoid putting tabs in the skimmer ever. They have pH under 3, and when placed in the skimmer you are pulling that concentrated acidic water straight through your plastics, pump seal, heater, etc. This will drastically shorten the lifespan of everything, but especially heaters.

DE definitely goes through the skimmer. I don't count that as a pool chemical.

In all seriousness, if you were to mix certain chemicals through the skimmer, you will absolutely blow up your filter. I know many people who have accomplished that fantastic feat.

That's fine, but I would recommend not doing it any longer because you are potentially harming your equipment.

I've cleaned a pool a few times, and by that I mean tens of thousands of times. I started a swimming pool service company immediately upon graduation from A&M, and last year we were the fastest growing swimming pool company in the US. I'm only trying to give helpful, professional advice.

zephyr88 said:

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Seabreeze said:

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We will agree to disagree

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Breeze - what are your credentials?

I've never known anyone to chlorinate their pool thru the skimmer.

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We shocked our competition pools by throwing shock straight into the water .. never heard of putting it into any of the equipment either. That seems.. like a bad idea.

What exactly does the acid ruin in the heater?

Copper heat exchanger. The water circulates through copper inside the unit. That copper is the most sensitive part of the system to chemistry. It's also one of the most expensive parts on the equipment pad.

MPython43 said:

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I would avoid putting tabs in the skimmer ever. They have pH under 3, and when placed in the skimmer you are pulling that concentrated acidic water straight through your plastics, pump seal, heater, etc. This will drastically shorten the lifespan of everything, but especially heaters.

DE definitely goes through the skimmer. I don't count that as a pool chemical.

In all seriousness, if you were to mix certain chemicals through the skimmer, you will absolutely blow up your filter. I know many people who have accomplished that fantastic feat.

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The white chlorine tabs? I am pretty sure the pool people that I paid to install my pool and who clean my pool regularly put them in the skimmers. Cause when I go to clean out the leaves of them they are in there.

JMac03 said:

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MPython43 said:

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I would avoid putting tabs in the skimmer ever. They have pH under 3, and when placed in the skimmer you are pulling that concentrated acidic water straight through your plastics, pump seal, heater, etc. This will drastically shorten the lifespan of everything, but especially heaters.

DE definitely goes through the skimmer. I don't count that as a pool chemical.

In all seriousness, if you were to mix certain chemicals through the skimmer, you will absolutely blow up your filter. I know many people who have accomplished that fantastic feat.

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The white chlorine tabs? I am pretty sure the pool people that I paid to install my pool and who clean my pool regularly put them in the skimmers. Cause when I go to clean out the leaves of them they are in there.

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I too want to know...

MPython, where are you located?

Yes, 3" chlorine tabs. If they are putting them in the skimmer and they are standard tabs, they are lazy or not educated enough. Leslie's does make a pH neutral tab for skimmer use, but those are not what are commonly used.

We are in Austin. patriotpoolandspa.com

All of the pool companies I have dealt with (in the N. Dallas area) have been split evenly on whether or not to put chlorine tabs in the skimmers. Although the ones that are against never had the same reasoning.

However, all of the companies had no problems with shocking through the skimmer.

All other chemicals are broadcast over the surface of the pool.

Everybody is an expert...

Or they know they will get to sell you new equipment more rapidly.

MPython43 said:

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Copper heat exchanger. The water circulates through copper inside the unit. That copper is the most sensitive part of the system to chemistry. It's also one of the most expensive parts on the equipment pad.

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So what happens with the copper? Does it plug up, corrode and leak or turn to gold?

Corrodes. Eventually it will wear holes in it causing leaks and you'll see excess copper in your water. Great at fighting algae and turning your pool a beautiful turquoise, but leaky and expensive to repair or replace the heater.

MPython43 said:

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Corrodes. Eventually it will wear holes in it causing leaks and you'll see excess copper in your water. Great at fighting algae and turning your pool a beautiful turquoise, but leaky and expensive to repair or replace the heater.

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FYI MPython43 used your company for pool service have some feedback if your interested. Can reach me at username @gmail.

MPython43 said:

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Yes, 3" chlorine tabs. If they are putting them in the skimmer and they are standard tabs, they are lazy or not educated enough. Leslie's does make a pH neutral tab for skimmer use, but those are not what are commonly used.

We are in Austin. patriotpoolandspa.com

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So the bucket says "stabilized" tablets...