Scale?

Total hardness and calcium hardness in pool water.
Scale, calcium buildup, hard water and scaling problems.
2182248
I'm new here
I'm new here
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri 05 Jul, 2013 05:58
My Pool: rectangular 40,000 litres. 2 metres at deep end. 1.5HP pump by acquasource (Greek company)
Location: Greece

Scale?

Postby 2182248 » Fri 05 Jul, 2013 06:39

Sorry if these are stupid questions - I'm new to this game.
I have a recurring problem which I believe is scale build-up.
I live in Greece and my pool is 40,000 litres, in ground, built of concrete and tiled.
The pool was installed 3 years ago and is filled with 'spring water' from a nearby bore hole.
The first year I had a bad build up of scale on all the surfaces in contact with the water. I was uncertain as to what had caused the problem; we had building work going on next door and a lot of cement dust was flying about. I assumed this is what had caused the scale so at the end of the summer I emptied the pool and cleaned everything with acid tile cleaner which worked brilliantly.
Year 2 I had the same problem and on investigation discovered what looked like cement sludge the consistency of modelling clay in the top of the filter sitting on top of the filter media. I assumed that whilst I had removed the scale from the pool over the winter that some of the cement had remained in the filter and had returned to the pool once I had it running again. At the end of the second summer I again emptied the pool and cleaned everything with the acid tile cleaner. I also discovered that the installer had not bothered with proper filter media but had used sand straight off the beach!! I ended up replacing the entire filter with correct filter sand.
Everything was cleaned and the pool was again filled using 'spring water' from a nearby bore hole. I hoped that my problems were over but unfortunately 6 weeks after the pool was filled the problem is returning and everything is again covered in scale of some sort. I believe that the water I have used is very hard - it is filtered through the mountains which are basically soft volcanic lava. My only other water source is that which comes out of the tap - I know that is exceptionally hard because it is undrinkable, salty and destroys kettles and immersion heaters in a matter of months.
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I know that the first thing somebody is going to say is that I need to test the water for harness etc and I have to confess that the only test equipment I have is some sort of strips that you dip in the water which change colour according to harness, free chlorine etc. This seems very hit and miss to me and having done this a number of times in recent day the colours I am getting on the strips bear absolutely no relation to the colour comparison chart supplied. I know I need a decent test kit. Problem is that I live on a small Greek island and there is nowhere I can buy one locally. As I have to get it from elsewhere does anybody have a suggestion for which kit I should buy? I'm a total beginner here and I can't tell what is good and what is not, all suggestions greatly received. Price is not really the issue but the prospect of chemically cleaning the pool every winter is not particularly appealing.
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Secondly, if I am correct and it is a problem with scale what is the best way of removing it and preventing it returning. Am I going to have to drain it again or is there a chemical that I can add that will strip the scale off without rendering the pool unusable.
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Sorry this is so long but I'm reaching my wit's end here and need some advice. Thank you.


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