Acid Washing A Swimming Pool

If you own a swimming pool, chances are you already know about the benefits of acid washing. Acid washing does more than just kill algae, it also removes scale and calcium deposits from the surface. Did you know that if done properly, it can remove deep copper and magnesium stains that turn white plaster blue? Acid and water alone can not take all of the stains out, however combined with a few other chemicals, it can remove almost 90% of stains! White pool plaster isn't the only substrate to benefit from the acid wash process. It can also be done on colored plaster, pebble tec and brick, all without damage! Black plaster is probably the most to benefit from acid wash due to the color contrast between the black plaster and white scale and calcium. If you have noticed that your black bottom pool is no longer black, and is a dull grey, it is probably time for an acid wash. I'll get into why you get scale and calcium deposits on a later blog, more specifically how they can be removed with bead blasting. Acid washing can also be performed on pebble tec as well. You may notice a white patch of pebble tec. It is scale, and it needs to come off quickly, before it spreads and cant be removed. Due to the texture of pebble tec, it is very difficult to remove scale and calcium from it. After the acid wash, it may be necessary to sand the rough spots with sand paper to restore the smoothness of the plaster. Pebble tec can't be sanded, it is for plaster surfaces only.