Common Types of Metal Found in Your Pool
Most people do not realize that they have metals in their water until an unsightly stain appears. Metal stains will commonly appear shortly after chlorine is added or after the swimming pool is shocked with granular chlorine. The two most common types of metal stains are iron and copper and are two of the most common metals that are tested when checking swimming pool water. Iron can cause rust-colored stains to develop on the finish of the swimming pool, while copper can cause the swimming pool to finish or water to appear green. Copper can be found in many mineral systems, ionizers, as well as algaecides.
How Do Metals Get in My Pool?
Typically, metals exist in every body of water. However, the source of the metal can be different from one body of water to the next. Some of the most common sources of metals in swimming pool water are likely sitting in your own backyard. Do you have a heater in your pool? The copper heat exchanger can break down due to a poor chemical balance, causing the metal to enter the swimming pool water. Have you recently added an algaecide to the swimming pool? Many algaecides contain copper to help kill the algae that may be present in the water. The best way to prevent metals from entering the swimming pool water and causing stains is to keep your chemicals balanced within the recommended ranges at all times.
How to Remove Metals From Your Pool
Metals can enter your pool from broken equipment, algaecides, and children’s toys. If you have metal in your pool or want to prevent future metal stains, your pool professional can add a small amount of sequestrant to remove it. Adding a weekly or monthly dose of sequestrant will need to become part of your routine pool maintenance to help control metal buildup in the swimming pool.
If you do have metals in your swimming pool water, you will need to use a small amount of sequestrant to prevent stains from forming. A sequestrant will bind to the metals in the water and prevent them from depositing, preventing unsightly stains. Sequestrants slowly break down in the pool, which means that adding a weekly or monthly dose of sequestrant will need to become part of your routine pool maintenance to help control the metal buildup and prevent issues in the swimming pool. If you’d rather not worry about having to check and maintain the chemical and sequestrant levels of your pool yourself, click over to our locations page and call the ASP - America's Swimming Pool Company nearest you!
Removing metals from a pool is much harder than simply preventing them from causing stains. Most homeowners will simply focus on stain prevention by using sequestrants to bind with the metals. It's good to remember that trace amounts of metals are normal and usually not a health threat. To truly eliminate metals in your pool water, you will need to invest in a reverse osmosis system or specialized pool pre-filters that can trap the tiniest metal particles. You will also need to make sure your pool equipment is up-to-date since older parts will start to corrode over time.