Question for pool owners.

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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How do I get rust stains off the surface?

During occasional social interaction before I implemented a "no glass" rule,
a few bottle caps made their way to the bottom of the pool.

Also a couple of those flags they put in the yard when burying cable managed to blow in.

Needless to say I have some rust stains on the pool. Google-fu has yielded rub vitamin C and some other things on it to no avail.
I have tried a number of things and cannot get the stains off.

Just opened the pool for summer and once again looking for a remedy.
Saltwater pool btw. Not sure if that makes any difference.
 
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There are stones that you can rub on the stain spot and the stain goes away. Very cheap fix, have done it many times. Look at your local pool supply for them
 
Gary Skinner said:
There are stones that you can rub on the stain spot and the stain goes away. Very cheap fix, have done it many times. Look at your local pool supply for them
Click to expand...

hmmmm Once had this (pumice I think) deal for grinding calcium off the overflow from the spa. Is that what you are talking about?
 
I just opened my pool in MA. I beginning to think that the cure for all of my pool problems would be to drain it and fill it with dirt.
 
Question 1: what kind of pool? Gunnite or vinyl-lined?
 
In a salt-water pool, it's problematic. Freshwater pools, with the chlorine you add, will naturally tend to bleach away the rust stains; salt water, not so much.

Say it is interpretive art, call it done.
 
glacial acetic acid should chelate the iron, sorta tough on the swimmers though...
 
kmead said:
I just opened my pool in MA. I beginning to think that the cure for all of my pool problems would be to drain it and fill it with dirt.
Click to expand...

I felt that way about our pool until yesterday. We added roof-mount solar heat for the pool. Not only is the pool showing about 10 degrees warmer than ambient, but even on the 85-90F days we've had so far, we haven't had to run the air conditioning in the house. Last year, that would not have been the case. Expensive to install, yes, but well worth the benefits. Plus we sold our natural gas heater to someone else to help offset the costs. Yesterday, with about 62F OAT with the sun shining on the pool, I was happily sitting in a pool lounger, water about 70F, and very happy. It was cold the past week, and today (high of 70 or so), the pool's already up to 74.

Regarding the OP's question, I have no experience with salt water pools, but I've found no issues getting any stains off with a chlorine pool in proper chemistry. We have a lined pool. Sometimes I need to rub my feet over something that's especially stubborn, but rarely. We use baking soda for alkalinity/pH up.
 
wsuffa said:
Question 1: what kind of pool? Gunnite or vinyl-lined?
Click to expand...

Gunnite.
I have tried just about everything except filling the entire pool with bottle caps and making the whole thing a nice rust color.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I felt that way about our pool until yesterday. We added roof-mount solar heat for the pool. Not only is the pool showing about 10 degrees warmer than ambient, but even on the 85-90F days we've had so far, we haven't had to run the air conditioning in the house. Last year, that would not have been the case. Expensive to install, yes, but well worth the benefits. Plus we sold our natural gas heater to someone else to help offset the costs. Yesterday, with about 62F OAT with the sun shining on the pool, I was happily sitting in a pool lounger, water about 70F, and very happy. It was cold the past week, and today (high of 70 or so), the pool's already up to 74.

Regarding the OP's question, I have no experience with salt water pools, but I've found no issues getting any stains off with a chlorine pool in proper chemistry. We have a lined pool. Sometimes I need to rub my feet over something that's especially stubborn, but rarely. We use baking soda for alkalinity/pH up.
Click to expand...


I heated my pool up to start the season early. Got it just warm enough for us all to get in and swim a bit.

I went to bed and kept feeling like I was forgetting something.
Woke up and the pool was 98 degrees. :mad2:
 
Try a Mr. Clean eraser pad. They dissolve in water, so dive down and work fast. Haven't found anything yet they won't clean up. But what do I know, my pool was fresh water and vinyl-lined.

Good luck!
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I heated my pool up to start the season early. Got it just warm enough for us all to get in and swim a bit.

I went to bed and kept feeling like I was forgetting something.
Woke up and the pool was 98 degrees. :mad2:
Click to expand...

That was the other half of why I decided to sell the gas heater (the first half being I like money in my pocket! :) ). I was afraid that our kid would go for the dial, turn it to max, and I'd find a $5,000 gas bill in the mail.

Give the solar some consideration. The house benefits alone make it worthwhile in my opinion. Plus it can be used as a cooler at night if your pool gets too hot from just the sun and outside temp.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
How do I get rust stains off the surface?

.....a few bottle caps made their way to the bottom of the pool.

Also a couple of those flags they put in the yard when burying cable managed to blow in.

Needless to say I have some rust stains on the pool. .......
Click to expand...

As a "former " pool maintainer in another life.... I have to ask....

How long did the bottle caps and flags sink to the bottom before you saw them???:dunno:
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I was happily sitting in a pool lounger, water about 70F, and very happy.
Click to expand...

70? Yikes. I think I'd have an "innie" at that temperature. ;-)

We don't even think about getting in our pool until it hits the upper 70's. 76 is bearable, but 80 is much better.

I use solar pool blankets to help warm our pool. I doubt that the solar aspect has much benefit, but I know that the insulation value is worth something, and the prevention of evaporative cooling is worth a lot.
 
N801BH said:
As a "former " pool maintainer in another life.... I have to ask....

How long did the bottle caps and flags sink to the bottom before you saw them???:dunno:
Click to expand...

That seems like a GREAT question doesn't it?

Soooooo in the winter, we shut it down. Net over the pool to keep the dogs out and catch a stray kid that might get too close.

Well my dog decided to chew through my 1800 dollar net :mad:

That is when we had the wire buried around the pool which helps the dog understand how ****ed I was anytime he gets too close to it. (Read ZAP!)

This was our first time having a pool so I assumed I could just turn it off. You kinda can but not really a good idea. Being saltwater it requires almost no maintenance. Toss in some acid from time to time. However we continued to make use of the hot tub through the winter.

I know the 2 flags went in around the time the wire was buried and I didn't notice them for probably a month and a half (I know...) Not sure about the bottle caps.

Had I not completely shut it down, the sweeper would have picked some of it up and moved some of it around but I didn't know better.

So month minimum...
 
JoseCuervo said:
CLR?
Click to expand...

I bought a bottle and I am trying to come up with clever ways to get it down there.

Seriously this is what I have come up with.

1. Plunger.
2. swim it to the bottom
3. Suction it over the stain
4. Syringe
5. Swim it down to the plunger
6. inject the CLR through the plunger rubber into the pocket and let it soak

This is the best idea I have come up with.
 
Any friends that are scuba certified?
 
kmead said:
I just opened my pool in MA. I beginning to think that the cure for all of my pool problems would be to drain it and fill it with dirt.
Click to expand...

My solution: Building a new house without pool, sell old house.
 
kyleb said:
70? Yikes. I think I'd have an "innie" at that temperature. ;-)

We don't even think about getting in our pool until it hits the upper 70's. 76 is bearable, but 80 is much better.

I use solar pool blankets to help warm our pool. I doubt that the solar aspect has much benefit, but I know that the insulation value is worth something, and the prevention of evaporative cooling is worth a lot.
Click to expand...

Note that I was in a lounger, not the pool itself. Big difference. :)

We tried a solar blanket, but our pool is about 20x45. Aside from being ugly, the blanket for that size is unwieldy. We used it 2-3x before I said "**** this ****" and sold it on craigslist. For a smaller pool, it would be much easier.

Bill Jennings said:
My solution: Building a new house without pool, sell old house.
Click to expand...

For us, I specifically didn't want a pool. But we liked this house enough and the pool was well done enough to make me say fine. The hot tub is my favorite, personally, and we're probably going to buy a new one here soon.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
For us, I specifically didn't want a pool. But we liked this house enough and the pool was well done enough to make me say fine.
Click to expand...

Ditto, our house was a court ordered divorce sale and we got it at 60% of the going $/sqft rate for the area. And, our daughter and her friends have greatly enjoyed the pool over the years, but its time to move on.

We have a 21ft bowrider and now spend the weekends on the lake hanging out with friends, and I enjoy lake swimming much more than pools. So, selling the house and moving downtown. Goodbye pool headaches, large lawns, and 1hr commutes. Hello 3mi bicycle rides to work, no grass landscaping, and walking from the new house to over 30 shops, stores, bars, restaurants and city parks.

The new house will be much smaller, de-crufting is liberating!
 
Get a long PVC tube that reaches the bottom. Place the tube over said stain with the other end just above the surface of the pool. Pour acid into the pipe. The acid will sink and come to rest on the stain. Hold PVC pipe in place for as long as you can stand it and then wait some more.

Repeat if necessary. You're welcome.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Ditto, our house was a court ordered divorce sale and we got it at 60% of the going $/sqft rate for the area. And, our daughter and her friends have greatly enjoyed the pool over the years, but its time to move on.

We have a 21ft bowrider and now spend the weekends on the lake hanging out with friends, and I enjoy lake swimming much more than pools. So, selling the house and moving downtown. Goodbye pool headaches, large lawns, and 1hr commutes. Hello 3mi bicycle rides to work, no grass landscaping, and walking from the new house to over 30 shops, stores, bars, restaurants and city parks.

The new house will be much smaller, de-crufting is liberating!
Click to expand...

The "kid will enjoy the pool" factor was part of what made me figure the pool was alright to go for, since the rest of the package was so very much what we were looking for.

The couple we bought the house from wasn't in a dissimilar situation of wanting to reduce the headaches of the significant house and property to deal with. Although I wouldn't take this for a 1-hour commute. Yuck.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
We tried a solar blanket, but our pool is about 20x45. Aside from being ugly, the blanket for that size is unwieldy.
Click to expand...

Agree, they are no panacea. Our pool is about the same size as yours (ours is kidney shaped), and I cut two blankets to fit the pool. Two (nominal) 20x20 blankets are infinitely easier to manage than a 20x40.

The good thing is that I only use them in the "shoulder" seasons. I figure they give us another month or 6 weeks of pool use every year.
 
Captain said:
Get a long PVC tube that reaches the bottom. Place the tube over said stain with the other end just above the surface of the pool. Pour acid into the pipe. The acid will sink and come to rest on the stain. Hold PVC pipe in place for as long as you can stand it and then wait some more.

Repeat if necessary. You're welcome.
Click to expand...

Going to try this.

Also AggieMike,
Bring your scuba gear and a magic eraser

Attacking this from all angles
 
Ted DuPuis said:
We tried a solar blanket, but our pool is about 20x45. Aside from being ugly, the blanket for that size is unwieldy. We used it 2-3x before I said "**** this ****" and sold it on craigslist. For a smaller pool, it would be much easier.
Click to expand...

I had a solar blanket in San Antonio. Pretty much had to - the city water restrictions mandated that pools had to be covered when not in use to reduce evaporation. Big fines if you didn't. Solar blanket was only logical choice. And yes, it was unweildy & reduced use of the pool.
 
Captain said:
Get a long PVC tube that reaches the bottom. Place the tube over said stain with the other end just above the surface of the pool. Pour acid into the pipe. The acid will sink and come to rest on the stain. Hold PVC pipe in place for as long as you can stand it and then wait some more.

Repeat if necessary. You're welcome.
Click to expand...

:):):):):):):):):)

You sir are a freaking genius!
Took me awhile to get around to trying this.

Just went out and got 2 in PVC put it on the stain, poured in the Acid.
5 minutes a pop and they are gone. no sign whatsoever that anything was there.

I am so happy.

If you are ever nearby, I am going to buy you an ice cold beer!

Thanks again.
 
Amusingly while assembling the endless pool (which you do parts of after it's got several feet of water in it holding the liner down) I ended up trying to tighten screws underwater. My wife being fairly smart asked if using a scuba mask might not be easier. She was right and I had her bring me my snorkel as well. Had it been any deeper I might have considered getting a the tanks and regulator out as well.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
:):):):):):):):):)

You sir are a freaking genius!
Took me awhile to get around to trying this.

Just went out and got 2 in PVC put it on the stain, poured in the Acid.
5 minutes a pop and they are gone. no sign whatsoever that anything was there.

I am so happy.

If you are ever nearby, I am going to buy you an ice cold beer!

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Yay! I was wondering what you were doing with the PVC when I left for work. Glad to hear you got them cleaned up! Thanks.
 
I'm waiting for Mr. and Mrs. 6PC to start using this board to remind each other to stop at the store for milk and eggs on the way home!

:D
 
Good point Matthew.

Salmon planks are good to go but don't forget to pick up some sides on your way home from work. Potatoes or rice pilaf would be good.
 
Almost forgot, stop by Tony's and get a big ol bag of weed too.
 
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