Pool Thermal System Turned Water Green

[drmtesta]

Hi all,
We had a thermal system made of PVC rather than rubber installed one week ago. 45 minutes after the system kicked on and ran through the tubes, the water in the pool started turning green. By the end of the day, it was completely green (See picture of before and after). I checked the pH and it was perfect. I shocked it several times, but no change. The company put in some cleaner but nothing happened. We have a cartridge filter system so they put in D.E. powder and the color got a bit lighter. We did it again, but no change now. . . it is still tinted green.

Pool Discolor.jpg


We tested the water and Copper was at .3 ppm and Iron was at 1 ppm. The iron is considered high. We have decided to drain and refill the pool, but we are concerned with it happening again. We are working with the company, but no answers so far.

Has this happened to anyone else? If so, how did you fix it?
Any thoughts on steps we can take?

We were so excited to begin using the pool everyday, and this happens. What a bummer.

[bridaus]

Pools are touchy, I converted to salt water myself to avoid some of the misery (only some). To help others help you, do you have the results of your chemistry testing other than the iron and copper?

Cya, ph, hardness, etc, all the standard stuff on the strips?

Any other types of new fittings in the system or changes other than adding PVC?

This is a solar panel forum BTW, so you may not be at the best place, but folks are always willing to try.

[drmtesta]

Pools are touchy, I converted to salt water myself to avoid some of the misery (only some). To help others help you, do you have the results of your chemistry testing other than the iron and copper?

Cya, ph, hardness, etc, all the standard stuff on the strips?

Any other types of new fittings in the system or changes other than adding PVC?

This is a solar panel forum BTW, so you may not be at the best place, but folks are always willing to try.

Thank you for your reply. I know it's a Solar forum, I used it when we were deciding on our system. But I saw a pool solar section and though it was worth a shot.
No, no metal in the system really that would put metal in the water. Here is the full report. Our TDS level is way too high so we need to drain it no matter what.

Thanks in advance

Pool levels.JPG

[SunEagle]

Thank you for your reply. I know it's a Solar forum, I used it when we were deciding on our system. But I saw a pool solar section and though it was worth a shot.
No, no metal in the system really that would put metal in the water. Here is the full report. Our TDS level is way too high so we need to drain it no matter what.

Thanks in advance

[ATTACH]7189[/ATTACH]

Sometimes piping or other components in a solar thermal system contain foreign material inside due to shipping and storage. Did they flushed your system for a period of time before connecting it to your pool?

[bridaus]

Also had one other thought: Is it possible the pool was "down" for a while during installation? If I left my pool off for a week, it would turn green, and it's possible it would take more than just shock to turn it back depending on chemistry.

Also, I've never had to replace my water for any issues I ever had with any pool, there was always an adjustment that could be made to rectify. Whether it was solids (filtering), algae (biocide/filter/shock), or PH (they sell+/- that works), I never had to pump and refill. Seems overkill, just stating that in case it helps.

[SunEagle]

Also had one other thought: Is it possible the pool was "down" for a while during installation? If I left my pool off for a week, it would turn green, and it's possible it would take more than just shock to turn it back depending on chemistry.

Also, I've never had to replace my water for any issues I ever had with any pool, there was always an adjustment that could be made to rectify. Whether it was solids (filtering), algae (biocide/filter/shock), or PH (they sell+/- that works), I never had to pump and refill. Seems overkill, just stating that in case it helps.

That is a possibility that the pool went south and needs to be shocked back to normal.

But with the high ppm for iron and copper as well as the TDS level something was introduced to your pool at some time or another.

You might be able to "filter" out the metals and solids and then correct the ph and hardness back down to normal. Try to keep the CL2 level up but not too high.

If the "filter" doesn't work then you might have to drain the pool, flush the piping and refill.

[drmtesta]

Thanks for the replies. I shocked the pool 3x with no change. We tried clarifier, but not metal remover. That may be next.
They said they flushed the system, but I don't know for sure. As for dumping the water, I should have done it when we bought the house. Some chemicals just don't leave the water. We have two kids under 3 and I want them in fresh water.

The manufacturer is trying to work with me on this, but it's not very helpful at the moment.

[SunEagle]

Thanks for the replies. I shocked the pool 3x with no change. We tried clarifier, but not metal remover. That may be next.
They said they flushed the system, but I don't know for sure. As for dumping the water, I should have done it when we bought the house. Some chemicals just don't leave the water. We have two kids under 3 and I want them in fresh water.

The manufacturer is trying to work with me on this, but it's not very helpful at the moment.

Based on the water test you might be able to find a carbon filter that can remove most of the contaminants in the water.

Sometimes you may need a combination of carbon and paper filters to get everything out but you will still have to treat the water to get the ph, hardness, CL2 and acid levels balanced.

[drmtesta]

Update

So the water is finally turning blue. I did a double shock and put in a metal remover called CULater. What the company thinks now is that the nitrates may been introduced into the pool from the system. I'm getting conflicting information on nitrates. Some say you cannot remove nitrates at all except by draining the pool and others say you can use a "starver" to remove them. First are nitrates dangerous and second, is draining the only way to remove them?
Thanks again for all of the help.

[bridaus]

Googlefu: http://www.pintopools.com/wordpress/...osphates-faqs/

[drmtesta]

Thanks. I did a phosphate treatment at the start of the summer. Interesting that they lump nitrates and phosphates together.
My bigger concern is making sure the solar system doesn't reintroduce the nitrates after I empty the pool. Talk about a stressful circumstance. We dropped a pile on this system and instead of making the summer better, we lose almost 2 weeks of pool use and I'm running around like an idiot trying to fix it. Crazy
Thanks again

[inetdog]

Thanks. I did a phosphate treatment at the start of the summer. Interesting that they lump nitrates and phosphates together.
My bigger concern is making sure the solar system doesn't reintroduce the nitrates after I empty the pool. Talk about a stressful circumstance. We dropped a pile on this system and instead of making the summer better, we lose almost 2 weeks of pool use and I'm running around like an idiot trying to fix it. Crazy
Thanks again

They lump nitrates and phosphates together because they are primarily worried about algae growth and you can stop that growth by denying access to either class of nutrient.
Phosphates are just easier to deal with.
When the problem is excess copper rather than algae growth, the problem and the solution are very different than with algae.

Be sure to flush the solar circuit thoroughly (without using pool water) before reconnecting to the newly filled pool.

[drmtesta]

So we are dumping the pool in about 10 days. Can I flush the thermal system myself or would that have to be done by the installer? Won't the draining sort of act like a flushing of the system? I'll be glad to get the water out of there, the plastic smell suddenly came back.

Make sure you do your due diligence on these thermal manufacturers. I've acted in good faith, paid a good bit of money and I'm being treated as if I'm the one who did something wrong. Not exactly sure how that works.
Thanks again for all the information

[Naptown]

Who was the manufacturer?
This is a first in my experience. (30 years)

[drmtesta]

I'd rather not disclose unless I feel like it's a risk to others or they do not work with us on trying to figure out the cause. That is the most important thing since we are going to refill. I'm a bit more concerned with the plastic smell suddenly returning. I was hoping this would all just go away. They say they are trying to figure out the cause although I'm not sure I'd use the empathetic to describe them unfortunately.