Fiberglass Pool Bleaching under the water line

Hi All please let me know if this has been covered before and point me in the right direction thanks.

We have had our new pool for just on 3 years now and the pool coating is starting to bleach. I have rang the pool company they have told me it is because i have been ruining the chlorination to high.I always test regularly and make sure my chemicals are balanced I got a print out from the pool shop of about 10 water test all showing balanced levels of chlorine. The pool company said it would be very costly for them to come out and test to see if the gel coat is defective. Looking for anyone that has been in this situation or that can give some advise thanks in advance.

I've seen this on about 6 pools . Below the water indicates it is a water problem . Prolonged high chlorine or ph. Generally it is pools with a heater on the same pump as chlorinator or people using a pool blanket . Even not turning the chlorine output down in winter can cause high chlorine over winter . Does it come off when scrubbed . If not try rubbing a patch with 800 wet and dry paper . See if it gets its shine back . If it does check again in 3 weeks time .
Sometimes a buff using cutting compound will rejuvenate it.

Thanks for your advice wheeliworks So you don't think i should purse a warranty claim with the pool company to get it fixed.It sounds like it will be difficult considering i need written proof of a pool test every month from an electronic pool testing shop.

I have never seen a successful claim . I once drilled a core hole a in a bleached pool and sent to a lab for testing . We spent a few thousand testing and they couldn't prove weather it was chlorine bleaching or a faulty gel coat . Unless you can provide fortnightly water testing with no high results you wouldn't be able to prove anything . All the pools I have seen like this have had heaters connected through the filtration circuit with a salt chlorinator and a solar blanket . This combination will have massive spikes in the chlorine level whilst heating .
Try buffing or sanding with wet& dry . The gel coat is quiet thick and you can sometimes rejuvenate it .
Cheers

Hey dons80, are ok to share what you've done?

going to wait until spring will keep you updated

Hi we too have this problem in our pool that is just 2yrs old. Dons80 I am interested to hear which pool company you went through? I have had the Managing Director out from our pool company and he says it is also too high chlorine and told us to sand it back as well. I find it hard to believe though that chlorine could make such a white film over our pool that is meant to be marine grade! Our pool shop says there is no way chlorine could be too high to do this - so who do you believe?

Our pool shop has suggested getting it independently tested but we don't have the money for that - nor would we know where to start!

I would be happy to chat to you further dons80 and hear more about yours.

cheers

We went through Barrier Reef they have been good with everything else but won't budge on the bleaching. I am going to try fibreglass polish will let you know the results

Thanks for that. We used Riverina Pools. Yes please let me know how you go. It is very disappointing we pay so much money for a good looking pool and only a couple of years old and they are starting to do this!

If I fiind anything else out too I will let you know.

thanks!

By the way, we have never owned a pool before and last summer was getting what looked like yelloe algae so the pool shop we were using at the time (have since changed) suggested a shock with chlorine so we did with granulated chlorine and our levels went up to 20ppm - so I guess maybe ours is from that but nobody told me you shouldn't do it - I believed the pool shop guy having no idea about pools!

I am going to get some sand paper at the poster above suggested too and try that even just on the higher parts of the pool wall see if that makes a difference.

Interested to hear too which chlorinator setup you have? We have a Astral Viron Equilibirum chlorinator with variable speed pump.

thanks.

take a wander over to TFP and find out how much you and the pool shop dont know
https://www.troublefreepool.com/content ... e?tabid=40

Thanks aussie's - but what exactly do you suggest I look at on that site?

I have since found out that it is a manufacturing fault most likely, with a batch of gelcoats around the same time our pool was put in, but the pool companies are using too much chlorine as an excuse not to uphold their guarantee! So basically we are stuck with a fadiing pool after only 2yrs and the pool company won't own up!

I will be investigating further and contact Consumer Affairs!

I would be very interested to hear from anybody else please with this problem. Please feel free to msg me. thanks.

Hi dons80 - do you have any further update on your situation please? We have had no luck with ours and contemplating whether it is worth the fight with the pool company or just put up with it looking so awful.

Tried fiberglass polish with an electric buffer it was ok but will need to go over it again problem is you need to have the water very low which is costing when refilling and extra chemicals might try a light wet and dry sand paper as well next time;f

Hi, Dons80 and KazBoo, do you also see any white chalky film on the pool wall? That you can move with your hands but not really coming off the wall?

Cheers

Does it look something like this . It is a classic case of over chlorinating for a long period of time .
I went and looked at a pool last week only 15month old . It isn’t as bad as the one in this photo but has first signs of over chlorinating. Customer stated his pool guy was maintaining his pool so it must be correct . A test showed chlorine level off the scale .
Speaking with people in the industry it is a common problem at the moment . Even concrete pools are getting damaged finishes for the same reason .
We are now using automation which will only turn the chlorinator on when level drops .
It’s expensive now but will be the norm in 5-10 years .
Then this problem will be a thing of the past .

Hi, thanks for your photo. Mine isn't as bad as this one but without draining all the water, you never know.

You seemed to have seen a lot of similar issues with over chlorination.

Rather than the cosmetic issue, does it cause any other issues? Is it still safe to swim? Some parts of my pool wall became a bit chalky, meaning I can move he white stuff with my hand.

Thanks in advance

Perfectly safe to swim in . When water is drained it looks 50 times worse .

Hi all,
I am considering getting a Fibreglass pool, but with Salt water. Do you think i would have this issue with saltwater? or is this only chlorine pools?

i am seeing terms such as "chlorine too high" "chlorine balanced" "chlorine off the scale"
the fc must be in relationship to the cya level
so 20ppm fc would be maximum for a 50ppm cya level
and 20ppm fc could bleach liner below 50ppm cya
a fas dpd chlorine test does not have a maximum limit so there is no off the scale
how about some accurate numbers from a quality test kit