A Tale of Swimming Pool Woes!

[Annamaria]

I don't know if this'll work. It's the closest I have of the pool - my pictures are generally taken to maximise the nostalgia for Italy when I'm here in Brussels in the dark and dank!

[deborahandricky]

Looks like a Koi carp in the pool .............lol

[Michael O]

Do you live near a vineyard?
last year the one near us used a copper based pesticide and it blew into our pool, liner is blue and had pale green all round more noticeable in side that gets less sun, Andrea, sirplast said it could only be removed by his men using a chlorine and calcium stain remover mix wearing brething masks etc. we left it for six months and it faded slightly!
this year we have had purple rain! yes a load of purple sand deposited in the pool which stuck to the bottom and took two weeks to hoover out
we await next years colour!
ps the chemical which i presume is blue that you got from sirplast will remove all suntan etc.

[Penny]

It happened to a friend and it was caused by fake tan creams. Basically they had a tanned swimming pool!

[strawberrystar]

Hi
Sorry for the delay. I have been to Italy to meet my pool installer. He said it is a problem with British high factor sun creams containing zinc. The zinc has a chemical reaction with the liner and causes this staining. I cannot believe that they sell these pools to Brits for holiday homes and don't even mention this. He offered us the chance to buy a new liner though! As a last ditch attempt at saving this he is going to try a lake cleaning product but he doesn't hold out much hope. I have attached some pics. Comments please!
Thanks

[alan h]

Originally Posted by strawberrystar

Hi
........... He offered us the chance to buy a new liner ................. I have attached some pics. Comments please!
Thanks

I'd go for Juliancoll's cover strip suggestion - seems a reasonably cheap and effectice option


.

[Technically Blonde]

We have had our pool for three seasons now - now we have the same problem, for the first time this year. It is exactly as you have described. I have tried various hard surface (pool products) but to no avail. It seems the chlorine does gradually fade the colour as with the water level raised the stain below has gradually got less. We do live near vineyards and as this is the first year this has happened I'm leaning towards vineyard chemical / fertiliser cause.

I'd be interested to know more about the adhesive strip solution, has anyone tried it. We were told by one pool supplier that it had to be put on before the pool was fiilled and could not be applied afterwards so we had given up on that idea

[juliancoll]

It's called "Borderline" and there are quite a few different colours, shades and designs available. Works very well.

[anne2]

Originally Posted by strawberrystar

Hi
Sorry for the delay. I have been to Italy to meet my pool installer. He said it is a problem with British high factor sun creams containing zinc. The zinc has a chemical reaction with the liner and causes this staining. I cannot believe that they sell these pools to Brits for holiday homes and don't even mention this. He offered us the chance to buy a new liner though! As a last ditch attempt at saving this he is going to try a lake cleaning product but he doesn't hold out much hope. I have attached some pics. Comments please!
Thanks

Surely, rather then replacing the liner or masking the problem with the Borderline strip, both of which are purely cosmetic solutions you also need to find out how to stop the staining in the first place? Easier said than done I know! Otherwise, you risk ending up with a 'Forth Road Bridge' type situation where it is an ongoing year in year out problem! If the zinc in the sun cream is really guilty why does it not cause problems with every single pool used by Brits in their high factor creams? Could it be the particular chemicals you use in the pool that could be reacting with the liner &/or the sun creams? Maybe worth trying different chemicals as recommended by a pool owner who has high factor creamed up Brits in their pool but who does not have this staining? We don't have a pool so sadly can't offer any firm solutions but it did occur to me that the solutions offered are a quick fix & cosmetic and not dealing with the root of the problem. Good luck.

[Michael O]

The zinc in the cream seems a reasonable explanation and prehaps is more accurate than the pesticide from the vineyard as i know other people in the area have had a similar problem this year

we will just have to install high pressure hoses and wash the british guests down before they get in the pool!!