First: I constantly receive e-mails stating that I was right, that the customer should not have done their own chlorine rinse or acid wash, that they gassed themselves, gassed their pets, gassed their kids, ended up in the emergency room, ended up gasping for air for three days or longer, dog was sick for days, they ate holes in their clothes, shoes, skin, deck, pool, ... and that they cost themselves hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars, more than they would have paid to hire a professional to do the work. Consider yourself warned. Acid Washes 1.) Are designed ONLY to remove staining from the pool surface. Things an Acid Wash WILL NOT Do: A.) Remove calcium deposits from tile (At least they will not doing it without destroying the pool surface beneath the tile and eating out the grout, causing much more expensive problems.) (For "Calcium Deposits on Tile" Click: HERE!) B.) Effectively remove algae from a pool. (Algae excretes a waxy substance that prevents the acid from killing all but the topmost layer. to remove algae from a pool surface, you must eat the pool surface out from under the algae, taking off years of pool surface life. Have a pool professional do Chlorine Rinse first.) Note: any acid that comes into contact with any chlorine will create chlorine gas, which is used to kill people, animals, ... again, leave this to a professional who does this for a living and knows what he is doing. (For "Algae on Pool Surfaces" Click: HERE!) C.) Remove Calcium Nodules (They look like bird droppings that won't brush off the pool's surface.) from the pool's surface. (For "Calcium Nodules": Click HERE!) D.) Remove trowel marks, plaster cracks(Click HERE!) or delaminations(Click HERE!), remove plaster etching(Click: HERE!) (It will always make this worse.), remove anything actually "in" the pool surface. Chlorine Rinses: ONLY KILL ALGAE!!! Chlorine Rinses WILL NOT: A.) Remove any staining on the pool surface (See Acid Washes above, or: HERE!) B.) Kill algae imbedded in the pool surface. (It will help, but it won't get it all.) (See Also "Plaster Delamination" Click HERE!) C.) Remove Calcium nodules or calcium on tile. (Note: Of the calcium deposits and algae on tile is bad enough, the algae could be trapped between layers of calcium, and protected by a layer of calcium, algae might be immune to a chlorine rinse in these areas in severe cases. (See "Calcium Nodules": HERE! or "Calcium on Tile": HERE!) D.) Remove trowel marks, plaster cracks(Click HERE!) or delaminations(Click HERE!), remove plaster etching(Click: HERE!) (But it won't make this worse.), remove anything actually "in" the pool surface. To Summarize: Algae = Chlorine Rinse, ... Staining on Pool Surface = Acid Wash, ... Calcium on Tile = Tile cleaning, ... Calcium Nodules = Nodule Scraping and Epoxy Filling, ... Plaster etching, material in plaster, delamination or popping, trowel marks, ... = Resurfacing... one does not do the work of the others. They do not mix results from each other. Each is a separate process. The Cheaper Chlorine Rinses & Acid Washes Aren't Are there people who do acid washes or chlorine rinses for less than half the amount I charge? Yes. Do they do quality work, without risk to your pool, your health, ... No. I guarantee you that their process does not take 3-6 hours to complete. I guarantee that they are not going to use $40 - $80 in supplies to treat your pool. Will they use a chlorine or acid sprayer? No. They probably don't even own one. What are they going to do? They are probably going to pick up 4 gallons of bleach or Acid, pour them over the walls of your pool without even getting into the pool, and then, they are going to start the hoses. Whalla, 10 minute(or less) chlorine rinse or acid wash. I have watched these people do it. Often the hire unknowledgeable driving age high school kids, or college kids, to do the process. Other companies use the same labor, but charge slightly more because they invested $12 to plastic sprinkling can and pour the chlorine or acid into that, and dump that in your pool. 20 minutes later, again, hoses started without: 1.) Rinsing 2.) Making sure all the algae is dead 3.) Draining out the muck, dead algae, ... at the bottom And, Again, they never entered your pool. Ask Questions! Ask what process they are using. Are they using a chlorine sprayer? Do they drain out the muck from the bottom after the acid wash or chlorine rinse? How many times are they willing to treat a given area? Do they re-treat until all the algae is gone? Do they re-treat until all the staining is gone for an acid wash? Do they know what happens if chlorine bleach, or a chlorine tab comes into contact with pool acid? You are going to, in most cases, get what you pay for. For more information on Acid Washes click: HERE! For more information on Chlorine Rinses, click : HERE! For More Chlorine Rinse or acid wash information, check out these sub-topics (Below, or the links ^) |