317 viewschemicalsecoFinishTroubleshoot
We’re on the West Coast.  We had our pool refinished with EcoFinish (California white) back at the end of April.  At the same time, the installer replaced our old pool light with a new one.  That light installation proved problematic — the light was nonfunctional, and after a few weeks, we noticed a long line of rust leaking out of the light housing and down our beautiful new EcoFinish.
We didn’t want to try to remove the stain ourselves, because we don’t know how, and were afraid of damaging the finish or invalidating our warranty … so we asked the installer to repair/replace the nonfunctional light and remove the stain it had caused.  They got the light working, but the stain is proving harder to deal with.
They’ve sent a diver out twice now.  I think he’s applied some kind of acid to the stain … and it’s certainly better, but it’s still visible, and makes our expensively refinished pool look dingy and old.  I’m getting frustrated and wondering if we should be trying something else, but I don’t want to do anything that isn’t safe for the finish?  I see miraculous-looking applications on YouTube of ascorbic acid (followed by sequestering agents) to pools to remove rust stains, but I don’t know if this is approach would work or be “safe” for EcoFinish.   Can you advise?
Ask the Pool Guy Changed status to publish August 18, 2023

Hi – yes, you can use stain free on the stain. It’s a powder based ascorbic acid and you would just dump it out at the wall right there to hit the light area. the Screw holding the light in place could be corroding and it could be as simple as changing the screw. If the housing itself is causing the rust then figuring out what part is doing it would help. Alternatively you can rub actual vitamin c tablets on the stain and it will come off in seconds. The stainfree does cause the chlorine in the pool to be used up, so once the stain is gone – let the filter run for a few hours and then shock the pool with chlorine and you should be fine.
Also – a magic eraser should also be safe on the ecofinish – but it’s hit or miss whether that removes staining of rust – sometimes it works sometimes it does not.

Make sure to double check your pH and alkalinity levels – aggressive water when those are low contribute to rusting, even of stainless steel in extreme cases.

Best of luck!

Ask the Pool Guy Changed status to publish August 18, 2023

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