Copper Staining

Pool heaters are great for extending your swimming season, but did you know your heater can also lead to stains? Copper stains typically appear as a blue, bluish-green or teal patch the finish of your pool. 

Why does this happen? 

Copper is a great conductor of heat; therefore, pool heater manufacturers generally use copper fittings, which continuously release copper ions into the water. As these ions buildup they bind together eventually falling to the bottom of your pool.

Pool builders won’t tell you this because they want to sell you as many bells and whistles as possible to pad their pockets. Putting a gas heater on your pool if it has a salt system will most definitely speed up the copper staining process. Salt is corrosive, plain and simple. 

There are gas heaters out there that have cupronickel heat exchanger, which definitely slows down the staining process but does not stop it completely. The only way to avoid this is to have a heater with a titanium heat exchanger, which are in all electric heat pumps or very expensive gas heaters.

Before taking the leap and converting to saltwater, think about the way your family uses your pool. We aren't saying you can't have both, we just want you to be well informed.