SWG causes rebar stain

I have an Anthony and Sylvan pool (36000 gallons) built in 1999 it is plastered with ansel brite. I installed a Goldline SWG about 3 years ago. The unit works fine. My problem is that im getting stains from the rebar in the concrete. The ansel brite plaster bubbles then cracks off and you can see the bare gunnite and the metal stain seeping thru. The first stain was at my swim out area. They sent a tech out and he drained about 12000 gallons from the pool and cut into the stain and removed the rebar and patched it. Several weeks later the stain returned. Again they cut in removed more rebar and patched it. The next year the Stain returned (sounds like a bad nightmare doesnt it)they drained cut and patched it and it finally worked. But I have a big ugly patch. Now this year I have a big stain at the very bottom of my pool. Its the same thing, rebar. It bubbled up and the plaster broke off. You can see the bare gunite and the stain seeping thru. Now Anthony and Sylvan pools say they are going to drain, cut and patch this rebar stain to. Remember its 36000 gallons. And remember that every time they have to drain, I have to fill , condition, add salt and chemicals. Around 500 bucks every time. The tech said there having alot of these stains due to SWG. He said if the rebar is to close to the surface you'll get a stain and now that they sell SWG at Anthony and Sylvan there much more careful when building the pools. Wish they had that kind of Quality control when I was having my pool built in 1999. I've talked to several people and I realize that Rebar stains are not uncommon. My problem is the stain this time is dead center in my pool. And I dont want a big ugly patch. Id love for them to patch it and replaster the pool but I dont believe they will go for that as my plaster is only guaranteed for 3 years. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks Steve

ph is 7.5, cya 80, hardness 250, al 100-120, pretty normal.

I'd say that if they're having this problem with a lot of SWG pools, then they're doing a lot of bad work. It sounds like the rebar is WAY too close to the plaster. If they aren't digging at least 1" into the gunnite to get to the rebar to remove it, then they did something wrong. This type of defect might show up quicker in a salt pool, but it will show up in any pool that has rebar that close to the surface. Even their fix points to a construction problem, they're just removing the rebar that's too close to the surface. If the salt was causing properly embedded rebar to rust, you'd see the whole grid rusting through your plaster

This is hard to believe. I had an A&S pool built last year. The gunite completely covers the rebar and the plaster adds another layer on top of that.

Concrete and plaster both absorb some water but enough water and air is being absorbed to cause rust to this degree? Possible, I guess. But the fact that you can see it is what's harder to believe, IMO.

Yea the guys and gals at Anthony and Sylvan pools havnt been alot of help. They want to come out and drain my pool down. And repair the rebar but they dont seam to want to help with the cost of the water, conditioner, salt, all the chemicals. So ill brobably have to eat the cost again on that. This will be my 4th time.

As mentioned in the previous reply it could be the rebar being too close or it could be the the quality of the concrete or finish mix. Either way you may wish to employ an engineer that works with cement and have that person determine if the work was done properly and if the quality of the mix and construction was up to spec. If not then you may need an attorney to have your pool rebuilt.

One question you may wish to ask the engineer is for the type of mix used in the concrete how long should have been the cure time and was the concrete protected from strong sunlight and sprinkled for the correct amount of days and times for that particular mix. If not it may not have hardened to its correct strength and protection. If the final coat was applied too early then this to may be an issue. You might have to get the construction date records from the builder through the attorney.

It might be a little of each.

But if you do have to go to court you may only wish to work with an attorney who works on contingency (see post on Pool builder from H**L).

Good luck.

Man - Do I just LOVE my fiberglass pool