Printable Version | Subscribe | Add to Favourites
New Topic New Poll New Reply
Author: Subject: HElp - Red stuff between tiles at swimming baths, body fat?
MikeR

posted on 24/2/09 at 11:49 AM Reply With Quote
HElp - Red stuff between tiles at swimming baths, body fat?

Ok, sorry for the strange subject.

Friend is learning to be a swimming instructor. Yesterday they got told that the red stuff in grout where you shower and the reason some tiles are slippy is cause human body fat coats things. Its something to do with the chlorine in the water.

She asked her sister who is also a swimming instructor and she said "yeah we where told that". Personally she thinks this is an urban myth and maybe they mean the oils in your skin.

So .... in true challenge locostbuilders .... whats the answer? Is it body fat, is it body oils is it just some cleaning substance or .... ?

The clock has started ticking.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
hellbent345

posted on 24/2/09 at 11:57 AM Reply With Quote
i would have thought it more likely they mean oils and things at the surface of the skin being washed out and chemically extracted from your skin and getting on the tiles, reacting with chlorine or whatever to create soapy substance, i wouldnt have thought its actually body fat, else people would be sitting in pools waiting for thier excess fat to get washed away!
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Mr Whippy

posted on 24/2/09 at 11:57 AM Reply With Quote
Its skin oils and dirt + algae

Body fat is stored in cells so unless someone is performing DIY liposuction on the pools edge it can't be that

Anyone who keeps fish will know just how hard it can be to keep algae growth down






View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
smart51

posted on 24/2/09 at 12:03 PM Reply With Quote
Its the blood of those people who play tricks on the lifeguards.
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
omega0684

posted on 24/2/09 at 12:04 PM Reply With Quote
i would highly doubt that it is body fat! for one how would it get from under the epidermal layer of shin into the water! it is more likely to be the oils from the skin.

fat molecules in the body are made up of 2 main parts, a phosphorylated hydrophilic (water liking) head and a polysaturated or poly-unstaturated hydrophobic (water hating) tail. when fat molecules come together in water they form a ball with the hydrophobic tail pointing towards the centre and the hydrophilic heads facing the water. this also happens when fats find surfaces to bind to. ie the side of the swimming pool or a shower cubicle etc.

as mentioned already it is more likely to be some form of bacteria or algae biproduct that has stained the tiles.

glad to be of service

View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
nick205

posted on 24/2/09 at 12:15 PM Reply With Quote
If it's true then I'mm off down the baths with a pack of choccy HobNobs






View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
hellbent345

posted on 24/2/09 at 12:25 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
If it's true then I'mm off down the baths with a pack of choccy HobNobs


lol wot!!

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
James

posted on 24/2/09 at 12:33 PM Reply With Quote
I think I'm gonna yack...

For years I've hated the idea of bathing in the same sh!tty water that everyone else has been in.

This has definately concluded for me that I won't be going swimming any time soon!

Cheers,
James





------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights." - Muhammad Ali

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
DarrenW

posted on 24/2/09 at 01:01 PM Reply With Quote
mmmmmmm, choccy hobnobs.


To expand the OP's thread a bit. Is it just his local baths that suffer or is it others too






View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
Mr Whippy

posted on 24/2/09 at 01:09 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by DarrenW
mmmmmmm, choccy hobnobs.


To expand the OP's thread a bit. Is it just his local baths that suffer or is it others too


any of the baths he's been peeing in






View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
woodster

posted on 24/2/09 at 01:17 PM Reply With Quote
I worked at a sports centre a few years ago and they used a jet wash to clean the showers of what we were told at the time was body fat
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Mr Whippy

posted on 24/2/09 at 01:48 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by woodster
I worked at a sports centre a few years ago and they used a jet wash to clean the showers of what we were told at the time was body fat


brill






View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
paulf

posted on 24/2/09 at 02:20 PM Reply With Quote
I think it is some kind of algae.I work in a food factory and it seems to develop in areas which are warm and damp and does not seem to be killed by the usual chlorine based cleaners, it also seems to occur mostly on plastic pipework and cladding.They alternate between chlorine and peroxide type disinfectant cleaners as it seems some are more effective than others for different algaes bacteria etc.
Paul

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
clairetoo

posted on 24/2/09 at 04:30 PM Reply With Quote
Um.........if swimming is supposed to keep you thin , then why are whales so fat ?





Its cuz I is blond , innit

Claire xx

Will weld for food......

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
MikeRJ

posted on 24/2/09 at 05:46 PM Reply With Quote
Utter cobblers regarding body fat theories I'm afraid. Body fat does not simply dissolve out of people, if it did I would spend far longer in the bathroom!

The pink/red deposits you sometimes get in grout is caused by a class of bacteria called Methylobacterium, which are harmless to healthy people.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
twybrow

posted on 24/2/09 at 06:07 PM Reply With Quote
As a former leisure centre manaager, I can confrim this is true...! The body fat (aka oily skin etc) is the slippery feeling underfoot. We are not talking of people dropping pounds at a time on the floor!

Another gross you out truth - if you go to a pool and your eyes hurt, it is not too much chlorine, it is too much pee! Too much chlorine will make your eyes hurt, but only after it has bleached your costume (which I have seen!).

One more - if you poo in the pool, it is only closed to make the public feel better. In reality, we scoop the lumps and continue. The only exception is the runs, where we have to close while we check chlorine levels, then take a water sample, then reopen!

Enjoy your swim!

[Edited on 24/2/09 by twybrow]

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
scootz

posted on 24/2/09 at 06:39 PM Reply With Quote
Used to use pools when I was a kid... then I realised how rank-rotten the bloomin things were and haven't been in years!
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member

New Topic New Poll New Reply


go to top






Website design and SEO by Studio Montage

All content © 2001-16 LocostBuilders. Reproduction prohibited
Opinions expressed in public posts are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of other users or any member of the LocostBuilders team.
Running XMB 1.8 Partagium [© 2002 XMB Group] on Apache under CentOS Linux
Founded, built and operated by ChrisW.