New to this forum; buddy says it's great for getting info.
My issue is with my new CircuPool SWG that I replaced my old Zodiac with. It won't generate chlorine at all. I have all the levels where they should be according to the company, but the techs at the company say my phosphates are too high at 200-500. Reading on here that neccessarily isn't true?
I can definitely see a cloud/gas come off the cells which the company says means it's generating chlorine and I'm taking readings right off the cell at my waterfall.
Any suggestions? I've been fighting this for 6-8 weeks and have to keep adding chlorine to keep from losing the pool to algae.

Welcome to TFP.
Do you have a full set of test results? If so post them and how you got them.
pH
FC
CC
TA
CH
CYA
Salt

I suspect that you have an algae bloom and it's consuming FC as fast as the swcg can make it.

I don't have the sheet in front of me, but I had the water professionally tested at a pool store and here's what I remember:
CC & FC were less than 1
CYA was high, but not to where I need to drain
Phosphates 500
PH 7.4
Salt 4200

How do I know if I have an algae problem?
My cycle with troubleshooting has been trying to get the SWG to work, getting algae during this period, then having to shock and get chlorine back up just to do it all again trying to get generation.

Ok, you NEED a good test kit so you can take control of your pool. Once you have one, there are some very specific tests that can be ran to determine whether you have algea. You can't do it using the pool store tests. If you read around the forum a bit you'll see that the professional tests aren't! They are usually reported to be wildly wrong.

With high CYA and a FC less than 1 you most surely have algae. You need to raise your FC with bleach to about 10 ppm and hold it there until you can get a good test kit.

We can help you get your pool cleared up and help you run it so you don't have this problem in the future.

OK, finally got one of the kits recommended for testing water. The generator will not generate enough chlorine for the pool without adding bleach to keep at acceptable levels. I did a FC overnight test as listed in the pool school and lost about .5ppm overnight, so if I understand correctly, I don't have a problem with something depleting the chlorine? the manufacturer of this new generator says it's working correctly if I can see the gas come off the cell, but it definitely can't generate chlorine. I'm at the point of returning it and asking for my money back and just sticking with bleach. Any suggestions?

Please post a complete set of test results.

In fact, post the last night and this morning results. Especially the FC & CC's

PH: 7.6
FC night: 1.8
FC morning: 1.2
CC: 0

Do you know your CYA level?

I don't, but the last time it was done it was high, but not excessive.

How the SWG does is very dependent on the CYA level. I suggest you get a new CYA test result.

bfr, please take a fresh water sample and have them test for all the parameters that Bama asked for (post #2), and report them to us.
How many hours per day is your pump running? Are you currently running at 100% output?
First, ensure you're at 100% and the cell is generating (by the bubbles in the cell), wait a few minutes, loosen the union after the cell, and take a water sample from that point. If it shows a higher chlorine level than what's in your pool, the cell is generating chlorine.
If theres no bubbling action, your salt system is not working properly.
Do you have any warning lights on the control unit?

How new is the unit? Do you have the correct voltage going to it? Most systems are factory supplied for 220 volts.

CYA is right around 100. My pump is running 9 hours a day at 100% as is the generator. Just cleaned the cell this weekend and the entire system was just installed in April. I bought one step up for the size of my pool so it wouldn't have to run 100% (per company). I do see the gas coming off the cell and can see it stop when I shut the generator off. There aren't any warning lights on and have calibrated the salt level (3900ppm) to the unit. I just added bleach this morning, so I'm up to 3ppm again in FC, still no CC. PH remains the same. I'll try that method for getting a sample and see what it's got, but it'll have to wait until the FC comes back down. I also had to put some chlorine pucks on the pool floor to fight black algae that has moved in and won't budge. Any of that help?

Your CYA level is probably higher than 100. Several of the common CYA tests will report levels over 100 as if they were 100.

Most likely you have a low level algae problem, there is enough algae to use up all your chlorine, but not enough to be visibly obvious. Getting rid of algae when CYA is that high is extremely difficult. I would replace water to get CYA down below 100, then shock the pool, and after that the SWG will probably work just fine.

Really? Drain the pool? I'll check with CircuPool again, but when I gave them all the numbers, they didn't seem overly concerned.

Circupool is not really gonna help you but that's your prerogative. When you want help, just post back and we'll help you out.

Not completely drain down your pool. Just enough to get your cya level to about 75 ppm. Mayby start with draining 6" - 10" of water at a time and refill, until you're able to get the cya down. Unfortunately, that's the only way to get cya levels down. Most test kits will read to 100 ppm, and if it is higher, you're not able to discern what level it's at.

THE ELECTRICAL WIRES ARE HOOKED UP CORRECTLY AND IT IS A 220v MY CIRCUPOOL SALT WATER PUMP I JUST GOT IT YESTERDAY IT WAS HOOKED UP CORRECTLY BUT IT'S NOT POWERING ON IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE I CAN DO TO GET IT WORKING?