Hi All I am looking for advice. I have been struggling with my SWG since I installed it about two months ago. I cannot convince myself it is doing anything since I am unable to maintain any chlorine in my pool. I can shock with bleach and it drops to near zero after two days.

I phoned to ask autopilot if it is possible my cell is not working without getting an error code. After giving them my cell readings of 17V & 5.1A, they said it must be working and the problem is related to my pool water chemistry. This may be true but I am wondering if it is possible my cell is defective but still producing voltage and amperage values within spec?

I do see bubbles in my returns when it is on but when loosening the cell to test water leaking out of the fittings after the cell, I show very little free chlorine in this captured water, maybe ~ 0.5 mg/L . I am sure my test kits are good and have used both DPD and the yellow solution (forget what this one is).

All sugestions are aprreciated
15K gal, 3200 TDS, pH 7.8, Alk 120, Hardness 800, CYA >100.

I doubt you are shocking with a CYA level greater than 100 and the bleach you add is gone in 2 days. Please read Pool School and pay particular attention to the section on CYA levels and how they pertain to the needed free chlorine levels.

Scott

Looking at your TDS and CH numbers, I have to wonder what your salt level is. Your TA and pH is a bit high also.

Like Scott said, I would go to Pool School and then work on your overall water.

Your SWG is certainly working. You have some kind of water chemistry problem, almost certainly combined with an algae problem (which isn't always visible) that is consuming all of the chlorine. You need to balance your levels appropriately, shock the pool, and get things back to normal. Once you have done that, the SWG will start behaving normally again.

The most obvious problem is your high CYA level. You need to get CYA down to something more reasonable, say around 80, before doing anything else. If harness is really 800, that is going to pose problems as well. Hopefully the water replacement you need to do to get CYA down will lower CH as well.

All,

Thanks for the advice. I shall this week work on water replacement to dilute my CYA and hardness, and report back once I get things balanced.