New Pool Owner/SWG Question

[beanerz]

Hi all

As a new pool owner, having an issue. Pool has been up and running for 2 months now, but my SWG is not producing enough chlorine. I took a sample to the pool store around the corner, NPS Pool Supply which I am told is the best option in Las Vegas. After testing, they told me all the levels were perfect (ph, chlorine because I had added shock, CYA...) except my salt level was low. The digital readout where my pool equipment is shows 3.1 (3100 ppm), and the pool school guy told me to keep it between 3.0 and 3.2. The test at NPS said it was at 2.2. I'm running my SWG 10 hours a day, 80% and not even close to keeping up with demand of low/moderate use.

I guess my question is, which do I trust? Could the readout at home be out of calibration/never calibrated properly? Would low salt be a reason my pool won't generate enough chlorine?

Thank you all for help.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Sure it *can* be....but its hard to know without knowing how you've been testing up to now. I've tried to put salt test strips up against my salt test that uses drops of reagent (which provides an accurate repeatable value) and the salt strip was wayyyyyy off.

We need you to provide us with the following values: FC, CC, pH, TA, CH, and CYA. preferably from your own testing kit.
As pool stores are also notorious for being wrong in their testing most everyone here gets one of the two preferred drop test kits- The TF-100 (my fave) or the Taylor K-2006 (no other one!) kits. You can get either from TSTestkits.net or the Taylor 2006 from Amazon & occasionally locally. These help us most because we're all using the same scale of test, color etc.

Until we figure out what's up with your SWG, you should be supplementing with liquid chlorine, aka household bleach. No fancy bleaches, just average run of the mill fresh 8.25% or higher bleach.

 

[pooldv]

TFTestkits.net is the place to get your test kit. I would bet that your pool has algae that is consuming the chlorine as fast as it is being produced. Algae grows when the chlorine level drops below minimum for the CYA level in the pool. Chlorine CYA Chart

Turn off the SWG, raise your FC up to 10ppm and Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT). If you fail then you will need to Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain your pool.

 

[Fordracing19]

Anyone test salinity with a refractometer?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[gilbee]

You don't have self made test results yet, but if I had to guess, I would bet your CYA is low (pool stores typically recommend CYA levels much lower than we do, even if you tell them it's a salt pool) and that is why you are losing chlorine since you live in a very sunny location, unless you've got an indoor pool...which leads me to my next thought---please add a signature that has details about your pool:

Signature
Please put the following information in your signature.

The size of your pool in gallons
If your pool is an AG (above ground) or IG (in ground)
If it's IG, tell us if it's vinyl, plaster/pebble, or fiberglass
The type of filter you have (sand, DE, cartridge) and, if you know, the brand and model of the filter.
If you know, please tell us the brand and model of the pump, and mention if is it a two speed or variable speed pump.
Date of pool build/install, particularly important if less then a year old.
What kind/model of water test kit you are using
Other significant accessories or options, such as a spa , SWG, or cleaner
Please mention if you fill the pool from a well or are currently on water restrictions

Please keep your signature to 5 lines or shorter. Everything above can be stated quit compactly. For example:
19K gal, IG vinyl, 1/2 HP WhisperFlo pump, 200 sqft cartridge filter, AutoPilot Digital SWG, Dolphin Dynamic cleaning robot