salt cell with UV still only up to .6 chlorine running at 85%

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outdoorsgal

LifeTime Supporter
Jan 24, 2015
943
Phoenix, AZ
I gotta first say I love the salt pool so far! in about 1 1/2 mths, though, the pool started turning green. we had the Hayward cell at 50%. We have UV, also, which I want to think helps, although I know some aren't believers here. We've had to run the super chlorinator on the salt cell a couple of times. we ran it less than an hour the first time and all night the second. I was told all it really is is running the salt cell at 100% for 24 hrs. it helped with the algae.

we haven't gotten grass, yet, since the pb mistakingly dumped a bunch of dirt and packed it, then took it out. we're trying to grow our bermuda so we can kill it and put in sod. so the DE filter was ready to be backwashed early and the pb told us he was sure that's why the pool started turning green, along with needing to adjust the salt cell accordingly-just try different %s. He said a lot of people need to run their cells at 100% in the dead of the summer in Phoenix. I want to believe that the UV is doing something and I shouldn't have to run it at 100%. does anyone know if folks are running the cells at 100% are they probably still needing to shock their pool sometimes? is it common to have to change the % throughout the summer? I have a feeling I"m going to have to run it at 95/100% as our levels are measuring .6 clorine. Is that typical for a 1400 or so gallon pool with UV in phoenix? Thanku!
 
The UV actually breaks down the FC so that your SWG will have to add more to maintain adequate FC levels.

Can you confirm your pool size and the size of the SWG? If sized correctly, you should not have to run the SWG at full output continuously.
 
jblizzle, i am trying to confirm the size of the pool. pb told me today 12,672 but i'm pretty sure that's about what it was before we increased it. we were going to have a 10' x 40' play pool, 3 1/2, 5, 4, and increased the width to 12'. with my math we'd need to add another 2300-2400 to it making it closer to a 1500 gallon pool. not significant perhaps because the salt cell says on it "for pools up to 40,000 gallons." it's a hayward turbo cell t-cell 15.

we run the pool on high i think from 10pm until 2am,, then low until 9 am i believe, then on high until 11am. ( I can check it for sure if an hour or so makes a difference, I could be off a bit).

at the time we changed the DE filter I thought we should also clean the cell since we have hard water in Phoenix and maybe hard water built up within 1 1/2 - 2 mths.

what else might it be, then? thanku!

- - - Updated - - -

also, pls forgive my ignorance, but what is FC? thanku
 
FC is free chlorine. How are you getting your measurements (what kit?) can you post a full set of results? FC, CYA, for sure, but might as well do them all when something is amiss.

also, you keep typing 1400 and 1500 gallons when you probably mean 15,000
 
the pb is telling me that the pool is under 1300 a they initially said.
the test kit is the one the pb provided us with; a poolmaster 5-way test kit bromine/choride combo. tests for chlorine, bromine, pH, alkalinity, and acid demand.
now when i check the chlorine it's much higher since we've turned it up to 100% the chlorine is mostly gone (I can't tell with one area-looks like dirt but is not brushing off-on bottom of baja step). chlorine levels r higher. it's 4pm and levels were 2.0 and in morn up past 3.0. r u thinking our test kit is not comprehensive enough?

Jblizzle-r u saying that the UV makes it so that we have to add more chlorine?

thanku very much
 
outdoorsgal, I'm not sure how you made it through an entire build on TFP but didn't get a good test kit. Yes, buy a TFT kit or the Taylor 2006.

You will lose chlorine every day to the UV from the sun. For most it is 2-3 ppm per day, for us in intense heat it could be 4-5. Without knowing your stabilizer (cya) level, you can't really know how much chlorine to have in the pool each day to a) keep it sanitized, b) kill any algae spores that blow in, and 3) start you high enough in the morning that even after the UV burns some off you still have enough to do A and B.

Read through all the links at the top. Pool School, the ABCs, the CYA/FC chart.
 
BuckeyeChris, very busy schedule with 3 kids, 2 with special needs, 3 different schools, work... never liked chemistry and my husband was supposed to take on the maintenance of the pool. I was hoping he'd figure it out and I'd learn as we got the other things that were irreversible taken care of on building the pool. looks like i'm gonna have to get learning soon. it seems like just turning up the cell has helped a bit. i guess at this time i'm also trying to understand why i'd want to go with something more complicated when the pb reassures me it's not that hard and we not to make it harder than we need to. he did suggest that we take the pool water to the pool store once a mth, tho and call him if they try to sell us a bunch of things to make sure since they like to sell unnecessary things. thx for your reply
 
You will have problems if you only test once a month, especially trusting pool store testing. With a SWG, it is not uncommon to have to adjust the pH every few days to avoid issues.
 
outdoorsgal said:
BuckeyeChris, very busy schedule with 3 kids, 2 with special needs, 3 different schools, work... never liked chemistry and my husband was supposed to take on the maintenance of the pool. I was hoping he'd figure it out and I'd learn as we got the other things that were irreversible taken care of on building the pool. looks like i'm gonna have to get learning soon. it seems like just turning up the cell has helped a bit. i guess at this time i'm also trying to understand why i'd want to go with something more complicated when the pb reassures me it's not that hard and we not to make it harder than we need to. he did suggest that we take the pool water to the pool store once a mth, tho and call him if they try to sell us a bunch of things to make sure since they like to sell unnecessary things. thx for your reply
Click to expand...

Time is a valid concern. Do you think it more likely that you can carve out 2 minutes per day, or that you can take off a whole weekend to deal with an algae outbreak or a drain and refill? The former, right?

I spend a couple minutes brushing each week, and exactly 45 seconds each night pouring bleach into a plastic measuring cup, and then into the pool. Oh, and another 45 seconds once a week adding acid, because I know my pool needs it every week.

On Saturday mornings I run my tests. I don't test every night, which is not ideal for TFP but after 18 months with my pool, I haven't had a single issue take me any more time than what I listed. Once you get the numbers dialed in the pool can mostly take care of itself, with only you spending a few minutes a week to check for major changes in your TA, CYA, or pH.

I guarantee the trip once a month to the pool store will take you more time than just testing once or twice a week.

Edited: forgot you had a salt cell.
 

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