I am new to the forum- have SWG issue

[Miscanthus]

This is a great forum. I have an Intellichlor I-40 on a 24000 gal pool. This is my issue. The green ligh that should be on for the cell is off. The salt cell is red for "low salt" My salt is 4200ppm. I tested it at the pool store. My TA is in the 160 range. It was around 170 before I added half gal of acid Friday. Then last night I added another gal. Have not checked today. When I add acid to bring the pH down the green light on the cell will come own for a few hours and the green "good salt" light comes on. Then overnite it all goes back to "low salt" and the green cell light goes off again. I have a waterfall, no spa, that runs about 4-5 hours a day. Could the high TA be causing the SWG to shut down. I recently shocked the pool with two lbs of the pool shock from lowes to keep my chlorine up. These numbers are approximate.

FC around 1.6
TC 1.9
CYA was 16 and I added 15 lbs yesterday. Have no way to check accept at pool store.
calcium hardness was 224. I added 17 more lbs last night.
salt 4200
no Borates, though I really want them after reading this forum.
We have also just had a heavy rain last night and this morning.

Anyway thanks for any help I can get as to why my SWG is acting funny. Oh the pool is almost two years old. Plaster.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Welcome to TFP!

The first thing you should do is order a test kit, one of the ones described here.

You didn't have enough CYA for the SWG - see this article.... you are losing all your FC to sunlight.

You didn't give us a PH test result. I suspect high PH may be a problem, when the plaster was new the PH frequently rises and your SWG may need to be cleaned if there is scale build up on the cell. Have you been experiencing high PH and needing to add acid often? Read about SWGs here and specifically check out the "Maintenance" section.

Lastly with the SWG and high TA like yours, you need to lower your TA. Read about how here.

Hope these help.

 

[JasonLion]

What is your water temperature? Cold water will sometimes cause the SWG to shutdown.

 

[Miscanthus]

sorry, I had to be away for awhile. I just did a check with strips. My numbers are:

FC 1.5
pH 8.2 or so
TA about 120

I just got 4 more lbs of CYA and more acid.

 

[Miscanthus]

What is your water temperature? Cold water will sometimes cause the SWG to shutdown.

77degrees

 

[Miscanthus]

Welcome to TFP!
Thanks

The first thing you should do is order a test kit, one of the ones described here.
I will

You didn't have enough CYA for the SWG - see this article.... you are losing all your FC to sunlight.
I am increasing it

You didn't give us a PH test result. I suspect high PH may be a problem, when the plaster was new the PH frequently rises and your SWG may need to be cleaned if there is scale build up on the cell. Have you been experiencing high PH and needing to add acid often? Read about SWGs here and specifically check out the "Maintenance" section.
ph is high again at 8 plus. My SWG appears clean and free of scale from the naked eye. I have not cleaned it.


Lastly with the SWG and high TA like yours, you need to lower your TA. Read about how here.
I am working on lowering it.
Hope these help.

Should I stop running my waterfall until I get the pH down?
Thanks.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Lowering the TA - the article on How To explains it all, you will need the combination of the waterfall's aeration AND the acid to work together to lower the TA and bring the PH into range. So in short answer, no, but don't wait on adding the acid. You'll have to make several small additions over time to bring them both into range.

 

[Miscanthus]

Lowering the TA - the article on How To explains it all, you will need the combination of the waterfall's aeration AND the acid to work together to lower the TA and bring the PH into range. So in short answer, no, but don't wait on adding the acid. You'll have to make several small additions over time to bring them both into range.

One question I have is about the actual pH reading. What testing media are you using that reads the pH in accurate numbers. I have test strips that only show a "range" in colors. I also have a dropper kit, the blue one with 5 bottles in it, but the color range still doesn't give exact numbers.

 

[JasonLion]

Most of us use the drop test which then gets compared to a color chart, similar to what is in your dropper kit. With practice you can read the color to the nearest 0.1 fairly reliably.

There is also the ColorQ tester, which reads out digitally to 0.01. It is a little expensive and has several quirks, but is good for the PH test. Some of it's other tests are more problematic.

One test kit, and many pool stores, use test strips which are read by a computer system. Their results are not reliable.

 

[Guest]

One question I have is about the actual pH reading. What testing media are you using that reads the pH in accurate numbers. I have test strips that only show a "range" in colors. I also have a dropper kit, the blue one with 5 bottles in it, but the color range still doesn't give exact numbers.

You have an inexpensive drop based kit and these are often difficult to read the comparators on for the pH test. A good test kit such as the ones we recommend do not have this problem
pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison

 

[Miscanthus]

I cleaned my Intellichlor today with acid. It still shows "low salt" and the green cell light is still off. My salt was 4400 from the pool store check. I drained the pool down 3 or 4 inches and refilled thinking high salt may be shutting my unit down but still no luck. Can high salt shut a Intellichlor down?
Also I have been slowly lowering my TA with acid and bringing the pH back up with aeration. My TA is now 100 down from 171. My SWG has me puzzled. Any suggestions?

 

[grumpy]

There are two or three other posts here in the Salt Water Chlorine Generators section that you should read. You are not alone.

First, how old is your SWG? If it has some age on it, it may be giving up the ghost and if you are lucky you may be able to get a warranty replacement if it's less than three years old.

Second, salt levels over 4200 will cause a problem with your unit but you should have a green flashing light at the top for that problem. It still produces chlorine but you risk corrosion at that salt level.

Third, after you get salt down and the other parts of your water in balance, look into a field calibration of your swg. It may get it back into proper working order. See the post about continuous red cell light for more information on field calibration. A link to the instructions and actual use experience in that post.

You should be keeping your free chlorine levels up with bleach during the time that your swg is not working and focus on getting your water in balance using a good test kit before you worry too much more about your swg. Everything will fall into place soon.

Good luck.

 

[cobra46]

What salt level is your Intellichlor reading? You should be able to get this from your EasyTouch or IntelliTouch panel/remote.

Although your actual salt level may be good, the IC40 may think it's too low requiring a recalibration as mentioned in an earlier post.