New Circupool SJ20 - very little chlorine generated - need help

[andrew9]

hi,
I am new to SWG's and can use some guidance from veterans

I recently converted my pool to saltwater, after being resurfaced 31 days ago with plaster. Is a 11,000 Gal. in ground pool.

Here is my water chemistry:
Salt ~3200 (depends which pool store measures it: one says 3100 the other says 3400) Is about right for how much salt I added a day ago.
PH: ~7.4-7.6
CYA ~40
Alk: 90
Calcium : I think is about 300
Phosphates: 500
Sand filter, recently back-washed
SWG: Circupool SJ20; I oversized the SWG, basically is a 20K Gal unit for 11k Gal pool. I was expecting that I can keep it running at 50% or so while getting some decent chlorine


Here is my issue: a couple days before adding salt my pool was using about 4-5ppm of chlorine (liquid) used per day. There was no overnight chlorine drop.

After adding the salt and starting the SWG letting it run 8 hrs overnight at 100%, I was expecting to see some good chlorine level in the morning. To my surprise, the chlorine lvl in the morning right after sunrise, was about 1.5ppm, maybe 0.5 ppm over what I left it with at night after sunset. Strange....

Now,24 hrs later is 8PM at night and my chlorine is about 1ppm. So if have to judge - it barely made enough chlorine and burnt 4-5ppm over the day

This seems very low to me - but I would like to know what do you guys think

Also - just for confirmation I have 3 titanium plates inside my cell - is this right for a SJ20?


Thanks in advance
Andrew

 

[YippeeSkippy]

First off, welcome to TFP Andrew

SWGs work best when you raise the FC immediately with liquid chlorine (aka bleach) to the desired level, then let the SWG take over maintaining it. Otherwise as you have seen they just work slow and steady by design.

Next I would question almost every one of those tests if a pool store ran them. They look like Leslie's right? They're notoriously inaccurate either from sloppiness, or perhaps driven by how much product they can sell you based on your "free" tests. Get your own test kit... go ahead and spend the $70 on the TF-100 and it will save you BUNDLES on not buying unneeded chemicals or overpriced ones in the years to come. TFTestkits.net is the source for it, or on Amazon.

Ignore phosphates, as long as your pool is properly sanitized with enough FC in accordance with your CYA level (see this: [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA] ) you'll never need to deal with the issue, and Leslies's won't be using scare tactics to sell you a $50 bottle of PhosFree. Ok?

Homework: ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry and then delve into Pool School linked up at the top.

Holler back with questions

Yip

 

[andrew9]

Thanks,

I will try to raise FC to my target level, and see it how it can keep it up from there.
BTW the Circupool came with one jet deflector - why is this needed as I already have eyeballs/ deflectors for pool supply?

And yes, thanks to this forum I no longer or only seldom buy chems at the recommendation of Leslie's. I have a reasonable Taylor Kit that I generally use. Only for salt measurements and phosphates I went to Leslie's
I realised long time ago that they operate like a pharmaceutical company - "let us take care of our pockets by using you : "

Is there a way that I can DIY test my SWG chlorine output level?

I notice there are bubbles of gas evacuated at my pool supply outlets. I suppose that is chlorine gas that was not dissolved / absorbed into the water and is escaping into the air? Any idea what percentage is dissolved vs escaping?

Thanks for your time .

First off, welcome to TFP Andrew

SWGs work best when you raise the FC immediately with liquid chlorine (aka bleach) to the desired level, then let the SWG take over maintaining it. Otherwise as you have seen they just work slow and steady by design.

Next I would question almost every one of those tests if a pool store ran them. They look like Leslie's right? They're notoriously inaccurate either from sloppiness, or perhaps driven by how much product they can sell you based on your "free" tests. Get your own test kit... go ahead and spend the $70 on the TF-100 and it will save you BUNDLES on not buying unneeded chemicals or overpriced ones in the years to come. TFTestkits.net is the source for it, or on Amazon.

Ignore phosphates, as long as your pool is properly sanitized with enough FC in accordance with your CYA level (see this: [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA] ) you'll never need to deal with the issue, and Leslies's won't be using scare tactics to sell you a $50 bottle of PhosFree. Ok?

Homework: ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry and then delve into Pool School linked up at the top.

Holler back with questions

Yip