Help, Salt Overload?

[Benttt]

I just installed My SWG and followed the manufacturers recommendation on how much salt to add. My documents say my pool is 22,300 gallons and the chart had me put in 587 LBs of salt to reach 3400 PPM (since I had no salt in it at all) and I'm now getting readings of 5500 PPM! I put in 15 bags of 40 Lbs of the recommended blue bag from Home Depot coarse solar salt. thats...600 LBs (only 13 LBs over). If I calculate my gallons based on my dimensions: 18x36xAvg depth of 5.5 feet x 7.5 gives my pool 26K gallons, so I couldn't of underestimated, if anything I should be short. Its only been a few days now...Do I have to dilute? Also, the AWG control reads 4400 PPM and the "accuecheck" strips read 5500 PPM.
Thanks in advance for any advise!
B

 

[JasonLion]

There is always salt in the water already, even if you never added any. Typically the starting salt level, before addition of any salt, is between 500 and 1,500. So the current level is much more likely to be near 4,400 than it is to be 5,500.

Different brands of SWGs have different behaviors with high salt levels. Some of them are just fine, while others will shutdown if the salt level is too high. If your SWG is happy, isn't blinking a check salt light or anything like that, then you are probably fine the way you are.

Vinyl liner pools are always smaller than what you get by direct calculation from their size. The rounded corners and sloped sided always reduce the actual volume. 22,300 gallons is probably a good number.

 

[Benttt]

Okay, related issue....now chlorine is too high. I originally set the aqua rite to 50% and since turned it down 10% each day (3 days), But I still get a 5+ (that's the highest it reads) for total chlorine. Its now set for just below 5% and hoping for the best. My salt is a little high at 4400 PPM. Should I turn the unit off for a few days to get the TC down?
B

 

[JasonLion]

It can take the FC level several days to settle down after a change to the SWG percentage setting. Turning the unit off is the quickest way to get the FC level to come down, but you need to watch things carefully if you do that and not let the FC level fall to zero.

It would be a big help to have a FC test that can measure the actual FC level. You should think about getting a FAS-DPD chlorine test. Then you will be able to estimate the correct setting based on how high the FC level actually gets.