New to salt

[belgique]

You guys talked me into it: AquaRite T-Cell-15 -- supposed to arrive tomorrow. All excited so I checked the manual and pool calculator and see I need 800 lbs to get to the 3200 level (assuming a zero salt level at start). Got the salt and started adding it while waiting on my Aqua Check salt test strips.

Added 10 bags (400 lbs) over they last 4 days. Yesterday, the strips arrived: 3530!!!! Whoa...my water must have had a lot of salt in it. Checked the water source that fills the pool: zero. Checked the pool water again and get the same reading. Pool calculator says dump 9% (2600 gallons). Think I'll wait until I get the SWG hooked up and see what reading it gives.

What happened?
Agree that I should wait?

Thanks. Steve

 

[Bama Rambler]

I would wait and see if the swcg is happy.

As a side note; I've never added a single bag of salt to our pool but my salt level is 1800 ppm.

 

[belgique]

But Bama, I checked the water that fills the pool and it was zero. Unless the pool absorbed sea air/mist (we are on a salt water bay), not sure how this could happen. Oh well. I'll do as you say and wait and see. Thanks.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Remember, all forms of chlorine add salt. Over time it builds up and you have some salt in the water even if you've never added any or the source doesn't contain any.

 

[belgique]

Shazam! That would explain it because I have certainly added a lot of chlorine. Thanks! Let's hope the SWG can live with it.

Lesson: do what the School says and check salt level before adding.

 

[*ryan]

had mine hooked up for a few weeks now
my aquarite box says my salt elevel is 3900 some days it goes up to 4100 and comes down to 3700
never a salt too high light coming on

water has a salty tayste to it tho
but other then that all seems good

wait to see what the box says
ill trust that over the strips, cause you want to make the box happy

 

[belgique]

Well, there is a good news and bad news here. Good news is that I'll be able to get my salt levels down. Bad news is the reason that I can :grrrr:

A guest was swimming laps and the vac hose got in her way (mind you, this is a 40x20 pool and only 1 person in it). She pushed the hose to the edge and hooked the end that goes on the skimmer on the edge. Naturally, that slid on over and all the hose followed leaving the vac head on the bottom. Then Mr. Siphon took over and emptied quite a few gallons of water :grrrr: But, the good news is that I caught when I did. Had I not, it would have siphoned all 29,000 gallons overboard!!!

 

[chiefwej]

I often find a 500 ppm variance or even more between salt strip tests and the readings on my T-15.

 

[mickey4paws]

My SWCG panel seems to always read about 200 to 300 ppm lower than the test strips.

Belgique, glad you caught Mr. Syphon when you did

 

[Bama Rambler]

Good thing it didn't siphon too long. This vacuum hoses move a lot of water quickly. That's what I use to remove water when the rain gets too bad.

 

[Kevin_ellis1]

In the morning when my pool pump turns on my salt reading is 3300 ppm but after it runs for 4 hours the salt reading drops to 3100 ppm. Is this because the SWG is breaking the salt molecules into FC, thereby reducing the salt level?

About two weeks ago I Added salt to my pool and turned on my new SWG. I almost added to much salt also as my SWG gave me inaccurate readings in the beginning. If I had to do it all over again, i would test my water before I started (even though My pool was only a month old) then use the pool calcualtor and add only enough salt to bring it up to 2700 ppm, circulate the water for 24 hours, turn on the SWG and let it calibrate for at least three days before slowly adding more salt to bring it up to the desired level. Bottom line is go slow and wait for consistent salt readings before adding more salt.

 

[Poolsean]

No, the process doesn't consume salt like that. Most likely since they guestimate the salinity from the condition of the cell, when it first energizes, the power actually ramps up, at which time so will the salt reading.

 

[Mike S]

I just ordered a Pool Pilot Digital the other day and was just going to add salt this weekend assuming that I didn't have any in the pool already. I ended up getting picking up the test strips just to make sure and had a reading of around 1200 ppm. I think I'll just add 50 to 75% of what the calculator says I should based on that 1200 ppm result and wait to see what the SWG says once I install it.