sudden increase in salt ppm

doncaruana · May 13, 2012

I've got an ET4 and an IC40. Yesterday I added a wireless control to the system. My salt ppm has been around 3800 (went higher after some evaporation, then I replaced it, it was down to 3750). As of last night, it was reading at 3750 on the remote. It rained a little last night and this morning. This morning, the pump wouldn't pull prime for about a half hour (until I heard it) and took care of it. Now when I check the salt via the remote, it's reading 4350ppm!!

Now, I'm kinda freaking out here but I haven't read it at the outdoor panel yet. Assuming it's the same, what in the world would make the salt PPM jump be 15% overnight with no loss of water??

JamesW · May 13, 2012

Did you recently heat the water?

doncaruana · May 13, 2012

Yes. It was heated yesterday and actually the heater is on right now as I'm reading it. Will that make a difference??

JamesW · May 13, 2012

Hotter water can result in higher salt readings if the unit does not compensate for the temperature difference.

JasonLion · May 13, 2012

The new reading with warmer water is going to be more accurate.

doncaruana · May 13, 2012

Hmmm...Well that's not good.

I think the problem is the reading anyway.

Via math I calculated the initial amount in would be around 3600-3700 and the store measured it at 3800, same as the system.

I've only pumped out about 1,200 gallons and pumped in maybe 600, so it's not been a huge turn over in water. I'll have to keep a close eye on this...

Thanks guys

Bama Rambler · May 13, 2012

You should invest in a salt test kit. You can use either strips or a drop test. It's good to have one as a backup.

doncaruana · May 20, 2012

In case anyone was interested, I ran across this post (http://www.troublefreepool.com/upda...for-the-intellichlor-ic40-t19309.html#p226647) in some other reading which is a great piece of information. According to that, the salt reading varies 200ppm per 5 degrees water change away from 77 degrees (higher readings for higher temps, lower readings for lower temps). I don't know how linear that curve is (ie, is it 40 ppm per degree?) but it's a great piece of info for me and makes sense with the previous temperature comments.