New Zodiac Tri salt water chlorine generator!!

[TeamSherman]

Hi guys and gals,

I'm a new pool owner in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia and have a question about a new salt water generator.

Firstly, my wife and I became the proud new owners of a beautiful little home in a nice leafy suburb of Sydney, and with the home came a fantastic in-ground pool which was running normal chlorine via a chlorine/acid system. At the start of summer last year, the mixer broke down and was just not worth the money to have it repaired (pretty much half to almost 2/3rds the price of our new Zodiac Tri) so under the guidance of our local pool shop, I was adding chlorine and acid by hand, and honestly, not very well! So the water and chemical levels fluctated day by day and so did the algae blooms!

After chatting to a few other pool owners at the dog park where i take my dog every afternoon for his run, we came to the decision that converting to salt water would not only be less expensive, but alot easier to maintain in the long run and last weekend i installed a Zodiac Tri salt water chlorine generator with ease, it took about 2 hours.

Now, I know how much salt i need to add to get started, but after that, i have no idea what i need to set the generator to and for how long it needs to run per night (we run our filter system after midnight as its quiet, and in off-peak times for the electricity bill).

If anyone is running one, I'd love to hear what you are running it at? The pool is pebblecrete and just under 60,000 litres.

Any hints and tips are greatly appreciated!!

Cheers,

Alan.

P.s, this may be a double post as i cant find the one i just submitted. If it is mods, feel free to delete it!!

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Did you test your current salt level before you determined how much to add?

 

[TeamSherman]

No cause the pool is currently a fresh water (chlorinated) pool and has no salt added yet. I'm converting it to salt water.

 

[yeggim]

No cause the pool is currently a fresh water (chlorinated) pool and has no salt added yet. I'm converting it to salt water.

For every 1 PPM of Chlorine added, you are adding at least 1PPM of salt to the pool. With bleach (liquid Chlorine) it's 1.5 PPM of salt to every 1PPM of Chlorine. It adds up over the years--especially for folks with a cartridge filter who don't have to backflush. It all depends how much water is replaced season to season. Whatever your setup, you probably do have a measurable amount of salt already in your pool.

 

[Richard320]

Make sure the water is clear and balanced before you rely on the saltwater generator. If you've got algae, the SWG won't be able to keep up with the demand, and if you try to leave it on max for an extended period to clear it, you'll just burn out the element prematurely.

That said, if you have kids, scroll down to the highlighted post.

 

[elwood58]

Listen to frustratedpoolmom! You already have some salt in your pool, and you do not want to overshoot, as that would require water replacement. Once you mix 75% of your salt into the pool, let it dissolve and mix for an overnight pump cycle. The % setting on the SWG is the amount of time the cell will be energized while the pump is running. Most people start at 40% and make adjustments after followup testing.

My pool is just over 53,000 liters. I keep my salt between 3500-3700 ppm, and run my SWG at 40%. My Free Chlorine averages 4 ppm.

As you get things dialed in, you will want to keep track of your pH. The SWG is a source of strong aeration, which will cause pH to constantly creep upward. I average six (6) cups of muriatic acid per week to keep my pool right at 7.5 pH.