Question about salt strips...

[LaVenderBlue]

OK...
the pool looks awesome, if I do say so myself....
I do still need to lower the TA and raise the CH....
Planning to lower TA this weekend.

My iAqualink/Aquapure SWG tells me that there are 3400ppm of salt in the pool water.
I just used the Check Strips for salt and they said that there are only 2310ppm....

Which do I believe??

I added a 40 pound bag of salt yesterday and the iAqualink tells me that the salt concentration went up by 200ppm during the last 24 hours....

???

Thanks for advice

 

[jblizzle]

The only thing that matters is what the SWG thinks, so it will keep working. Likely your strips are bad.

 

[LaVenderBlue]

Salt strips are new.
Just delivered here two days ago along with my nifty, fancy TF-100 chemistry set.
This is the first time I have used them.
Hmmmmmmm??.....

 

[UN1017]

How new is your sensor in your SWG? Mine was acting funny since last year and as soon as the water warmed up it was all over the place with readings and started throwing errors. My Taylor salt test said 3600 ppm and the SWG said 2700.

I replaced the sensor and guess what my SWG says now....you guessed it....3600.

You can also try cleaning the sensor itself per Jandy manual.

 

[duraleigh]

Although the range is pretty wide, we have found those Aqua-chek strips to be pretty reliable.

Would you mind reporting the expiration date? Should be around the latter part of 2014, I think. It's on the top of the yellow cap.

 

[ComputerGuyInNOLA]

If you want accurate results, get a Taylor K1766 salt test and double check your results. I calibrated my Jandy to the K1766.

 

[LaVenderBlue]

duraleigh: The expiration date on the Salt strips is 12/2014.

un1017: The sensor is brand new. We just built the pool...filled on May 2-4, 2013....had to use regular chlorine method until Pebble finish was cured. Salt was put in on June 10 and the AquaPure Salt/chlorinator/generator was turned on.

I'm kinda at a loss....

 

[duraleigh]

I would believe the strips. They are part of a very large batch nationwide and a very current. If yours were bad, likely the entire batch would be bad and there would be other reports. Have you calibrated your SWG against any other standard? Maybe stop by a pool store (ugh) and get a "second opinion" if you are concerned.

Importantly, your SWG is happy and making chlorine.......but I think I'd like it to be a little closer than that.

 

[TAMC93]

I am having the same issue with my strips, so perhaps there was a bad batch?

 

[AimeeH]

As a side note on this.......I am using the aqua check strips(I think from tftestkits) and I tested my salt with one this morning and got a reading of almost 2500 on salt. I added 100lbs of salt (food grade granulated not iodized) and brushed and tested again in about 2 hours. The strip showed just below the 3180 mark. The pool calculator said 100lbs of salt would raise my salt by 430 if I recall correctly. So basically I'm trusting the strips and questioning the volume I thought of my pool. The expiration on my test strips is also 12/2014.

 

[brightblonde]

I use Aqua Chek strips too. Sometimes the result chart on the labels are different from one bottle to another. Even when new & purchased at the same time. Why?

 

[BoDarville]

Although I do not have a SWG, I use the strips to test salt monthly so I can calculate CSI. Have been using the salt strips for two years (2 separate batches) and have obtained consistent results.

 

[PridgNYC]

I use Aqua Chek strips too. Sometimes the result chart on the labels are different from one bottle to another. Even when new & purchased at the same time. Why?

The result chart on the bottle is calibrated for that batch of strips. Always use the chart from the bottle that you got the strip from.

 

[JasonLion]

There are constant reports of some people using the salt test strips getting wildly wrong results, even though most users get spot on results. You may be one of the unlucky ones who is experiencing test interference.