Add salt when opening, or wait?

peterdaly · Apr 18, 2014

Just opened the pool a few hours ago. AutoPilot says to add 350lb of salt. Is that accurate, or after a few days of running the pump will things get stirred up enough where a more accurate reading may be vastly different?

Should I go get salt tomorrow and dump it, or wait?

Second season with a pool...so this is my first opening after a NY winter.

Thanks.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

jblizzle · Apr 18, 2014

I would test the salt level independently.

And certainly give it a day to mix.

JasonLion · Apr 18, 2014

Give the AutoPilot 24 hours to zero in on the salt level. It averages results over the last 24 hours to get a more accurate number. It's initial guess can sometimes be off a fair bit.

peterdaly · Apr 19, 2014

Thank you guys.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Richard320 · Apr 19, 2014

Get that water balanced and sparkling before you fire off the SWG. It won't be able to generate enough fast enough to get the FC up to the minimum all by itself and that weak period could be enough to let algae get a toehold. By the time that's all done, you'll know if you need more salt or not. And if you do, make it a Diamond Day. Throw the salt in the pool and let the kids play with it.

19redwings · Apr 22, 2014

Starting our 7th year with a SWG. In WNY so I have to assume your water temp is close to ours (I won't open pool until two weeks before Memorial day)

Your SWG is most likely unable to do anything with the water temp. So follow Richard's advice and get your chemistry in spec with normal chemicals (BBB). Leave the SWG off until water temps are solid above 60*

Personally, I would throw in about 200# of salt as you will be adding it later, so just to get it closer.

Good luck and let's hope for a nice hot summer!

zimm · Apr 22, 2014

I got the independant salt test and it came out within 100ppm of the pool pilot display. I threw in salt on day two. It doesn't really matter, it won't affect your SLAM process from what I've read. My water temp is 56 but I'm running the SWG at 50% during the SLAM just to help, on top of the bleach. I work full time, so anything to keep the chlorine up while I'm gone is good for me. I do turn it off (0%) for the overnight loss test.