Replaced the Pool Frog with an IC40 SWG

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tucsontico

tucsontico

LifeTime Supporter
Mar 30, 2014
318
Tucson, AZ
Due to the excellent advice form this forum, I got my pool builder to remove the Pool Frog and Ozonator system and replace it with an Intellichlor IC40 SWG (the entire build was still under warranty). They finished the install today and put salt into the pool water about 2 hours ago. For the past 3 weeks I've been following TFPC guidelines and "manually" balancing my pool water. I tested the water BEFORE they added any salt and here's the values:

FC- 5 ppm
CC- 0
pH- 7.7
TA- 125
CH- 175
CYA- 60
H2O Temp- 72ºF

Plugging those numbers into the Pool Calculator I get a CSI of 0.04; which looks pretty good to me. However, I read the Pool School article "Water Balance for SWGs" and the TA and CH recommendations are a bit different.

After 2 hours of circulation, the IC40 (through the EasyTouch panel) shows a salt level of 3000 ppm . Adding the salt level into the Pool Calc, I get a CSI of -0.019; which appears even better to me! (BTW, Pentair recommends 3400 ppm for the IC40 as "ideal.") If I plug the Pool School recommended values into the Pool Calc, I get a CSI of -0.33; which shows it to be "potential to become corrosive to plaster." So, as a new SWG owner, I have a few questions:

1. How important is it to bring the TA down to 60-80?
2. How important is it to raise the CH up to 250-350?
3. Why should I try to balance my pool to be "potentially corrosive to plaster"?
4. Should I bump the salt level to 3400-3500?

Of course, my first instinct is to grab a beer and let the pool "stabilize" for a few days before doing anything! :)
 
Unless you have problems with high TA or CH levels, there is no point in thinking about CSI at all. Just follow our recommendations and you will be good.

1) Not critical, but almost everyone will end up wanting to do this. Higher TA levels will result in the PH constantly rising, leading to a risk of calcium scaling.
2) If you have plaster/pebble, it is critical that CH be at least 250. CH levels higher than 350 are possible in most cases, but require extra management.
3) Certainly. You want to raise salt to the high end of the normal range in the spring, so it will still be acceptable at the end of the season. (Salt levels tend to drift down slowly through the season).

A CSI of -0.3 is just fine with a SWG, better than 0, and nothing you should even bother to think about. With a SWG the PH will go up, if it goes anywhere, so there is no real risk of CSI wandering below -0.6, which is what is required before there is any risk of having an actual problem.

The problem you do need to worry about is scaling inside the SWG cell, where CSI is far higher than it is in the rest of the pool. A CSI of 0 is about as high as most people can go and not have problems with scaling in the SWG cell. Keeping CSI around -0.3 is actually just about ideal for a SWG.
 
JasonLion,

Once again, thanks for the rapid reply. I now understand the theory and practice behind the TFPC recommendations for SWG care. Makes good sense to me! I will be making the adjustments over the next week–or how ever long it may take.:) Additionally, I intend to add borate to the pool at the end of the adjustment process to complete my transformation to TFPC guidelines. So far, your recommendations have been spot on!

Thanks! :swim:
 
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