Do I have a problem?

[Solarczar]

I just bought a CircuPool Si-40+ in January, 2014 and installed in late March, 2014. I was running it from 6am-4pm at 80% production. My test numbers are:

As of 05/21/14
OTO Chlorine = 1ppm
Ph = 7.2
CYA = 70
Total Alkalinity = 60
Calcium = 280
Free Chlorine = 2.5ppm
Combined Chlorine = 0
Salinity = 3400
Pool Gallons = 16,000 Gunite

Readings from Si-40+:
Temp =78
Cell Voltage = 25.3
Cell Current = 6.3
Output =100P
Instant Salinity =3500
Product Number = AL-1
Software Revision= r502
Chlorinator Cell type = C-15

All I know it doesn't seem to be producing effectively. I've got some black algae spots that I'm dealing with and need the chlorine level higher and I'm not getting the chlorine production that thought. I've got it turned up to 100% and running 24hrs. I went ahead and pulled the trigger tonight and added 12 boxes of Borax and 4 gallons of Muriatic Acid, and based on the formulas should bring it up to around 50ppm. I will test it tomorrow. I'm hoping it will help me stabilize this chlorine loss.

I'm calling DiscountSaltPools.com tomorrow where I bought it, but Do you guys think I have a problem with my SWG? Please let me know.

I'm using a test set from Trouble Free Pools.

 

[Smykowski]

Sounds like you have something in the water consuming the chlorine just as fast as it can be produced. Take a water sample from the return and test that. If the FC registers, the cell is just fine.

 

[JasonLion]

Nothing you have said suggests a problem with the SWG. A SWG is not really up to fighting algae, you need to be adding chlorine manually, either instead of using the SWG or in addition, when you have algae using up chlorine.

 

[Solarczar]

Really? I just assumed that it would be higher. Don't get me wrong the black algae would total 6" square if I added it up. The water looks great. I seem to get it every year in some of the corners, especially in the spa, the black algae rears it's ugly head. I'll take the advice and check the FC from the return, vs dipping from the surface.

But here's a question, won't running my SWG at 100% reduce its life substantially? If I have to add additional chlorine all the time to offset the difference, then did I get too small a SWG? I ordered the size above my pool size, so now I'm confused and I guess more reading is in order.

 

[Richard320]

Really? I just assumed that it would be higher. Don't get me wrong the black algae would total 6" square if I added it up. The water looks great. I seem to get it every year in some of the corners, especially in the spa, the black algae rears it's ugly head. I'll take the advice and check the FC from the return, vs dipping from the surface.

But here's a question, won't running my SWG at 100% reduce its life substantially? If I have to add additional chlorine all the time to offset the difference, then did I get too small a SWG? I ordered the size above my pool size, so now I'm confused and I guess more reading is in order.

The SWG should be able to maintain FC normally, but it can't generate enough fast enough to kill off algae. So you need to give it a boost with liquid bleach.

Test the output water chlorine. If you see that thing bubbling away and there's no lights on, it's probably working. The algae is just working faster.

 

[Isaac-1]

To put that another way, once you kill off all the algae by manually adding additional chlorine following the SLAM procedure described in pool school then if it is working right your SWG will be able to maintain chlorine at a level that will keep fresh algae from getting started.

 

[ping]

Most likely there is some algae in the water that you can not see that is consuming the chlorine. The SWG is making enough chlorine to keep the algae from blooming so you can't see it, but it can not make enough to kill all the algae off. Search OCLT, and by running that test you can determine if there is algae consuming the chlorine.