Hayward AquaTrol HP issues

[psycko069]

Hello all:

First of all I would like to say thank you for your advice on closing my pool last fall!!! I opened this year to a crystal clear pool. Now I have had the pool up and running for three weeks now, but I just can't seem to get this stupid SWG right. I purchased a Hayward AquaTrol HP last August and toyed with its settings until I closed the pool (around October)…. When I opened this spring and added water to fill the pool my readings were as follows two days after a shock.
ph 7.5
FC 9.5
CC 0.5
TC 10.0
TA 120
CH 130
CYA 20
Salt 2200

I also noticed that the "Check Salt" and the "Inspect Cell" LEDs were lit on the SWG. I am not home often so I figured I would run it 24 hours hoping that the cell would kick in and start to generate. I also gradually added 6 lbs of Stabilizer, and 100 lbs of salt. I shocked again on Monday.

Today I was home, so I looked at the LEDs again and they are still on. My salt reading is now at 2300 and my FC is at 4.0, and CYA is at 50. So I took the cell out and soaked it for 20 minutes in a 20% Muriatic Acid bath as stated in the manual to see if there was any scaling. I installed it and let it run for an hour, but the LEDs are still lit. I looked up how to recalibrate the salt reading because the AquaTrol was reading lower than my drop test. Got that number right and it is still showing these two steady LED lights.

So I have two questions. One is what is up with this thing?? We are going out of state on Tuesday for a period of ten days, and Id really like to have this be reliable enough to trust it so we don't come back to a swamp pool. My second question is where the heck did my 100 lbs of salt go??

 

[JasonLion]

If salt is indeed around 2,300, then the salt level really is too low and you need to add more salt. What does the drop based salt test say?

It is normal for the salt test and the SWG to disagree by a couple hundred, neither of them is all that precise so some variation is normal. But they shouldn't disagree by 1,000+.

I noticed that your CYA level is also low. Perhaps you have somehow been having a lot of water replacement? CYA should be around 70 to 80 with a SWG.

 

[psycko069]

The drop test reads 2300. The SWG read 1900 at first. I recalibrated it, and it came back at 2300 as well so I left it be. I can add more salt today, but it won't be until this afternoon because I just got off shift and we had a busy night. I need to go to bed for a bit. I think what I am going to end up doing is just shut the SWG off, shock the pool, and pick up some chlorine tabs and add those to get me over the trip. We will be gone for about 10 days so I can't just leave it that long. Will shutting off the SWG and adding chlorine pucks cause any damage??

 

[elwood58]

Get your salt up to 3000-3400 and you should be fine. No need to shock, but with your CYA being a little low, you could throw a floater in with some pucks as insurance.

 

[psycko069]

Ahh SWEET SUCCESS!!!! So I was on my way out the door to go out of state. I added another 80 lbs of salt, 9 lbs of stabilizer, shocked it, put a chlorine puck in the skimmer and algaecide.. I then set the SWG and pump to a 12 hour cycle and 30% generation even though the LEDs were still blinking.. I left to travel with my fingers crossed.

I came home and was pleasantly surprised to see a still clear pool 11 days later!!!! So I checked the box and the SWG is now reading 3100 ppm and generating. The check salt and inspect cell LEDs are no longer lit!! I just did drop tests and came up with the following results.

Ph 7.5
FC 12.5
CC 0
TC 12.5
TA 120
CYA 100
Salt 3400

Im pretty confident in stating that the SWG is working efficiently. I have shut the generation off for the next two days to allow the FC to lower. I will leave it on a 4 hour on, 4 hour off cycle. I think everything else looks ideal…. As always, THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP!!!!!