SWG and rain

[PennyPool]

Here in south Louisiana we get a LOT of rain. I feel like I am constantly having to add salt because the rain dilutes the pool whenever we have a downpour. Is this normal?

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

It is not that common to get enough rain to really make a difference. Most years we have an inch or two of overflow over the entire season, which really isn't enough to matter. This year we have already had 8" of overflow, so it is starting to be an issue.

 

[Patrick_B]

Yes, it's normal, but only in proportion to how much rain you have as Jason said. An inch will hardly do anything, while 6 will make a dent.

If you know your pool size, it's very easy to figure volume and you can easily nail that down to gallons per inch of water added or lost.

 

[savela]

I would be careful not to add too much salt - once that water has evaporated, the salt level should drop to normal - unless you're draining or there was significant overflow.

 

[ComputerGuyInNOLA]

Penny, I am in Mandeville, La so I am familiar with the issue. We just added 40 pounds of salt last week because of all the rain we had a couple of weeks ago. We dropped from 3300 to 2800 in a week. We have had to add salt twice in the last year due to heavy rain. I would wait until a couple of days after the rain has subsided and make sure the salinity reading from your SWCG has stabilized and does not change. You will need to turn off your SWCG for 24 hours after adding salt and run your pump the whole time. We have a drain near the top of our pool that automatically drains it so it does not overflow. We must have had 12-14 inches of rain in a 7 day period. It was hard for the drain to keep up. Good luck.

 

[savela]

Penny, I am in Mandeville, La so I am familiar with the issue. We just added 40 pounds of salt last week because of all the rain we had a couple of weeks ago. We dropped from 3300 to 2800 in a week. We have had to add salt twice in the last year due to heavy rain. I would wait until a couple of days after the rain has subsided and make sure the salinity reading from your SWCG has stabilized and does not change. You will need to turn off your SWCG for 24 hours after adding salt and run your pump the whole time. We have a drain near the top of our pool that automatically drains it so it does not overflow. We must have had 12-14 inches of rain in a 7 day period. It was hard for the drain to keep up. Good luck.

Yikes! I guess we're talking apples and oranges here. Thats A LOT of rain.

 

[PennyPool]

Thank you, ComputerGuy. That is exactly the kind of rain I'm talking about. We've had about 8" so far this week and it's predicted to rain again tonight. We have an automatic lever as well, I guess that's what you mean by drain, so it hasn't overflowed, but it is much higher than normal. After 4 1/2" the other day the salt level dropped from 3000 to 2850. We just cleaned the SWG yesterday so I am going to wait to see if the salt level will come back up when the water level stabilizes.

I'm concerned, however, with the chlorine level being zero. If it doesn't get rained out, my daughter is having a swimming party tomorrow. The water was looking pretty greenish last week, but after shocking with 10 gallons of bleach, the color is beautiful now although we still have 0 FC. Should we be concerned about swimming in it with no chlorine?

Penny, I am in Mandeville, La so I am familiar with the issue. We just added 40 pounds of salt last week because of all the rain we had a couple of weeks ago. We dropped from 3300 to 2800 in a week. We have had to add salt twice in the last year due to heavy rain. I would wait until a couple of days after the rain has subsided and make sure the salinity reading from your SWCG has stabilized and does not change. You will need to turn off your SWCG for 24 hours after adding salt and run your pump the whole time. We have a drain near the top of our pool that automatically drains it so it does not overflow. We must have had 12-14 inches of rain in a 7 day period. It was hard for the drain to keep up. Good luck.

 

[Smykowski]

Yes, there needs to be chlorine in it before anyone should be swimming.