Newbie, first opening

[Bama Rambler]

The salt won't be affected by the CYA addition but can be affected a little by temp. Some swcg's compensate for temp and some don't.
What's your water temp?
I'd go ahead and buy a couple of bags of salt. Even if you don't need all of it you'll need some to replace splashout, etc.

 

[joshs2000ss]

I need to find a thermometer. I'm not sure what the temp is to be honest. I'll see what I can come up with and post back shortly.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Ran the full test kit to see where I'm at numbers wise. Found the specs for the operating range of my heater so I want to make sure I'm in those before I turn it on and risk issues.
FC - 13
CC - < .5
pH - 7.6
T/A - 90
CH - 160
CYA - was 30 before I began adding.
The recommended CH for my heater is 200-400. Am I at risk of having issues if I turn it on (after the FC drops)?

Not really at risk, BUT, depending on the exact wording of your heater warranty, you may want to bring it to at least the minimum required. If the warranty says "recommended" then you're fine to leave it alone, but if it says "required" (or equivilent wording) then you need to bring it to at least 200, and either have your local pool store test and record it for you, or record it yourself and be prepared to show how you tested it.

 

[joshs2000ss]

Understood.

In a slightly related question. Since my heater has a digital readout, would turning the power on to it, without turning on the heat give me the current water temp? I'm assuming that the water is already circulating through the heater, judging by the layout of my piping.

 

[joshs2000ss]

Verified that it does display the temp. It is 65.

 

[Bama Rambler]

65º is high enough for the temp not to matter much in the salt reading. Go ahead and pick up a couple of bags.

 

[joshs2000ss]

Going to go get 5 lbs of calcium chloride so I can up the CH and get the heater going.

 

[joshs2000ss]

65º is high enough for the temp not to matter much in the salt reading. Go ahead and pick up a couple of bags.

I'm assuming when people say bags on here, they mean the 40 pounders?
I may have to shop around. One of my local Walmart stores only had on 40 lb. bag that looked like it was left over from last season. It was busted open. Hopefully the other location will have some in stock.

That was Morton's pool salt. Someone said that was more expensive than water softener salt, but I haven't seen that anywhere.

 

[Bama Rambler]

The most common size bags of salt are 40#. I should have made myself more clear. Sorry about that!

If you have a Tractor Supply nearby you can probably get the salt and calcium there.

 

[joshs2000ss]

Got the supplies. I read that the SWG should be off during the salt adding process for 24 hours. By off does it mean just flip the switch on the unit to off or flip the power breaker and cut the power to the unit completely?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Just turn the percentage to zero is good enough.

 

[joshs2000ss]

Added the calcium and the salt. Waited a while and did some more tests.

FC - 8 (down from 13 this morning)
CC - 0 (sweet)
CH - 240 (apparently I was seeing purple and thinking blue, my wife was able to correct me on my color chart and I did the test correctly this time , turns out I didn't need to add calcium but at least my goal was the low end, so now, I'm right at mid-range.

Salinity on the digital meter hasn't moved from 2100, but I don't expect it to do anything yet, do I?

Now, I'm continuing to wait for the FC to drop so I can get within operating range of the heater (1-3ppm) and then I'm ready to go.

Almost time to fire up the grill (gotta get the natual gas adapter) and have everyone over for a pool party!!!

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Ignore the 1-3 ppm regarding the heater. Refer to the CYA chlorine chart for your recommended FC levels.

 

[joshs2000ss]

Good to know. Just to check it out, I turned the output for the SWG all the way down and moved it to auto. The inspect cell light came on so I powered it off, took out the cell, saw a few little deposit spots so I used a plastic zip tie to scrape anything I could see and then flushed it and re-installed.

I turned the unit back to auto (still on the lowest "0" output) and the salinity dropped from 2100 to 1900 and the check salt light came on. I've decided to give it until tomorrow to see where my salt levels out at on the meter. If not, the pool installer is coming by Monday to bring my automatic cleaner that he is repairing and I'll have him check it then.

Any ideas as to what I'm seeing? Could it just be the fresh salt addition?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I'm not sure... so I'm bumping your thread.

 

[joshs2000ss]

It looks like my initial reading was just a bit off. After letting it sit, the reading dropped to 1800 on the SWG. After adding a bag of salt, the level came up to 2000, not a full day but several hours later. Going to get another 5 bags to get the level up to 3000. Then I'll run the full set of tests again to make sure everything is still within the limits and hopefully my FC has dropped into the 3-5 range.

 

[joshs2000ss]

Added the salt today. Waiting for it to process through the system. Did another check of my levels to see if I'm within the specifications of my heater.

FC - 3.5
CC - 0
CYA - 70
pH - 7.5
TA - 75 (heater specs say 80-100 for its operation)
CH - 190 (added enough to get above 200 for heater specs)

I'm in spec on all my levels at this point according to the charts and the water is looking good. One question though, for this next day until I start dialing in my SWG. Now that my FC is down to 3.5 (minimum is 3) and my SWG isn't quite ready to turn on, should I just leave it there until tomorrow or should I had some chlorine (bleach) to make sure the level doesn't get too low?