I have been trying to get my SWCG percent and power levels set up. The minimum FC on here in the chart and calculator is 4ppm and recommended is 6ppm. The manufacturer recommends 1-3ppm and when I spoke with them they insisted I was putting unnecessary stress on my cell trying to maintain anything above the 3ppm.

What level of CYA are they using for that recommended FC level?

They recommend a CYA of 60-80ppm

Jsw, what size cell do you have and how many hours a day are you running your pump? You should be fine running 4 or 6 ppm though. It is on the high side for a residential Pool. Just increase the output until you get to your desired chlorine level.

Full disclosure:

Intex swg, northern clim (short swim season, sometimes lower nightime temps, lower overall pool temps compared to the southern folk unless we go crazy with the solar), CYA of 50 ppm (currently).

I will let my FC run as low as 1 ppm (poolcalculator.com has 2 a my minimum), not all the time, but sometimes 1-2 times a week depending on temperature. Don't yell at me frog

I should mention these additional caveats, I test FC and CC daily, I run the swg during the day, my pump runs on low 24/7 (unless doing solar, then it is on high), when there is high swimmer load I increase my intex swg on time and on rare occasions suppliment with LC, and my family is very clean (okay this last one is a lie...my wife, who is clean, would not agree that the rest of us are, me and the three boys basically take our baths in the pool during the summer)

/disclosure

They guidelines for levels on this forum are conservative (FC higher), and rightly so. This is the "Trouble Free Pool" site and the levels are based off of empirical data that has shown to give good results to most pools, in most locations, environments, etc. When knucleheads like me push the limits sometimes/sometime it may/will backfire.

As to why the swg manufacturers list lower levels, I think they are not being conservative, they may be assuming other methods of algae prevention are at play, like algicides, etc. Remember, although swg systems are gaining steam and changing the industry, they are not separate from the whole pool store food chain.

I am running the rc-52 cell. The pump is running 10hrs a day right now. 6hrs from 12am-6am and 4hrs from 10am-2pm. Right now it is at power level 2 at 75%, buy that temp is automatically adjusted higher or lower based on water temp.

Just tested my Chlorine levels. Running 10 hours per day as previous stated, I now have FC of 3ppm and CC of 1ppm. My water is crystal clear. I am at power level of 2 at 75% output. Now, should I increase the run time to 12hrs per day or leave it at 10 and increase the %? If I increase the run time 2hrs, do I tack those two hours on to the daytime run or nighttime run? I really didn't think I would have to run levels this high. I was thinking max of 50% at level of 2 since my cell is rated for 52,000 gallons and I am only at about 31,000 gallons. If I understood the manufacturer, he said the cell is only rated for like 550lbs of chlorine output before it needs replacing so the more I use it the faster I am going to have to replace it.

jsw5620,

What is your CYA?

Hate to say this jsw, but with 1 ppm CC, that is a sign you may need to shock. I would redo the test to make sure the CC measurement was right and if it repeats, either go directly into the shocking process: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/shocking_your_pool or a least raise you pool to/towards shock level and do a OCLT see: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/overnight_fc_test

...Sorry if you know this already...

If you do shock the pool as Linen suggested (I concur, 1ppm CC means shock), turn OFF the SWG. No sense wasting your cell while shocking, and it'll skew the test results if you do run it anyway.

Ok, just retested again using a different water container and the new chems I ordered. I am at a CYA of 70 now, due to all of the backwashing and stuff from previous shock a couple of weeks ago. When I tested earlier my equipment wasn't running (not sure if it should be), but I fired up the equipment this time and tested where I normally do by a return in the deep end. I am now getting FC of 5ppm and CC of .5ppm.

Phew, you had me worried there

You and me both! I was gonna cry if I had to shock again

So is it correct to test with equipment on?

If you're testing the functionality of the equipment, of course! :~}

That sounds good actually. Right where it should be. I'd watch it though, and test tomorrow morning after the SWG has been off to see what kind of loss you have (if any).

My equipment is actually scheduled to run at night. From Midnight to 6am and then comes on during the day from 10am to 2pm.

I agree, I would have the water moving at least for a few minutes before you test. Also, make sure you are getting a sample under a ways under the surface (foot or so).

I guess this is one of my concerns with running the SWCG at night. During the day I am always afraid it will drop below the minimum FC levels and might be prone to algae and I will end up having to shock again.

Yeah, I run mine in the heat of the day, I figure that is also when I need it the most.

PB told me I needed to run it at night because it is easier on the equipment so I divided it up. One thing that was a shock to me was when I called autopilot, they informed me that the SWCG needed to be calibrated about every three months. Told me to take a sample to a pool store and let them use a digital meter to check salt level and calibrate my unit to that.

I hope the pool store meter is calibrated often. The one I use at my work, needs calibration every 6 months to maintain its accuracy specification. If I was you, I might consider getting the Taylor dropwise salt test (each drop is 200 ppm) to use for recalibrating the swg. tftestkits.com has em.