Wife just fired my pool guy - Want to make sure I am on right track cause plan on going it myself

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Fuldo said:
Is this pool in a screened enclosure like many pools in Florida? If so, please realize that the screening reduces sun exposure by about 50%. Also, a typical screened pool in Florida is very close to the house so the house often shades the pool for a significant part of the day, further reducing sun exposure. I've found that CYA values as low as 40 or so work fine in that situation and chlorine consumption is still minimal, in my case about 36 ounces of 10% liquid chlorine a day in the worst part of the summer. I've now converted to SWG and with CYA 40 I can run my RJ30 at 40-45% for only 8 hours a day and keep my FC in the 4.5-6.5 range. That seems to be a sweet spot for this pool. My acid consumption is rather low as well, partially as a result of my TA being kept on the low end.
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I am screened in, but pool is on south side of house so very limited shade.

Currently I pushed my cell down to 50% and am doing about 10 hours a day and am holding at around 5.5 to 6.5 ppm FC right now.

The manual for the swg also says 60 to 80 cya.. so I am going to work up to that range.

I will keep testing, but I am thinking that if I can bring the hours a day down to 8 (roughly 2 full cycles of pool a day) and then drop the cell usage down.. I am hoping that this will cause my cell to last a lot longer too (pool guy had next to no cya and cell running at 100% and we still had algie problems and were burning through cells every 3 years).

So far a few weeks in my pool is crystal clear and never looked better and I am really appreciative of the help and advise of everyone here.
 
I just found a specification for the Nano, if it's a regular Nano it's rated for 0.8# chlorine gas per day. That's not huge for that size pool in your location. I just ran some numbers based on my pool and equipment and your chlorine demand is exactly the same as mine per gallon of pool capacity and that's very reasonable. Bumping your CYA level another 10-20 will likely drop your usage some but I'll be surprised if 8 hours at 50% will keep your FC high enough in the dead of summer. If I were you in addition to maybe bumping CYA some I'd run the pump less and drive the SWG harder, the life of the SWG won't be affected and you'll save some energy cost assuming you have a one speed pump. I didn't see a specification for your pump. I'd purchase a higher capacity SWG next time to achieve a longer generator life.
 
Fuldo said:
I just found a specification for the Nano, if it's a regular Nano it's rated for 0.8# chlorine gas per day. That's not huge for that size pool in your location. I just ran some numbers based on my pool and equipment and your chlorine demand is exactly the same as mine per gallon of pool capacity and that's very reasonable. Bumping your CYA level another 10-20 will likely drop your usage some but I'll be surprised if 8 hours at 50% will keep your FC high enough in the dead of summer. If I were you in addition to maybe bumping CYA some I'd run the pump less and drive the SWG harder, the life of the SWG won't be affected and you'll save some energy cost assuming you have a one speed pump. I didn't see a specification for your pump. I'd purchase a higher capacity SWG next time to achieve a longer generator life.
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I inherited the SWG with the house I looked at the specs the other day (not in front of me) but the 0.8# seems about right if memory serves me right. I would be very interested to learn how you ran numbers cause it would be cool to learn more about my pool. Heck, I would love to learn how I can even translate that number into PPM of Chlorine added to pool per day.

I have a 1 speed 1.5HP pump.

I am at the testing things stage, but since my SWG seems to automatically raise % with temperature it will auto adjust.The energy cost is not a driver in this decision (I have a solar pool heater so I am sure my savings from that more than makes up for the extra pump time cost). My goal (may be crazy) is to create enough "slack" in the system that when I need to increase FC generation , for something like an expected heavy swimming day, I have that capacity built in so that I can just pump it up to 100% (Boost function on the SWG)generation the day before rather than having to dump chlorine in the pool if the FC level drops to low as a result (I am still new at this, but the only thing I know for sure is that I want to avoid the possibility of Algie ever coming back). I figure that if I am running at 50% It would enable me to double output when needed. If that means running 10 hours a day so be it (I would run 24 hours a day, but the pump is near the bedroom my kids sleep in, so keeping it on at night is extra noise that might disturb them).
 
Jason245 said:
I inherited the SWG with the house I looked at the specs the other day (not in front of me) but the 0.8# seems about right if memory serves me right. I would be very interested to learn how you ran numbers cause it would be cool to learn more about my pool. Heck, I would love to learn how I can even translate that number into PPM of Chlorine added to pool per day.

I have a 1 speed 1.5HP pump.

I am at the testing things stage, but since my SWG seems to automatically raise % with temperature it will auto adjust.The energy cost is not a driver in this decision (I have a solar pool heater so I am sure my savings from that more than makes up for the extra pump time cost). My goal (may be crazy) is to create enough "slack" in the system that when I need to increase FC generation , for something like an expected heavy swimming day, I have that capacity built in so that I can just pump it up to 100% (Boost function on the SWG)generation the day before rather than having to dump chlorine in the pool if the FC level drops to low as a result (I am still new at this, but the only thing I know for sure is that I want to avoid the possibility of Algie ever coming back). I figure that if I am running at 50% It would enable me to double output when needed. If that means running 10 hours a day so be it (I would run 24 hours a day, but the pump is near the bedroom my kids sleep in, so keeping it on at night is extra noise that might disturb them).
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The comparison I made:
You have a SWG rated for 0.80# per 24 hours and you run it 10 hours at 50%. The amount of chlorine being generated should be 10/24 x 0.50 x 0.8 = 0.17#. Your pool is 10K gallons so that's 0.17# per 10K gallons. My SWG (RJ30) is rated for 1.5# per 24 hours and I run it 8 hours at 45%. The amount of chlorine generated is 8/24 x 0.45 x 1.5 = 0.22#. My pool is 13K gallons so 10/13 x 0.22 = 0.17# per 10K gallons. My usage and yours match perfectly when adjusted for pool volume. This doesn't surprise me considering our locations are close, our configurations are similar and our CYA levels are presently almost identical. I think you're doing well considering my chlorine usage is fairly low, your's is similar but your pool gets less shade than mine and your location is farther south.

If you like having the pool skimmed more than less and energy cost isn't a priority then if I was you I'd skim probably 12 hours per day (maybe 7 AM to 7 PM and drop the SWG setting to give the required output (perhaps 40%). I'm not a big fan of boosting SWG output for short periods to address short-term demand like a pool party. I find it easier and quicker to simply supplement with liquid and that would help to prolong the life of your generator albeit not by much.
 
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Fuldo said:
The comparison I made:
You have a SWG rated for 0.80# per 24 hours and you run it 10 hours at 50%. The amount of chlorine being generated should be 10/24 x 0.50 x 0.8 = 0.17#. Your pool is 10K gallons so that's 0.17# per 10K gallons. My SWG (RJ30) is rated for 1.5# per 24 hours and I run it 8 hours at 45%. The amount of chlorine generated is 8/24 x 0.45 x 1.5 = 0.22#. My pool is 13K gallons so 10/13 x 0.22 = 0.17# per 10K gallons. My usage and yours match perfectly when adjusted for pool volume. This doesn't surprise me considering our locations are close, our configurations are similar and our CYA levels are presently almost identical. I think you're doing well considering my chlorine usage is fairly low, your's is similar but your pool gets less shade than mine and your location is farther south.

If you like having the pool skimmed more than less and energy cost isn't a priority then if I was you I'd skim probably 12 hours per day (maybe 7 AM to 7 PM and drop the SWG setting to give the required output (perhaps 40%). I'm not a big fan of boosting SWG output for short periods to address short-term demand like a pool party. I find it easier and quicker to simply supplement with liquid and that would help to prolong the life of your generator albeit not by much.
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Cool. Being novice I am glad all signs point to being consistent with someone else.

I tested today and seem to be pretty steady at 6.5ppm fc.. so I dropped the run time by an hour (now gonna do 10 hours exactly)and want to see if that levels it at around 5.0 to 6.0 range (I figure if the target is around 5ppm then that should keep me safe when combined with the cya that should be fully dissolved by tomorrow night).

This weekend I will test cya again and see where I stand and go from there.
 
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Interesting other observation, manual says use cya between 50 and 80ppm and I believe the new book says between 30 and 50.

I wonder what caused them to change recommendations (my model is from 2012 ).

The cell and output is identical.
 
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So, (And to make sure I am on right track and not open a brand new thread),

My test results were as follows today:

FC 5.5-6.0 (12th drop @ 10Ml test)
CC 0
PH 7.8 (1 drop of acid demand brought it to 7.6 and from my observation it seems to drop it by 0.2PH every drop)
TA 70-80 (8th drop caused color change)
CH 210-220 (22nd Drop)
CYA: 60 (When I didn't try to stare too hard)

Based on those results on what I have read here from the "pool gods" I believe I have to add nothing to the pool today as I am in the proper range.

The Chart for the SWG CYA to FC seems to indicate that I should have more CYA, but I am disinclined to add more unless someone tells me it is an absolute necessity. As best as I can tell, my FC numbers have been stable the last several days at ~50% SWG for 10 hours a day, and the only benefit I could see is being able to reduce the SWG run time or percentage with the con being a higher SLAM level required.

Can someone let me know if I am on the right track or if I misunderstand the guidance.
 
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Your numbers are almost identical to mine albeit your CYA is 10-20 higher now. I've had very good luck running there. I wouldn't change a thing. In my opinion a CYA of 60 is more than high enough for a screened pool and you've got some margin on your FC.
 
Those are some rock star levels right there!! You have found what YOUR pool likes!

Lets talk about the future. Each season will be different and mean your pool's needs will be different. So long as you are aware of it then it should all be good!

Kim:kim:
 
Jason245 said:
So, (And to make sure I am on right track and not open a brand new thread),

'''
Can someone let me know if I am on the right track or if I misunderstand the guidance.
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Looks good to me.. remember you are just shooting to get things in the right ranges. The pool chem will adjust itself at the finer levels based on your pool. I've seen people go crazy trying to hit a specific number for pH and they are fighting the buffer effects of the other chemistry and the physical aspects of their pool...

As to the SWG.. I like to get my runtime so that the SWG is around 50%.. (+/- 10%ish remember its a range). That way I have some play in the setting to increase or decrease my CL production. This is only my personal preference and your pool may respond to a different range. once you hit that sweet spot with a SWG.. adjusting things is usually just a knob twist away! At the same time if you notice you have to keep cranking it up without good cause (like increased bather load, or hot days) then I start looking at other things.. (did something change with the hardware, is some other chem level off, was I not paying attention and I am at the onset of a bloom).

Tinker with your CYA.. you're in FLA so you'll be getting diluted from rains every now and then.. so you'll have to readjust anyway at some point, and you find the happy medium.. by the book your's seems low. But then so is mine.. unless you consider my pools environment.
Carry on...:cool:
 
Thanks everyone for the positive feedback... My wife has been looking at me like a crazy person testing the pool every day for FC and PH and then spending over a half hour this morning putting together all those test results.

I think I can now pull back on testing CYA and CH to once a month, and TA to weekly and maybe even PH and FC every few days ...

Things are stabalized to where I want them I think :)
 
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New discovery today, when I pulled out the filter to hose it out (decided that this is going to be part of my monthly maintenance of pool schedule) i realized that the psi gauge is not working.. (glass cover is broken).

Out of curiosity, how important is this and should I bother to fix/replace or just let it be. From my reading psi is the gauge to determine when filter needs change out (which I can not do now).
 
With out a working pressure gauge it is difficult to know when you should clean the filter.
 
They are all virtually the same thread size. It should be as easy as unscrewing the old gauge, wrapping about 2-3 turns of Teflon tape around the new threads and screwing the new gauge on.......hand tight only.
 
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