New Pool, odd results?

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Is this a fresh fill of water? You said the cell was caked with calcium in the first post. It has to operate for that happen. Help us out with a current state of the pool water.
 
mknauss said:
Is this a fresh fill of water? You said the cell was caked with calcium in the first post. It has to operate for that happen. Help us out with a current state of the pool water.
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Not a fresh fill, though I'll admit that I've replaced some o rings on a valve that was a bit exciting as a check valve didn't work so I'd say a reasonable amount of water is fresh. Checking the swg today there is some new calcium visible on it.
 
OK -- so this path forward will be entirely up to you.

Your salinity testing has shown, using different methods, that your salinity is around 900 ppm. Correct?
If so, add 2000 ppm worth of salt. Let it circulate really well -- have the SWCG powered OFF during the salt addition. Brush, do whatever to mix it in. Then test it. If around 3000 ppm, start the SWCG.

Warning - if you end up with too much salt, you will have to drain the pool. I am only suggesting this based on the data you have provided.

Your SWCG should not get calcium buildup quickly if your chemistry is close to correct. My caveat to that is if the SWCG is failing.
 
mknauss said:
OK -- so this path forward will be entirely up to you.

Your salinity testing has shown, using different methods, that your salinity is around 900 ppm. Correct?
If so, add 2000 ppm worth of salt. Let it circulate really well -- have the SWCG powered OFF during the salt addition. Brush, do whatever to mix it in. Then test it. If around 3000 ppm, start the SWCG.

Warning - if you end up with too much salt, you will have to drain the pool. I am only suggesting this based on the data you have provided.

Your SWCG should not get calcium buildup quickly if your chemistry is close to correct. My caveat to that is if the SWCG is failing.
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Thus far the taylor test has been pretty consistient at 800-900 ppm, but it is a single source that is directly salinity. I can't imagine that the chemicals would be bad that would give this type of result. The TDS meter I had showed more than the salt level, but only by a little which is what you'd expect from TDS. But again low. I have a salinity meter coming tomorrow, or I could always take it to a pool store to add to the confusion.

So I found an inspection from a pool company from a few weeks ago that mentioned 6 bags (40lbs each) of salt, so there's another piece of the puzzle. Based on the app 800 ppm -> 3000 ppm would be... 239 lbs of salt.

How long do you think the salt will take to dissolve? a few mins, hours?
 
Best to run the pump several hours, brush, etc. With our high water temperature right now, the salt will dissolve in a flash.
 
mknauss said:
Best to run the pump several hours, brush, etc. With our high water temperature right now, the salt will dissolve in a flash.
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LOL always has to happen when there's an excessive heat warning doesn't it?

The SWG at the very least isn't functioning in terms reporting low salinity, and in truth that's the only thing that's hanging me up in terms of adding the salt. So it sounds like a call to jandy is going to be in order regardless.

Only question, do it now? or wait for the salinity meter for more confirmation...
 

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bubbles^2 said:
What's the upper limit of salinity without issues? Thinking maybe add a 1000-1500ppm salt, and if it is actually at 3000 ppm would 4500 ppm be a huge detriment?
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Answering my own question. In the Jandy manual it notes 3000 ppm as ideal, under 2500 ppm can cause premature cell damage, and above 6000 ppm can cause corrosive damage to fixtures.

So I want to stay below 6000 ppm and above 2500 ppm. If we assume the salt tests are correct our starting point is 800 ppm. If we add 1800 ppm of salt we're sitting at 2600 ppm, if it's actually at 3000 ppm adding 1800 ppm will bump me to 4800 ppm, not out of bounds. The actual salt results would have to be 4200 ppm+ to have adding 1800 ppm to bump me into the danger zone.

Also reading Water Balance for SWGs - Trouble Free Pool it notes that I should be running the pumps and the swg by extension during the day. Right now the pumps are programmed to run late evening into early morning.

Just watch when I tell Jandy the Taylor salt test has been saying 800 ppm and they refuse me warranty because the salt level was too low, even though their equipment didn't note an error...
 
Ok so 200 lbs of salt added, I let the pump run for about 2 hours and I could not see any more salt on the bottom of the pool. I pulled the water sample. And now have a FC of 4, and a salt level of...2000 ppm. I was expecting 2600 ppm with 200 lbs. I'm going to chalk this up to it not being circulated enough, unless I've under calculated my pool by roughly 7000 gallons.

At this point, even though I didn't hit the 3000 ppm mark (sorry mknauss) or even the 2600 ppm I was shooting for, I went ahead and turned the SWG on and doubled the output from 30% to 60%. In hindsight perhaps I should have just max it.

At FC at 4, I'm starting to really question the SWG, I fear I maybe balancing liquid chlorine in the very near future.

Planning on testing again tomorrow afternoon. If FC is lower I'll max out the SWG to 100% or boost mode. If salt remains at 2000 tomorrow I'll get enough salt to raise it to at least 2600ish ppm. The salinity meter should be in tomorrow, and if that confirms the Taylor test then we'll shoot for 3500 ppm.

If all goes well, hopefully I have some real answers tomorrow, and be ready for a phone call on Monday.
 
I'd suggest the following: set the cell to max and capture water into a bottle straight out of the return and test that water to see if it's any higher with fc in comparison to another area which doesn't have a direct circulation from fresh return water. This may tell you the bigger picture if the cell is putting out.
 
wireform said:
I'd suggest the following: set the cell to max and capture water into a bottle straight out of the return and test that water to see if it's any higher with fc in comparison to another area which doesn't have a direct circulation from fresh return water. This may tell you the bigger picture if the cell is putting out.
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Good point, I'll run that today.
 
bubbles^2 said:
Good point, I'll run that today.
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Taylor 1766: 2200
Salinity meter: 2351
Fc: 3

Fc straight from return with truclear at 60%: 2?!, then 4.5 on redo.

160 lbs salt added, in theory should bring ppm to 3675 ppm.

Pump ran for a few hours, no visible salt, truclear turned to boost mode.

15 mins into boost mode.
Fc straight from return: 5
Salinity meter: 3574

Planning on running over night on boost and will recheck tomorrow morning.
 
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