Looking to take over PB doing maintenance

[Steve319]

Hey all, so I just received my K2006-C test kit and want to take over maintenance myself. This is the first season for our new pool and while the water is crystal clear we do notice some burning in the eyes. My first shot at testing seems like some corrections are needed.
So free & combined Chlorine (FAS_DPD) was dark pink and took 83 drops of R-0871 to clear according to formula my combined Chlorine is 13.28
PH was darker than any color any took 3 drops of R-0005 to correct. According to chart I should need 13.7 Fl. oz Muriatic acid to correct
TA was 120. It also sounds like muriatic acid will correct this.
Questions are:
Am I reading all this the correct way?
My salt cell is set at 80% does this need to be changed?
How long after adding acid to water is it safe to use the pool again
Any other suggestions?

Thank you for your assistance

 

[Jimrahbe]

Steve,

An IC20 will increase your FC by 17ppm when running at 100% output. At 80% that would be 13.6 ppm or about .55 ppm per hour. How long are you running the pump each day?

80% sounds way too high to me.

What is your CYA reading? You need to know your CYA level in order to know what your FC level should be. Per the saltwater section of this chart. FC/CYA Levels

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[jeffchap]

You cannot accurately test pH when your FC is over 10, it skews artificially high. And your FC is 41.5, which is crazy high. Are you confident in that reading?

How high depends upon your CYA, so we need to know that in order to determine what your range for FC needs to be. But odds are it doesn't need to be anywhere near what it is currently. To avoid damage to your equipment, I'd turn the SWG off for a while and let the FC drift down to at least 20.

 

[Steve319]

Steve,

An IC20 will increase your FC by 17ppm when running at 100% output. At 80% that would be 13.6 ppm or about .55 ppm per hour. How long are you running the pump each day?

80% sounds way too high to me.

What is your CYA reading? You need to know your CYA level in order to know what your FC level should be. Per the saltwater section of this chart. FC/CYA Levels

Thanks,

Jim R.

Jim,

IC20 is running at 2300 rpm from 6:00 AM - 6:00 PM with 80% output during that time, and 1200 RPM from 6:00 PM - 6:00 AM (looks like the IC 20 shuts down during this period due to low flow).
Did the CYA level test 3 times and the black dot never disappears??

 

[Steve319]

You cannot accurately test pH when your FC is over 10, it skews artificially high. And your FC is 41.5, which is crazy high. Are you confident in that reading?

How high depends upon your CYA, so we need to know that in order to determine what your range for FC needs to be. But odds are it doesn't need to be anywhere near what it is currently. To avoid damage to your equipment, I'd turn the SWG off for a while and let the FC drift down to at least 20.

Hey Jeff,
Tried the CYA test 3 times and never had the black dot disappear??
Sorry but first time using the test kit so no not confident in readings but pretty confident I am following the directions correctly.
The total Free & Combined Chlorine (FAS-DPD) number I came up with was 13.28.
IC20 is running at 2300 rpm from 6:00 AM - 6:00 PM with 80% output during that time, and 1200 RPM from 6:00 PM - 6:00 AM (looks like the IC 20 shuts down during this period due to low flow).
Thanks for the help

 

[Jimrahbe]

Steve,

It is not really a good idea to run the cell with low flow. Since you are running your pump 24/7, I suggest that you find the speed that turns on the cell, my guess about 1500 or 1600 RPM and then just run that speed or higher,

I also have an IntelliFlo and I run it 24/7, most of the time at 1200 RPM. I like that I am making a little chlorine all the time and skimming all the time.

You have to run faster as you have a heater that I don't have.

There is not really any reason to run too much faster than what is required to close the cell's flow switch.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Steve319]

Steve,

It is not really a good idea to run the cell with low flow. Since you are running your pump 24/7, I suggest that you find the speed that turns on the cell, my guess about 1500 or 1600 RPM and then just run that speed or higher,

I also have an IntelliFlo and I run it 24/7, most of the time at 1200 RPM. I like that I am making a little chlorine all the time and skimming all the time.

You have to run faster as you have a heater that I don't have.

There is not really any reason to run too much faster than what is required to close the cell's flow switch.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Ok, so if I reduce the speed to a constant 1500 - 1600 RPM the chemical #s should correct themselves?

Thanks

 

[Deb04]

So free & combined Chlorine (FAS_DPD) was dark pink and took 83 drops of R-0871 to clear according to formula my combined Chlorine is 13.28

Something is off here. how much water was in your tube, 10 ml or 25? You put in the powder and then started putting in drops of R-0871. 83 drops, right? That would make your free Chlorine 16.6 if you used 25 ml, or 41.5 if you used 10 ml. Once it turned clear, did you then put in R-0003? If so, how many drops of R-0871 did it take to make that clear?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Ok, so if I reduce the speed to a constant 1500 - 1600 RPM the chemical #s should correct themselves?

Steve,

No, not really. You are the only part of the pool equipment that has a brain. You are the one that has to adjust the chemicals.

The basic idea is that you test, and then adjust the chemicals based upon your test results.

FC and pH are something you need to look at quite often, but the other chemicals are pretty stable, so one you get them where they need to be you don't have to test them very often.

The fact that you have a SWCG, makes maintaining your FC pretty easy to do, once you get the cell set up. No one can do that for you, as you will just experiment with it and see how it works for your pool.

Basically, you need to maintain your FC using the saltwater section of this chart. FC/CYA Levels

You want to run your cell so that your FC stays at your "target" FC or slightly higher.

If the CYA dot did not "somewhat" disappear, then you have no CYA. You should add enough CYA to get your pool up to 30 ppm and then we can go from there. You don't need to get it up to 70 as you have a screen room.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[pjt]

83 drops of R-0871 to clear according to formula my combined Chlorine is 13.28

Are you using the 25ml or 10ml sample size?

The 10ml sample provides enough precision and saves time and reagents.

 

[Steve319]

Something is off here. how much water was in your tube, 10 ml or 25? You put in the powder and then started putting in drops of R-0871. 83 drops, right? That would make your free Chlorine 16.6 if you used 25 ml, or 41.5 if you used 25 ml. Once it turned clear, did you then put in R-0003? If so, how many drops of R-0871 did it take to make that clear?

Hi Deb,
Thank you !! I messed up and multiplied by .02 not .20 free chlorine is 16.6. Once clear I put in the 5 drops of R-0003 and it barely changed. Adding R-0871 had no effect.

 

[Deb04]

Great. Your FC is 16.6 and CC is 0. With your CYA at zero, it isn’t safe to swim right now. Turn the SWG off. Once you get 30 ppm of CYA added, you can swim once the FC drops below 12. Turn SWG back on when FC hits about 7-8.

 

[Steve319]

Are you using the 25ml or 10ml sample size?

The 10ml sample provides enough precision and saves time and reagents.

Good point, Thank you

 

[Steve319]

Thank you for all the suggestions!

I have added CYA and turned off the SWG, numbers today seem better:
CYA = 70
PH = 7.8
Free Chlorine 13.5
Combined Chlorine seems to come up zero?
TA = 120

Free Chlorine and TA still high, should muriatic acid be added to correct or just leave salt cell off for now?

Thanks

 

[Bperry]

Thank you for all the suggestions!

I have added CYA and turned off the SWG, numbers today seem better:
CYA = 70
PH = 7.8
Free Chlorine 13.5
Combined Chlorine seems to come up zero?
TA = 120

Free Chlorine and TA still high, should muriatic acid be added to correct or just leave salt cell off for now?

Thanks

Don’t even bother doing a pH test when the FC is over 10ppm. So you have no idea what the pH is.

1. Your FC goal is to keep the free chlorine at the level the chart says depending on the CYA level.
2. Your CC goal is always 0ppm so you are good there. It’s like because you’ve had overly high free chlorine in the past.
3. Leave the TA alone. It will fix itself for free over time.
4. Read through the pool school articles on the sight.

 

[Steve319]

Don’t even bother doing a pH test when the FC is over 10ppm. So you have no idea what the pH is.

1. Your FC goal is to keep the free chlorine at the level the chart says depending on the CYA level.
2. Your CC goal is always 0ppm so you are good there. It’s like because you’ve had overly high free chlorine in the past.
3. Leave the TA alone. It will fix itself for free over time.
4. Read through the pool school articles on the sight.

Thank you.

According to the chart, with a CYA of 70 my ideal Free Chlorine target is 5
I will continue to leave the SWG off for a little longer.

Steve

 

[Bperry]

According to the chart, with a CYA of 70 my ideal Free Chlorine target is 5
I will continue to leave the SWG off for a little longer.

Steve

Notice that it’s a range. For CYA 70, the range is 5-10. If it starts getting close to 5, turn it back on. If it keep rising, reduce the percentage a bit of it starts getting close to 10 and increase the % if it starts trending down close to 5.

 

[jeffchap]

Better to err on the high side. With my CYA at 70, I keep my FC 7-10. That gives me a safety margin and it's safe to swim up to 28.

 

[pjt]

just leave salt cell off for now?

Yes, but be prepared to turn in back on in a day or two.

According to the chart, with a CYA of 70 my ideal Free Chlorine target is 5

For FC, "target" is a bit of a misnomer. Consider the "target" as your FC floor. During the course of the day, your FC level should never be below the floor. There's no downside to the FC being a little high, since it gives you a margin of error/safety. There's a huge downside to the FC being low.

 

[Steve319]

Hey all, thank you again for all the support. I have succeeded in getting my CYA and Free Chlorine to acceptable range, but other numbers still seem off.
This morning results:
Free Chlorine = 9.5
Combined Chlorine = 0
PH = is now over 8 (was steady at 7.8)
TA = 120
Calcium = 500
CYA = 70
According to the chart PH can be lowered by adding 13.7 fl. oz. of Muriatic acid. Should this be done at this time?
Thanks