Water Test from Leslies

golfguy21 said:

Hello,

I had my water tested and I am confused on the salt reading. My system is reading the salt level as 2600PPM and needs salt and Leslies test reads 3847. I clean the salt generator, so not too sure what's going on. Here the following reading from Leslies (I know it's not as accurate as other tests)

Free Chlorine 0.51
Total Chlorine 0.56 (both are low as the water temp is 50ish degrees and the salt generator has been off as stated on the system because of low temperature - should I add liquid chlorine while its cold outside?
pH 7.4
Total Alkalinity 37 (low)
Calcium Hardness 449
Cyanuric Acid 18
Iron 0
Copper 0.1
Phosphates 540
Salt 3847

Water temperature is 54 degrees.

Thanks in advance.

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It’s not that Leslie’s is just “not as accurate”, it’s that lots of times they are wildly inaccurate and send you off on wild goose chases with expensive stuff.

But they say you have no chlorine. Better safe and add some while you wait for a good test kit.

As mentioned above you need an accurate salt test as well as the other parameters from a recommended test kit to help determine what’s going on.
Until then keep fc in target range for your assumed cya
FC/CYA Levels with liquid chlorine
PoolMath will help with calculating amounts. You should do this anytime your cell is offline/not producing (aka all winter)
That unit looks to be a rebranded solaxx reliant which operate at water temps of 50 & above.
The manual states the salinity can be as low as 2000ppm even though optimal is around 3500ppm.
Generally when the actual salt level differs greatly from the readout on the unit & the cell is clean it can be a sign of a failing cell.
Cleaning the cell frequently with any kind of acid reduces its life because each cleaning removes some of the special coating on the cell that produces chlorine.
It’s recommended to use a popsicle stick or credit card to gently remove any scale before resorting to diluted vinegar or then moving on to diluted muriatic acid. Along with controlling your water chemistry to prevent scale in the first place .

Solaxx may be helpful in troubleshooting with you once you’ve got some reliable results. They have a whole department dedicated to that. There’s not alot of troubleshooting info here for that unit although I did find this courtesy of @magiteck

As others have said, the test at Leslie's can vary widely from date to date and store to store. I had a salt pool and the readings could vary by over 1,000 ppm over a few weeks. Having your own salt testing device will give some confidence in your reading. Also, I had a problem with the SWG (Pentair) not generating chlorine. As it turned out, the SWG temperature sensor wasn't working. So, even when the pool was warm, the SWG thought the temp was 20-30 degrees colder. I bought a replacement part on Amazon and got it working.

woodyp said:

Even the great Taylor salt test kit has an error range oh plus or minus 200. Just don't overshoot it.

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So it’s better to be on the lower end on salt?

r2sie2 said:

So it’s better to be on the lower end on salt?

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You just want the cell to be happy.
So just creep up on your target so you don’t overshoot as if the cell is unhappy (high salt light) you will have to replace some water to satisfy it.

Mdragger88 said:

You just want the cell to be happy.
So just creep up on your target so you don’t overshoot as if the cell is unhappy (high salt light) you will have to replace some water to satisfy it.

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Just curious what too high is. I have three separate tests showing 3000 ppm of salt. In store, strip, and drop test. However my cell is showing 4000ppm in ap. So I’m worried at some point my cell will stop working due to false reading.

Just curious what too high is. I have three separate tests showing 3000 ppm of salt. In store, strip, and drop test. However my cell is showing 4000ppm in ap. So I’m worried at some point my cell will stop working due to false reading.

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@r2sie2
My local stores will check the T Cell for free.
I have used this service several times to verify if the T Cell is working or not.
It is a starting point.
If all three salt tests are close (within 100-200 ppm) and the T Cell is functioning, I'd start looking elsewhere in your system.
I have had to replace the board in the Aqua-Rite several time over 19 years.

Steve

is the salt reading on the swg not impacted by the low water temperature?