Salt testing pen options

[smeestu]

So here goes again having a pool through monsoon season in Thailand has been interesting over the last couple of years this is the first year with the SWG and after nearly any heavy downpour (can get upto 10cm of rain in one go) i get the salt low light on the SWG i have been testing it with tablets but i use 20 plus tablets every time (see previous posts) but without really knowing at what ppm the light comes on its been a battle so ive turned it off and gone back to liquid chlorine at the moment .I should of bought a SWG with a salt ppm readout on it would of made life much easier in the monsoon season .
i was thinking maybe ill buy a salt pen then i can test much more regular and keep the salt in check for the SWG the salt is cheap here i live 10km from some salt flats it costs £3 for a 40kg bag
the 2 options for the pens that i can get are

Lovibond SD80
Products - SD 80 TDS - Lovibond

and
Palintest PT 158 Salinity Pocket Sensor
Pocket Sensors | Palintest
anyone on here used either of these or have any thoughts about either model

thanks in advance for any replies

 

[Griswald]

I have one, but be aware it measures ALL solids in the water, not just salt. I tested my tap water to be 150 ppm, so when I get a reading in my pool water, I subtract 150 or so.

 

[smeestu]

I have one, but be aware it measures ALL solids in the water, not just salt. I tested my tap water to be 150 ppm, so when I get a reading in my pool water, I subtract 150 or so.

thanks for the heads up another question or 2. how often do you calibrate and with what do you buy a powder to add to distilled water or a ready made solution

 

[ping]

I have one, but be aware it measures ALL solids in the water, not just salt. I tested my tap water to be 150 ppm, so when I get a reading in my pool water, I subtract 150 or so.

Most tap water does contain salt and the range can vary by quite a bit. Most tend to be >100 ppm but legally can be high as 1000 ppm for drinking water in the US.

I would not worry about a calibration adjustment for tap water as even 150 ppm will not mean much for a SWG.

Back to the OP, having a test for salinity is a good idea, but for the time being I would add 100 lbs. of salt each day until the SWG is happy and making chlorine. This amount will add about 500 ppm of salt to the pool. Since you know the salt was lost due to the rains it is safe to add salt in this method.

 

[smeestu]

Most tap water does contain salt and the range can vary by quite a bit. Most tend to be >100 ppm but legally can be high as 1000 ppm for drinking water in the US.

I would not worry about a calibration adjustment for tap water as even 150 ppm will not mean much for a SWG.

Back to the OP, having a test for salinity is a good idea, but for the time being I would add 100 lbs. of salt each day until the SWG is happy and making chlorine. This amount will add about 500 ppm of salt to the pool. Since you know the salt was lost due to the rains it is safe to add salt in this method.

thanks for the input been adding salt over the last couple of days everything back up and running again and no rain for 4 days now .I was interested in how often people calibrate their pens cant seem to find any info on it anywhere