I have a 14k gal salt water pool in So Cal. Our water in my city is extremely hard. Because of the hard water I get a lot of calcium build up and need to clean my SWG every 1-2 months. I recently cleaned the SWG and my ppm was at 3000-3200. However within a week it has dropped to 2300. I added 1 1/2 bags of pool salt which raised my ppm to 2800. Within a few days it has now dropped to 2300 and my check salt level light has been activated. I have auto water refill valve that comes from the street which is hard water. Could this be an issue? If so should I refill my pool when needed from a different source (my out side hose which gets soft water from my water softener). Any help is appreciated thx
So Cal 12k gal salt water pool with low salt level
- Thread starter JB80
- Start date
A few issues to deal with.
1- The cell reads your salt level based on the conductivity of the water. This measurement can be upset greatly by scaling on the measurement location. Your 3000-3200 measurement is likely accurate and perhaps you're gaining scale so fast, the measurement is changing due to scale, not actual loss of salt. I would strongly recommend getting a salt test kit, at least strips to verify your salt concentration independent of your SWG readings.
2- If you do have an autofill, it could be masking a serious leak and account for losing A LOT of salt. That's is still a lot of salt to lose in only a week. That would take nearly 1/3 of your water to be replaced to have the salt water drop that low. Disable the autofill and see if you have a leak issue.
3- Water softeners rarely practical for filling a pool. If you do very small amounts here and there, sure. But residential water softeners are build to soften hundreds of gallons a day, not thousands. If you want to manage your high CH levels, it's doable with pH and TA control but to know that, you need a good test kit. Get a TF-100 from tftestkits.net and you won't regret it. Order your salt test kit from there while you're at it.
Welcome to TFP!
1- The cell reads your salt level based on the conductivity of the water. This measurement can be upset greatly by scaling on the measurement location. Your 3000-3200 measurement is likely accurate and perhaps you're gaining scale so fast, the measurement is changing due to scale, not actual loss of salt. I would strongly recommend getting a salt test kit, at least strips to verify your salt concentration independent of your SWG readings.
2- If you do have an autofill, it could be masking a serious leak and account for losing A LOT of salt. That's is still a lot of salt to lose in only a week. That would take nearly 1/3 of your water to be replaced to have the salt water drop that low. Disable the autofill and see if you have a leak issue.
3- Water softeners rarely practical for filling a pool. If you do very small amounts here and there, sure. But residential water softeners are build to soften hundreds of gallons a day, not thousands. If you want to manage your high CH levels, it's doable with pH and TA control but to know that, you need a good test kit. Get a TF-100 from tftestkits.net and you won't regret it. Order your salt test kit from there while you're at it.
Welcome to TFP!
Thx appreciate the info!!
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With such hard water, is it normal for my SWG to get calicified so quickly needing a cleaning every month or so? I read where most say they clean them 2-3 times a year.
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With such hard water, is it normal for my SWG to get calicified so quickly needing a cleaning every month or so? I read where most say they clean them 2-3 times a year.
What determines how fast your cell or pool surface get scaling is your calcium saturation index (CSI), not just CH. You need all of your chemistry levels to determine CSI, hence my suggestion to get a test kit that is capable of testing for pH, TA, CH, CYA, FC and CC. The TF-100 will do that. Temperature can also have some effect on CSI. Once you have all those levels you can manage calcium scaling, usually by maintaining the proper pH to keep your CSI level between -0.3 and 0.3. Check out ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry for more information on pool chemistry. Inputting all your measured values into http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html (link at top of page for Pool Math) you can then see your CSI and what pH levels are appropriate to limit scaling. Check out some of the other articles in Pool School about scaling such as Pool School - Calcium Scaling and Pool School - Test Kits Compared
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Also, this recent discussion has some good nuggets on SWG water balance as well.
Understanding the differences b/t the TFPC method and SWG manual
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Also, this recent discussion has some good nuggets on SWG water balance as well.
Understanding the differences b/t the TFPC method and SWG manual
What swg do you have and how old is it?
Which cell?
What readings are displayed?
What is the salt level by test not by the swg?
Which cell?
What readings are displayed?
What is the salt level by test not by the swg?