SWCG says salt level is critically low but it is not

[kristenerika]

On Sunday evening we had a very heavy rainstorm (6 inches in less than a hour), resulting in some debris washing into our pool. I have vacuumed up all the mulch and grass but the water is still cloudy from mud.

I am in the process of SLAMing the pool and therefore have the SWCG turned off, but have noticed that, since the storm, my control panel is saying that my salt level is critically low (2100 ppm, according to the panel). I have confirmed that my salt level is normal at 3000 ppm (down from 3200 before the rainstorm) using the Taylor NaCl drop test.

Is this discrepancy the result of the panel being confused by the cloudiness of the water? If not, what might be the cause and how do I go about fixing it?

(BTW, the SWCG is less than a year old, installed in August of last year.)

 

[bobodaclown]

Not sure how many hours are on your cell, but you could add a bag of salt an see it that makes your SWCG happy. I think that may be in the range of accuracy. Obviously you don't want to have to much salt, but you need enough for the unit to work.
What's the condition of the cell? Have you cleaned it? Brand/model?

 

[JamesW]

I suspect that the rain caused the skimmers to pull in some very low salinity water from the rain. That could give you a very low instant salinity reading, which could lower your average salinity reading.

Go to “Settings” turn off Superchlorinate and turn percent to zero. Wait 1 minute. Turn percent to 100%. Go to “Diagnostics”. Wait 1 minute for readings to stabilize. Press the right arrow. If Instant salt is good, press “+” to save.

If Instant salt is not good, check the cell for scaling. Actually, it wouldn't hurt to take the cell off and check it anyway.

Note: The average should recover on its own as the instant readings increase and bring up the average. Once the average salinity gets back above 2,400 ppm, the system will begin producing chlorine (with a low salt warning). Once the average gets back above 2,700, the low salt warning will go away.