Measuring salt ppm

[John85]

Can I generally rely on the readings I get from my Hayward AQR15 for salt PPM or ought I really do a test? If so, are Aquachek strips good enough or do I really need to buy a K-1766 or something similar?

Additionally it seems that my salt is dropping off rather quickly. Evaporation should not affect a change, right? Mine was high (up to 4400 according to my SWG) but then I lost approx. 20% of the water (over days, I was refilling) due to a leak which dropped it to 3100-3200. I added a bag and it read at 3300-3400 for a few days but then dropped back to 3200, any thoughts? There are no apparent leaks now.

 

[JVTrain]

The rule of thumb is to have enough salt so that your SWG unit doesn't complain with error lights, etc. It is nice to check to see what your salt level is at to see if your SWG is reporting similar results. If they don't agree, there could be a problem with the cell or sensor, such as corrosion.

 

[jblizzle]

I would suggest you get the Taylor test. And I am currently going through a situation as to why.

From day 1 my SWG always read about 600ppm lower than the Taylor test kit. The test would say 3800ppm, the SWG would say 3200ppm and was happy.

This spring I added a couple bags of salt as the SWG was reading a little low. I know my pH got too high and the cell got scaled up a bit. Spent the weekend cleaning the cell and the SWG is still reading low around 2600ppm. If that is all I knew, I might keep adding more and more salt to make the SWG happy. Well, the Taylor is still reading 3800ppm. So, I know that the SWG is reading lower than it used to and is likely on its death bed

If I did not know the cell was going out, I might end up with VERY high salt levels that would require me to replace water to lower it when I get a new cell.

 

[John85]

I would suggest you get the Taylor test.

So I guess Aquachek Salt strips are as much junk as the other strips then?

 

[jblizzle]

Member's posts using the strips (I have not used them) seem to be all over the map. They certainly do not have the precision as the Taylor test (not that any salt test are very precise).