I recently purchased a house that has a pool. I knew absolutely nothing about caring for said pool. After consulting this site and many friends, I have a very basic understating of this pool now. But I continue to have issues maintaining the FC level. I have my SWG (I forgot the name of it) running essentially at it's highest level along with a pump that's basically running all day and I can barely get my FC level to 1. I'm adding CYA to it and currently have it at about 55-60. The salt level is 3200 and my other values all seem to be fine. So what am I doing wrong? Also, can you use chlorine based shock to shock the pool or do you have to use non-chlorine shock because it's a SWG pool? ANY words of encouragement and help are appreciated. Tyler
My Learning Curve for SWG is REALLY steep!!
- Thread starter codegambit
- Start date
Welcome to TFP!
Use bleach or liquid chlorine to raise FC. We avoid granular chlorine or pucks because they add CYA or calcium to your pool. More here, Pool School - How to Chlorinate Your Pool
SWGs are designed to maintain FC in the pool. They don't make enough chlorine to quickly raise it or to fight off algae if there is something growing in the pool. Use bleach or chlorine to quickly raise FC.
You can perform the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to see if there is some algae growing in the pool.
If there is algae then we use this process to kill it, SLAM Process
Do you have a good test kit with an FAS/DPD chlorine test? You'll need it for the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test and the SLAM Process. I use the TF-100 from TFTestkits.net. it is the best value, Pool School - Test Kits Compared
Add your pool info to your sig so that we can better help you. More here about what to put in your sig and how to do it, Pool School - Read This BEFORE You Post
Use bleach or liquid chlorine to raise FC. We avoid granular chlorine or pucks because they add CYA or calcium to your pool. More here, Pool School - How to Chlorinate Your Pool
SWGs are designed to maintain FC in the pool. They don't make enough chlorine to quickly raise it or to fight off algae if there is something growing in the pool. Use bleach or chlorine to quickly raise FC.
You can perform the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to see if there is some algae growing in the pool.
If there is algae then we use this process to kill it, SLAM Process
Do you have a good test kit with an FAS/DPD chlorine test? You'll need it for the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test and the SLAM Process. I use the TF-100 from TFTestkits.net. it is the best value, Pool School - Test Kits Compared
Add your pool info to your sig so that we can better help you. More here about what to put in your sig and how to do it, Pool School - Read This BEFORE You Post
- Jun 12, 2011
- 3,763
- Pool Size
- 19500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pureline Crystal Pure 60,000
Last question first, yes you can use chlorine. A SWG pool is in fact a chlorine pool. The SWG just creates chlorine by releasing free chlorine from salt (sodium chloride). The best way to boost your chlorine level is with liquid chlorine or household bleach.
It is possible that your salt cell is depleted. They are a consumable device. A cell will only produce a finite amount of chlorine before it must be replaced.
It is possible that your salt cell is depleted. They are a consumable device. A cell will only produce a finite amount of chlorine before it must be replaced.
Yeah I did get a test kit with the FAS/DPD chlorine test. The SWG is an IC40 and all the lights are green, but one is blinking green telling me to check the cell....which apparently means I need to soak it in some of the muriatic acid. The good news is that the water is still clear and looks good. But my next question is, may my family still safely swim in the pool with the FC level being so low? I'm guessing the reason the pool does not look worse is because I've been running the filter all day. Like I said, learning curve is still VERY steep. Appreciate the help and this site!!
It is not safe to swim when FC is below minimum for your cya, [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]. Add some bleach to get FC up to target.
Until you sort out the condition of your cell and its run time, use liquid chlorine (aka "bleach") to boost up your FC to the desired level, then see if the SWG can maintain it there. You need to do that bleach addition TODAY to avoid tempting an algae outbreak. You can always top off a chlorine pool with bleach any time you want instant rise in FC.
do not just pour acid into your cell, you'll kill it. try knocking off any build up with a stick first and seeing if that corrects it. anytime you acid wash it you will remove life. flashing green inspect cell usually means build up or bad cell. thats why your fc won't go up. also watch it for longer than 5 minutes, sometimes it will go into inspect mode after that and you never notice.