New pool fighting same problem for 9 months

[starrider60]

Hi I need help with my new pool. It is about 14,500 gallons, DE fliter and salt. My problem is though out the day when the system is on the pool gets real cloudy you can see it come in out of the return lines and then in about 45 minutes it is crystal clear. It happens about four or five times a day. The pool company said it is the water saturation. I have had my water tested at two different places and the say my pool water is perfect. I don't know if it is DE or salt. The pool company says the water satuuration being bad is letting backup in the cell to build up and when the cell is full it blows back into the pool. Any Help Thanks

 

[duraleigh]

Starrider,

It is not what you have been told but we can't tell (yet) what it is.. It might be a pool water issue but we can only guess without test results.

Can you post current results for FC, TC, CH, pH, and CYA? (Abbreviations are in Pool School)

 

[starrider60]

It is a ingound pebble tec. I just hand the wate tested today and the FC is 1 TC is 1 CH is 250 PH 7.8 CYA is 70. I unpluged my salt cell and let it run today and is still gets cloudy. The pentair rep said my cell was hot wired and he rewried it so it would only run when the pump is running. I thought that maybe because it was hot wired it might have been a damaged cell. Could I have a lot of build up in the lines because the cell was working all the time. Thanks

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I'm no expert on SWGs, so I'll just mention you should get some liquid chlorine to boost your FC up to shock level just in case, while you get the SWG figured out. The PH is a little high, wondering if there is scale formed on the cell? Perhaps it needs an acid cleaning.

 

[starrider60]

I only had the SWG at 40 percent so I turned it up to 60 percent. The cell is clean. and I put 13oz of acid in the pool before I had it tested and they think that will bring it up enough. Thanks

 

[duraleigh]

If I understand the problem correctly, you start with a clear pool and, when the pump comes on, it clouds up (the entire pool?) but after about 45 minutes of pump run time, the pool is clear once again. Is that correct?

 

[Gooserider]

Do you end up with a white residue on the bottom of the pool that stirs up real easily? Or does the cloudiness just disappear?

If you have a residue, then it could well be DE - this could be either because you have a hole in one or more of your filter grids, or if you (or the pool builder) accidentally tried to add more DE while the filter was in backwash mode (I've had both experiences) Adding DE in the wrong filter position coats the wrong sides of the grids, and the DE then SLOWLY washes off into the pool when you put the filter mode back where it belongs.

Turning the SWG off for a while to see if that helps the cloudiness is a good idea, though it may take a while to be sure. If you do turn off the SWG, make sure you start adding more chlorine by hand to keep your levels up.

I would also suggest that you get your own test kit (I highly reccomend the TF-100) so that you aren't dependent on the unknown and variable skills of the pool store guys, who are really only interested in getting test results that let them hustle you for more expensive chemicals that you don't need...

Your FC and TC numbers suggest that your chlorine is way low, otherwise things look reasonable...

Gooserider

 

[starrider60]

There is no white residue on the bottom, it just gets cloudy and then clears up. What ever is making it cloudy does not sit at the bottom of the pool. I am really starting to belive it is because the SWG has been hard wired and running continuous that it is not functioning right. My last pool I had the SWG and never had a problem, but it only was on when the pool was running. I do have a test kit, Thanks to who suggestied one. My last pool was the cleanest one on the block. I try very hard to keep up with the chemicals. Thanks again for all the help. Does anyone know about SWG and how they are wired? Thanks

 

[Guest]

If it happens 4 or 5 times during your pump run time I bet they coincide with the time the cell is generating chlorine and I would guess you are seeing hydrogen gas bubbles in the water. I assume the "cloudiness" is transitory? If this is the case it is just normal SWG operation and nothing to worry about.

When one understands how a SWG operates (and most pool stores and many builders don't) things become much simpler!

I unpluged my salt cell and let it run today and is still gets cloudy.
How exactly did you unplug the cell? Does it still get cloudy at the same time frames or is it constant? If it is constant I would look for a suction side leak.


The pentair rep said my cell was hot wired and he rewried it so it would only run when the pump is running. I thought that maybe because it was hot wired it might have been a damaged cell.

IF the cell was damaged it would not generate chlorine.