Autopilot SWG - Not Generating Enough CL

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nupoolsoon

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Jan 7, 2008
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As mentioned in a previous post, I was questioning the CL output of my Autopilot. We purposely bought an oversized unit so the cell would not have to work as hard and we would get some extra life out of it. Since I changed the power cell to level 3 on Saturday, my CL is still not increasing as much as I feel it should with a SC60. Last year, I had the power cell on 2 and it worked great. Since the cell is almost 1 year old, I would like to get this covered under warranty, if there is an issue.

Autopilot SWG DG220 - SC60

My #'s are as follows
CL...yesterday am was 2.5 and this morning it is only 3.0 (that is with power cell 3, at 100% with the pump on for 9 hours)
Ph......7.6
TA.....90
CH.....180 (roughly)
CYA....60
Salt......4800

Strainer is clean and there does not appear to be any scaling that we can see. Anything else that should be checked?

Thx for any help.
 
Maybe try bumping the CYA up higher in the range to help with UV consumption. Do you have a large bather load or young children swimming frequently?
 
I lost about 1.5ppm overnight, although the CC show 0 and the pool store came back with 0 as well.

I had already started adding the stabilizer yesterday afternoon, but my guesstimate is that it should have only increased from about 60 to 65. I did not put alot of stabilizer in the sock and did not want to raise it to the 70 level either, so I was very conservative with the stabilizer.

So my question is do I add the bleach at night or can I add it during the day? I actually told the kids we were taking the day off from the pool today b/c they are exhausted (young kids). We are also going on vacation this Saturday, so I am wondering if I should just wait until the night before we leave to shock it, that way the pool is not "tied up" and we can't use it b/c of the high CL levels.

Also, should I turn the SWG "off" to 0% or leave it at about 50%?

First beautiful week we have gotten here in NY all summer so I don't want to miss out on using the pool...finally!!

Thx.
 
nupoolsoon said:
I lost about 1.5ppm overnight, although the CC show 0 and the pool store came back with 0 as well.

I had already started adding the stabilizer yesterday afternoon, but my guesstimate is that it should have only increased from about 60 to 65. I did not put alot of stabilizer in the sock and did not want to raise it to the 70 level either, so I was very conservative with the stabilizer.

So my question is do I add the bleach at night or can I add it during the day? I actually told the kids we were taking the day off from the pool today b/c they are exhausted (young kids). We are also going on vacation this Saturday, so I am wondering if I should just wait until the night before we leave to shock it, that way the pool is not "tied up" and we can't use it b/c of the high CL levels.

Also, should I turn the SWG "off" to 0% or leave it at about 50%?

First beautiful week we have gotten here in NY all summer so I don't want to miss out on using the pool...finally!!

Thx.
Click to expand...

I would shock today, leave the SWG on all day to help maintain shock level throughout the day. Tonight, I'd shut the SWG off, and perform the Overnight Loss test. Leave the SWG off.

They can swim tomorrow, even at elevated chlorine levels - it's safe and won't hurt anything (the active FC level in your pool would probably be less than if you went to an indoor pool anyway).

If you are still getting an overnight loss, just repeat the shocking process, until the FC holds. You really don't want to wait to shock before you leave, because if it doesn't hold the first time, you could come back to a mess if your SWG doesn't keep up while you're gone.
 
Just returned from running around this am. OK, we will do as suggested.

Call me SUPER-paranoid, but this is the first time I will be shocking our pool since we have had it. I am a nervous-nellie about what to use as the shock.

Last fall, early November, when we closed the pool, I had brought the CL up to adequate levels since it was so cold and the guy who closed our pool gave me something called Sur-Chlor (huge container), which you can use for pools and even shocking your well...12.5% Sodium Hypo, and then the remaining ingredients "other". When I opened this spring, I told the guy I would balance the water myself, but he left me with 4-gal's of Buckmans Liquid Shock, again 12.5% Sodium Hypo and the rest "other". I also have non-chlorine shock from InTheSwim's winter closing package that I ordered last fall, which says you can swim 15 minutes afterwards, however, I am doubtful on the ITS stuff based on what I have read here and how you need to shock your pool to get results.

I would love to already use something I have in the basement and not have to run and buy more bleach, so I can get rid of some of these chemicals I typically do not use (we use BBB, when we need to), however, it is all the "OTHER" ingredients that get me nervous. Will the "OTHER" mess up the rest of my water chemistry?

Which one of my three choices do you suggest I use? Thank you again!
 
Added 4 gallons of the Buckmans...must have been fairly old, only raised my CL to 15, so I added 4 gal of bleach which for that brand is typically 2ppm for each jug, CL should be around 23, hope that is good enough cause that is all I got right now. I will test b/f shutting down so I have an accurate # for the overnight test though.


Can I still put the solar cover on tonight? Supposed to be in the low 50's.
 

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I was thinking that if we do have a slight algae problem that it might be on the cover. I will keep it off for the night.

Any suggestions on how to clean the cover when we have the issue resolved? I remember trying to clean it just for the sake of cleaning it after taking it out of winter storage...what a PITA that was!!
 
Actually, putting it on while at shock level, brushing it with the pole brush, etc. may do the trick. If you're FC holds tonight, keep it at shock level tomorrow and put the cover on to try and treat it, then keep the FC up for shock level one more night.

Or replace the cover.... :?
 
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