Oops! Any tips for dialing in SWCG?

[PoolGate]

I just tested my water and it has a FC of 11 with a CYA of 50. It could actually be more the color was drifting back to yellow when I would let the sample sit so I added more reagent to clear and when I went to dump it in the sink it was yellow again. I just know it is high. I have been trying to dial my SWCG in. I had it at 50% but that seemed to be too low my FC went down to 2 so I bumped it to 75%. I just shut it off entirely to let the chlorine drift down. I'll watch it closely today and when it gets to 5 again I'll put the SWCG back on. Not sure what level I guess maybe 60%.

Any tips for dialing in the SWCG? This is really my first season using it.

 

[Rich G]

I’m still trying to figure mine out also, all my numbers are in the recommended range except my FC with is at 12 and the recommended is 3-5.. I’ve taken my SWG from 65 to 35 and it hasn’t gotten much better. The eater is beautiful so I’m hesitant to do anything else

 

[PoolGate]

I’m still trying to figure mine out also, all my numbers are in the recommended range except my FC with is at 12 and the recommended is 3-5.. I’ve taken my SWG from 65 to 35 and it hasn’t gotten much better. The eater is beautiful so I’m hesitant to do anything else

Yeah we're still way below shock level of 28.

 

[Meadow]

How about the SWCG Run Time Calculator by Matt that you may have overlooked.

https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/122980-SWG-Run-Time-Calculator

Also, you may want to read post# 67 by Karen on page 4. Hope this helps!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Uh yellow???

DPD-FAS test is pink. What are you testing with??

 

[PoolGate]

Uh yellow???

DPD-FAS test is pink. What are you testing with??

Sorry I meant red/pink!

 

[ping]

When the FC level is too high I turn off the SWG and then when the FC level is 2ppm above the minimum level I turn the SWG back on. If the SWG setting was 60% I would switch it to 40% and test daily to see how it is doing. This is the time of year that I have to start adjusting the % up.

 

[PoolGate]

Dang I got up to 16 today. I just shut the SWCG totally off. That should keep me for the rest of the week.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I think your new solar cover is protecting your FC level during the day. Another great benefit!

 

[BasicTek]

Some tips I found with my SWG that may help.
In the 1st 6+ months my SWG appeared to produce almost double the rating of 1.45 lb of chlorine a day, I had to cut % and run time way low to 20% and 4 hours in peak summer. I had 80 CYA back then and when I over chlorinated (typically running into double digits like posted above) it would take 1-2 days or turing my SWG off to get back down to the level Matt suggested.

Currently about 11 months later my SWG appears to be producing more in line with expected 1.45 lbs per day and I currently run 50% for 4.5 hours. Hayward and others manufacturers mention in their guides that SWG's can produce higher than expected chlorine when they are new (I didn't expect 6 months but that's possibly because I'm almost 4x oversized and have reduced FC demand due to my screen enclosure)

As an added bonus now that my SWG doesn't over produce like crazy my PH has stabilized to the point I only add about 15 oz every couple months (I expect this to go up a bit as I increase the SWG for the summer FL heat) So if you are over producing chlorine you might see additional PH rise as well.

The SWG calculator was way off for my SWG when it was new, but now it's very close and has always been a useful tool to understand my SWG setting.

 

[tomfrh]

I started on FC of 7 and SWG quickly got up to 14 after a few days, so I’m now attempting to dial mine in using an excel spreadsheet.

i know my SWG generation rate and my chlorine decay rate.

Im projected it as a compound Series and adjusting the generation rate until it converges on my target FC.

in summary the FC converges on:

FC generation per day / decay rate

so if you generate 1ppm per day, and lose 20% chlorine per day, it should settle on 1 / 0.2 = 5ppm.

 

[PoolGate]

I am still up to FC 9 after 2 days of no adding chlorine and SWCG off. Looks like I use around 3-4/day. I think I am good until tomorrow.

 

[ping]

When the FC is higher than normal it will burn off at a faster rate than normal. When the FC is at the proper level you might see a 2-3ppm level of use right now.