2 month old pool using 3 bags of salt per week

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Solidity47

Member
Apr 11, 2020
11
Las Vegas
Hello pool gurus...

I just did my chemical check and this is what I got:

FC 1 ppm
CC 1
PH 8.2
TA 100
CH 400
CYA 20 and I can still see the dot clearly at the bottom of the tube so < 20?

Salt at 3050

I know I need to get my PH down and adding 1/2 gallon of MA does the trick perfectly for about 3-4 days...so I am getting used to that...but I am finding that I am going through 2-3 bags of salt per week...is this normal in the desert at 95-110 outside?

It seems like I need some CYA but what product should I use and can anyone recommend dosage instructions?

Thanks!
 
Why are you adding more salt when your level is already higher than the operating level of the IC-40? The operating salinity should be between 2500-2900. EDIT: Misread the manual. Disregard this part.

Or are you saying that your salt level is dropping by 300-500 ppm each week? If that's the case you have a pretty major leak...
 
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Should be able to get conditioner/CYA from Walmart or Lowe’s. Use pool math to calculate, add half what you think you need test again in 24 to 48 hours. SWG pools should be about 70 CYA.
Your FC level of 1 is at the bare minimum, particularly with CC of 2. assuming test was just before SWG starts? Or you should increase run time or %. Shouldn’t be below 3 very long with CYA of 20.
 
Your PH needs to come down and your FC is ridiculously low. Your CYA needs to be in the 70 range for the SWCG to work efficiently. For now get some liquid chlorine into the water as per pool math before the algae takes hold as your CC is already 1. Why you add salt is anybodys guess but only you would know if you have a decent size leak. If you're adding water do to evaporation the salt would not change since that remains in the water.
 
Donldson said:
Why are you adding more salt when your level is already higher than the operating level of the IC-40? The operating salinity should be between 2500-2900.

Or are you saying that your salt level is dropping by 300-500 ppm each week? If that's the case you have a pretty major leak...
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IC-40 recommended salt level is 3600ppm, says right on the front of it. Must be a leak to lose significant amounts of salt.
 
If you have to add 120 lbs of salt per week, you're losing about 4,160 gallons per week, 594 gallons per day, 24 gallons per hour, 0.4 gallons per minute or about 0.9 ounces per second.

That's a big leak.

Turn on a faucet and adjust the flow until it will fill 51 ounces in a minute to get a good idea about what the leak rate looks like.
 
Solidity47 said:
I am going through 2-3 bags of salt per week...is this normal in the desert at 95-110 outside?
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The salt in my pool goes UP over time as the fill water (Colorado River) has some salt in it and the muriatic acid you are using adds salt.
Evaporation does NOT remove salt.
 
Thank you for bringing up some good points. I was concerned about a leak at first and I turned my autofill off for 24 hours and monitored the evaporation. My pool designer mentioned that 1" of evaporation is normal during these summer conditions in vegas and in 24 hours it was just shy of an inch....so we for the time being ruled out a "significant leak."

Please give me your thoughts if this rough concept is in disagreement with your desert evaporation experiences...

Also, my pool guy told me to keep my salt between 3000 and 3400, so to clarify I need 2-3 bags a week to maintain this range.

My CYA has always been low so I was thinking I would try that first and my PH has been routinely high as we just our new pebble finish in April.

What is my first course of action?...as I have been told not to add chlorine as long as my salt levels are maintained and to add acid when PH gets high.

Thanks again all.
 

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Unlike chlorine, salt does not get used up in a pool. Unless you have a leak or a lot of rain, you shouldn’t have to add any salt once you’re at the right level. How are you measuring the salt level? Something definitely is not right.
 
Salt levels do not change due to evaporation. Are you really adding 40# bags of salt every week? If so, you have a leak, a huge one.

Your evaporation could be close to an inch a day. Mine rarely gets there except in the spring and fall when overnight temperatures fall well below the temperature of the pool water.

You need to maintain your FC level based on your CYA, regardless how you add it.
 
How are you measuring your salt level?

As said above, salt doesn't evaporate so in a climate like Vegas you should be seeing a constant natural rise in salt levels. So if there's no liquid water being removed and replaced with fresh, testing error is the only remaining possibility.
 
Thank you everyone for the feedback...

So in conclusion what I am hearing that if my ~ 1 inch loss of water per day was due to evaporation I still would not have to add salt...so being that I am still having to add salt I still need to look further into a leak?...or does the salt degrade from my very low CYA?

Yes I am adding 2-3 bags of salt per week for about 5 weeks now after adding my initial 13 bags of salt for start up.

I am using the pentair screenlogic app to monitor my salt currently but I believe my TF100 came with a salt test kit that I can try.

I do understand that salt is being converted to chlorine from my swg but here are my questions:

1. Should I start by adding CYA and what kind?... because my pool guy has not given me recommendations
2. Would this potentially solve the missing salt situation that happens every week by providing the sunscreen analogy to the salt?
3. Do I need to do further investigating on a leak?...how do I go about doing that?

Thanks again.
 
I would drop all other concerns except the loss of salt. If your autofill is on, you are masking a leak that will show up BIG TIME in your next water bill.

Turn your autofill off and see how much your water drops over a 24 hour period. Even in the desert 1" seems at the very outer limit. I think you have a leak and I would find and fix that and ONLY THEN focus on your other issues.
 
Solidity47 said:
So in conclusion what I am hearing that if my ~ 1 inch loss of water per day was due to evaporation I still would not have to add salt...so being that I am still having to add salt I still need to look further into a leak?...or does the salt degrade from my very low CYA?
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Based on the amount of salt that you're adding, you definitely have a leak.

It's almost 1/2 a gallon per minute. Get a half gallon container and fill it in 1 minute from a faucet and that's what the leak looks like.

The only way you lose salt is when you lose water from a leak, splash out or draining.

No salt is lost with evaporation.

Salt does not degrade or get used up at all.
 
Solidity47 said:
1. Should I start by adding CYA and what kind?... because my pool guy has not given me recommendations
2. Would this potentially solve the missing salt situation that happens every week by providing the sunscreen analogy to the salt?
Click to expand...
Yes, you need cyanuric acid and No, it does not have anything to do with the loss of salt.

You have a leak.

Even if you add cyanuric acid, it's going to be lost at the same rate as the salt.

You're losing about 13% of your water and salt per week.

A diver can check any suspicious areas with dye.

If nothing is found by the diver, the lines should be pressure tested.

Use the salt test kit to verify that the box reading is accurate.
 

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