Basic Water Maintenance for Salt Pools

[sakendrick]

Have had a salt pool for 4 years but not clear on basic water and chemical maintenance. using AutoPilot Digital with SC36.

How do I determine what % to run the chorine generation at?
Do I need to 'Boost' on a regular basis? Or is there any form of weekly maintenance/shocking?
Seems every time I get water tested I often require to add a lot of stabelizer. Should I just be adding some regular dose of stabelizer to keep levels good?

Thanks

 

[257WbyMag]

You run your chlorine percentage at whatever level it takes to maintain as close to a constant FC as possible for the FC that you require for your pool. What your FC needs to be is based on the Chlorine CYA Chart for salt pools.

You only need to shock when needed. The reasons to shock are when your CC is > 0.5 ppm, when you lose more than 1 ppm FC overnight, or your FC drops to zero.

Only add CYA when the test indicates that you need to add some. Depending on your filter type, you may need to add some from time to time but you would base this on test numbers.

If you don't have a good test kit, you really need one. My suggestion would be a TF-100. It allows for you to test all of the required parameters for excellent pool maintenance and is a great value. See the link in my sig line.

 

[gordiec]

Welcome to the forum!

There is an excellent article on water balancing for pools with salt water generators in the Pool School. Click the link at the top right of the page or click the following link ti go directly to article: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/water_balance_saltwater_generator

Most people here advocate regular (daily or at least several times per week) testing of the pool water using a high end test kit such as the TF-100 or Taylor K-2006. A comparison of the kits can be found in this article under the Pool School: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison

SWG add chlorine slowly, so it is better to add liquid chlorine (i.e. regular bleach) if you need to boost the chlorine level quickly. The Pool Calculator can help you determine how much chlorine is needed (are any other chemical for that matter). It too can be found under the Pool School, but here is the direct link: http://www.poolcalculator.com/

Hope that helps a bit. There will be other folks, who are more knowledgeable than I, chiming in shortly!

 

[PaulR]

You only need to shock when needed. The reasons to shock are when your CC is > 0.5 ppm, when you lose more than 1 ppm FC overnight, or your FC drops to zero.

That is, when you lose more than 1ppm FC overnight with the SWG off.
--paulr

 

[Steve456]

Pool store stabilizer testing is frequently not accurate. You will have better control of your pool if you obtain a pool test kit that uses a view tube to read the amount of stabilizer. Stabilizer levels generally do not change much during the summer unless you backwash frequently or you frequently are adding water due to runoff.