aqua rite help

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ifoundnemo

0
Mar 31, 2011
6
good evening,
ok first off i have a indoor pool with aprox 60750 gal, with a salt level of 2500-2800 (depending if you look at a test strip or the digital readout on the board) for the last few weeks i have been fighting my chlorine levels unable to keep them between 2-3ppm. they were way too high (5+) so i turned off the SWG for about a week and they finaly came back down so last week i turned back on and also added enought chlorine to get my level to 2ppm. and have maintained that for about a week running the SWG at 40% no keep in mind i have two SWG Aqua rite systems on my pool because of the size. then 2 days ago someone else added a 40 lb bag of salt because he said the dip test showed 2300 ppm for salt. well the next morning the chlorine level spiked to 5 ppm. so i turned the SWG off and began adding Chlorine Neturlizer (SP?) to get rid of the high chlorine and that worked. SO..... I now have the SWG on but at 5 % and have not been able to get the FC level above .5 even after i bumped them to 30% any ideas?
FC .5
TC .5
ALK 120
PH 7.6
 
How much chlorine neutralizer has been added?

What is the chemical ingredient listed on the chlorine neutralizer?

Do you have any cyanuric acid in the water?

What is the water temperature?

How much use is the pool getting?
 
neutralizer i added was 2 lbs...i could not find the chemical ingredient i got it from my local pool store all it said on it was "chlorine neutralizer" there is not cyanuric acin in the water temp it 88 degrees and on average the pool has 10-20 people in the water on the weekends and very rarely any during the week
 
2 pounds of sodium thiosulfate would neutralize about 4 to 5.3 ppm in 60,750 gallons. What is the name brand of the neutralizer?

You can use liquid chlorine to get a quick boost in your chlorine level. 60 ounces of 12.5 % liquid chlorine per 60,750 gallons will raise your chlorine by 1 ppm.

What test kit do you have? It is important that you use FAS-DPD to test the chlorine to get accurate levels for FC and CC. Have you been getting any combined chlorine recently?

You should get a sample of water from the return while the chlorinator is running to make sure that it is producing chlorine.

Once you get a stable chlorine level, you should do an overnight chlorine loss test with the chlorinator off to see how much chlorine is lost overnight.

What model of Aqua-Rite do you have?

Does the pump run continuously, or is it on a timer?

What is your normal flow rate?

What does the water look like? Is it clear or cloudy?

Are you getting any chloramine smell?

What is your calcium level?

Have you had any scaling in the salt cell?

Have you checked the salt cells for scaling recently?
 
Managing an indoor pool with a SWG is an art of keeping everything in balance. It sounds like you have been adding too much chlorine, and then compensating by adding too much chlorine neutralizer. Both of those cause wild swings in the FC level, as you have seen.

You can't simply leave the SWG on at some constant percentage and expect to have everything come out right. You need to monitor the FC level regularly, preferably several times a day, and take into account the expected number of people swimming and be adjusting the percentage in anticipation of where you need to be.

Adding salt was probably a good idea. However, I doubt that the salt level has much to do with what is going on. The salt level was on the low side, but if it had actually gotten too low you would have had an error from the SWG and much lower FC levels.

Chlorine neutralizer cancels out a fixed amount of chlorine. If you don't currently have that much chlorine in the water, it will continue wiping out chlorine you add in the future until it is used up.
 
JamesW said:
2 pounds of sodium thiosulfate would neutralize about 4 to 5.3 ppm in 60,750 gallons. What is the name brand of the neutralizer?
i dont know the name brand... it was a white bottle with a pink lable that sait chlorine neutralizer

You can use liquid chlorine to get a quick boost in your chlorine level. 60 ounces of 12.5 % liquid chlorine per 60,750 gallons will raise your chlorine by 1 ppm.
last time i did that the SWG spiked the pool i had it at 2 ppm for a day or two then it spiked to 5ppm thats when i added the neutrlizer

What test kit do you have? It is important that you use FAS-DPD to test the chlorine to get accurate levels for FC and CC. Have you been getting any combined chlorine recently?
dont rember the name brand but i know it is a dpd type test and no i have never gotten any combined chlorine

You should get a sample of water from the return while the chlorinator is running to make sure that it is producing chlorine.
not sure how i would do this are you saying to get my water sample near one of the returns in the pool?


Once you get a stable chlorine level, you should do an overnight chlorine loss test with the chlorinator off to see how much chlorine is lost overnight.
have done this before but it took almost 4 days to drop from 3 ppm to 2 ppm

Does the pump run continuously, or is it on a timer?
24/7/365

What is your normal flow rate?
240 gpm

What does the water look like? Is it clear or cloudy?
was very clear untill i neturlized the chlorine then is was a little cloudy but i could still see the drain at the bottom of the 12 foot deep section

Are you getting any chloramine smell?
no

What is your calcium level?

Have you had any scaling in the salt cell?
not when i checked it a month ago
Click to expand...
 
The first thing that you need to do is get a "FAS-DPD" test kit. FAS-DPD is different from regular DPD. If you are using both liquid reagents, then you are not using FAS-DPD.

As Jason has noted, you have to be careful about exactly what you are doing, including taking careful and frequent readings.

Before adding chemicals, it is important that you know exactly what effect they will have so that you are not adding too much of something and then having to compensate by adding something else.

Check the cell for scaling. Get a water sample from directly where the water returns to the pool while the chlorinator is running to see if the cell is working.

What model of Aqua rite do you have?
What is your calcium level?

Can you get the following information?

Diagnostic Displays
Sequential pushes of the small "diagnostic" button next to the LCD display will cause the Aqua Rite to display the following information:
1. Pool temperature (xx degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius)
2. Cell voltage (typically 22.0 to 25.0 volts when chlorine is being generated, otherwise 30-35V)
3. Cell current (typically 4.50 to 7.80 amps when chlorine is being generated, otherwise 0 amps)
4. Desired Output % ("0P" -- "100P" depending on knob position or input from remote pool automation controller)
5. Instant salinity ( -xxxx ppm or -x.xx grams/Liter)
6. Product name sent to the pool automation control display ("AL-0" which signifies "Aqua Rite")
7. Software revision level (r1.xx)

On the 8th push of the button, the display will revert back to the default salt display. Also, if the button is not pushed for 30 seconds, the display will revert back to the standard salt display.
http://www.hayward-pool.com/pdf/manuals/Manual239.pdf
Click to expand...
If the cell is getting voltage and current, then that means it is using power and should be generating chlorine.
 
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