Intex SWG Low Salt Error

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DigiManTX

0
Jul 22, 2011
94
This is getting a bit annoying lately... I've been through 2 in the last 2 summers, and now this one is (i'm guessing) on it's last leg as well. There is no way these things are meant to only run 4 hrs a day. I run it 12 (the max) and it can barely keep up. In fact... it doesn't... After running for 12 hrs (*during the day* as pool school suggests) and checking chlorine level in the evening, it's usually between 1-2.5... I check it again in the AM and it's the same (maybe a tad lower, but not enough to worry about shocking again). So i then use the calculator and add bleach to bring it to the high end for my CYA which is 80... My PH is about 7.5 - 7.6, and TA is about 100-110... I checked my salt again this AM after adding some a few days ago, and I'm right at 3200 ppm... About an hour ago, I walk out to have a smoke and hear beaping... It's register as low salt... REALLY???? :grrrr:

I seriously don't know what else to do here... My water is, for all intent purposes, perfect... Crystal clear, and looks amazing... but at the very least I shouldn't have to run the SWG at it's max to maintain... and like i said... it's not even doing that... not to mention the "low salt" error now... :hammer:

Is anyone else having this problem? ugghhh...
 
Re: Intex SWG

Well for reference last year (1st yr with intex swg) I was able to run it for 5 hours during the day to keep the cl level up around a 5ppm each day. This year is its second season and I am now having to run it 7 hrs a day just to be able to have my FC at 4ppm for the next morning which is still lower tha what I could get on a lesser run time last year. Sun and temp intensities are comparable between this year and last year at this same time, actually we were several degrees hotter this time last year. Have you cleaned the cell lately? Also I did find that I had algae growing inside the hand rail of the steps and now that I've gotten that cleaned out the levels are starting to run a tad higher each day so I may be able to knock the run time down a little bit. That was probably the reason for my longer run time this year up to this point. Fwiw I too had crystal clear water but having the algae in the rail was eating up all the cl each and every day. As for the low salt warning I don't have any clue on that as I've not had to experience that yet.
 
Re: Intex SWG

yes the cell is completely clean as of Sunday evening... i also just completed a shock about 2 weeks ago and have manually maintained a high enough chlorine level since... so there is absolutely nothing in this pool other than the water... lol...

i even have a shade sail over top of 80% of the pool which blocks 98% of the UV... and of course i live in texas and am prepared to run the SWG longer than normal to combat chlorine loss, but this is ridiculous...
 
Re: Intex SWG

DigiManTX said:
After running for 12 hrs (*during the day* as pool school suggests) and checking chlorine level in the evening, it's usually between 1-2.5... I check it again in the AM and it's the same (maybe a tad lower, but not enough to worry about shocking again). So i then use the calculator and add bleach to bring it to the high end for my CYA which is 80... My PH is about 7.5 - 7.6, and TA is about 100-110... I checked my salt again this AM after adding some a few days ago, and I'm right at 3200 ppm... About an hour ago, I walk out to have a smoke and hear beaping... It's register as low salt... REALLY???? :grrrr:
Click to expand...

DigiManTX said:
i also just completed a shock about 2 weeks ago and have manually maintained a high enough chlorine level since... so there is absolutely nothing in this pool other than the water... lol...

i even have a shade sail over top of 80% of the pool which blocks 98% of the UV... and of course i live in texas and am prepared to run the SWG longer than normal to combat chlorine loss, but this is ridiculous...
Click to expand...

Two things:

1) Has the FC fallen to 1-2.5 during anytime since the last shock? If so you need to shock again.
2) If the pool has that much shade you might need to treat like an indoor pool - that's not something I know enough about - but my understanding is that sunlight plays a role in the removal of CC's. With that much coverage - maybe you don't need CYA = 80.
 
Re: Intex SWG

UnderWaterVanya said:
Two things:

1) Has the FC fallen to 1-2.5 during anytime since the last shock? If so you need to shock again.
2) If the pool has that much shade you might need to treat like an indoor pool - that's not something I know enough about - but my understanding is that sunlight plays a role in the removal of CC's. With that much coverage - maybe you don't need CYA = 80.
Click to expand...

1. yes, it has fallen that low... but that is with checking during the evening hours after the SWG has been running all day... and every night/morning i bring it back up to the high end manually with bleach... + my water is crystal clear... not a spec of green/white/yellow/ or any other indication of algae presence. even at 1-2.5.. it maintains a OCLT of less than 1 ppm...

2. my CC's are at .5 or less... i guess technically it's not shaded, it's probably more for "us" than maintaining an adequate chlorine level... it still receives plenty of sun trust me...
 
Re: Intex SWG

DigiManTX said:
UnderWaterVanya said:
1) Has the FC fallen to 1-2.5 during anytime since the last shock? If so you need to shock again.
Click to expand...

1. yes, it has fallen that low... but that is with checking during the evening hours after the SWG has been running all day... and every night/morning i bring it back up to the high end manually with bleach... + my water is crystal clear... not a spec of green/white/yellow/ or any other indication of algae presence. even at 1-2.5.. it maintains a OCLT of less than 1 ppm...
Click to expand...

In theory the minimum FC for your pool with a CYA of 80 and SWG is 4. Anytime you fall below that you should shock. Your point about the OCLT is true but I don't know if that holds for FC levels so low.
 
Re: Intex SWG

How does your water look?

UnderWaterVanya said:
In theory the minimum FC for your pool with a CYA of 80 and SWG is 4. Anytime you fall below that you should shock. Your point about the OCLT is true but I don't know if that holds for FC levels so low.
Click to expand...
UWV brings up two good points. With swg's, even though one of the advantages is being able to run lower on FC, you still need to maintain that minimum value or you risk organics getting a foothold. Also, UWV's point about doing a OCLT at low FC levels can be problimatic.

I would raise your FC up with bleach/liquid chlorine to 21 ppm (FC shock level for 80 ppm cya per poolcalculator) and do another OCLT. You may have a low level of algae present that is consuming your chlorine.
 
Re: Intex SWG

UnderWaterVanya said:
In theory the minimum FC for your pool with a CYA of 80 and SWG is 4. Anytime you fall below that you should shock. Your point about the OCLT is true but I don't know if that holds for FC levels so low.
Click to expand...

Right... i get what you're saying... my point to that was essentially if nothing is "eating/using" the chlorine at night, there is no real benefit to shocking... seems like i'm just losing chlorine to the sun and regular swimmers... LOL... although that is just me using logic... and well... that sometimes gets me into more trouble than it's worth...
 

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Re: Intex SWG

linen said:
How does your water look?

UnderWaterVanya said:
In theory the minimum FC for your pool with a CYA of 80 and SWG is 4. Anytime you fall below that you should shock. Your point about the OCLT is true but I don't know if that holds for FC levels so low.
Click to expand...
UWV brings up two good points. With swg's, even though one of the advantages is being able to run lower on FC, you still need to maintain that minimum value or you risk organics getting a foothold. Also, UWV's point about doing a OCLT at low FC levels can be problimatic.

I would raise your FC up with bleach/liquid chlorine to 21 ppm (FC shock level for 80 ppm cya per poolcalculator) and do another OCLT. You may have a low level of algae present that is consuming your chlorine.
Click to expand...

see, now that one is going to bring about more questions... as i've said my water is crystal clear... and regardless of the FC being 1-2.5 in the evening and then again the same the next morning, what would it matter to bring it up so high as to shock levels again...? (to me) that doesn't make a whole lotta sense...if something is in there is working on the chlorine it would show itself at 1-2.5 OR at 21ppm... i would have a OCLT of greater than 1ppm as pool school describes...
 
Re: Intex SWG

DigiManTX said:
see, now that one is going to bring about more questions... as i've said my water is crystal clear... and regardless of the FC being 1-2.5 in the evening and then again the same the next morning, what would it matter to bring it up so high as to shock levels again...? (to me) that doesn't make a whole lotta sense...if something is in there is working on the chlorine it would show itself at 1-2.5 OR at 21ppm... i would have a OCLT of greater than 1ppm as pool school describes...
Click to expand...

I'm no expert - not by a long stretch. But my impression is that FC loss of 1ppm is a shorthand for some % loss. If you are already at 1-2.5 a 1ppm loss would be a 40-100% loss whereas at 21ppm a loss of 1ppm would be just under 5%. If your loss was 0.1ppm at 1ppm starting out that's still a full 10% loss.

Granted - I'm just guessing...
 
Re: Intex SWG

My pool is 8,000 gallons. My SWG is not one of the fancy expensive ones. It is a Bestway Hydroforce SWG. It supposedly is capable of putting out 24 grams per hour. The older Intex I believe are also capable of 24 grams per hour (of course this all depends on factors such as flow rate, salt content, etc.). The newer Intex SWG's are rated at 12 grams per hour. That being said, I run my chlorinator 2 hours per day and easily maintain a minimum FC of 4 ppm. My pool is covered with a solar blanket for most of the day - and we swim most evenings. On weekends the pool is in constant use (uncovered all day - weather permitting) and I run it for 4 hours per day (3 hours would be sufficient I think, but I don't have that setting). Judging from this, I do not think you should need to run your SWG for more than 4 hours per day. I'm guessing you could have organics consuming your chlorine. And I could also be totally wrong!!!

GC
 
Re: Intex SWG

UnderWaterVanya said:
I'm no expert - not by a long stretch. But my impression is that FC loss of 1ppm is a shorthand for some % loss. If you are already at 1-2.5 a 1ppm loss would be a 40-100% loss whereas at 21ppm a loss of 1ppm would be just under 5%. If your loss was 0.1ppm at 1ppm starting out that's still a full 10% loss.

Granted - I'm just guessing...
Click to expand...

LOL... ok, i see whatcha did there... now that makes sense... see... logic gets me in trouble... :D
 
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