user1 said:
I bought a salt tester from Bunnings. Think it's called AquaCheck. Probably not the best thing to do but gives me a fair idea of levels.
By the way, are there other occasions where I should turn off the chlorinator and have the pump running?
I have found the Aquacheck salt strips can be out by quite a few hundred ppm so this calls into question your original reading.
I did mention that you needed to be careful of the strips :|
You need to have your level checked now before adding any more salt. If you have put in the 4 bags then dont add any more until you have
a more accurate reading done.
Either a pool store or primary industries should be able to do it. But again, the pool store tester may not be that accurate either depending on the quality of the
equipment, but it would probably be better than the strips. Then compare the pool store/primary industries test against a couple of strips and see if the difference is consistent then you will have a better idea of what your strips are really reading.
As for running the pump without the chlorinator. It depends on how much chlorination your pool needs every day as compared with the turnover of the water. If the chlorination time needed
to get the pool up to the required level is less than the time it takes to turn over/filter the water at least once, then yes you will need to run the pump without the chlorinator. I find I have to run the pump for longer/more often than the chlorinator, but my pump is quite small and my chlorinator is quite efficient and my chlorine depletion is usually quite low.
You need to put your equipment specs in your signature.