Salt water virgin

[lilpam14]

Have a neighbor leaving town for work and is going to rent his house. Has asked me to take care of his in ground pool which is a salt water pool. I think it is pebble tec. I have no experience with cleaning, and testing salt pool. I haven't gone over yet to get the 411 on any of the equipment. So... not sure about type of generator or pump. Also do not know size or gallons yet. What other things should I ask about or look for when I do go over?
Next question is do you use a different type of kit for testing the water? I do not think so but just want to check. I did see here where the ranges for each level is a bit different than chlorine pools.
As far as the amount of salt in the water..there should be a readout on the pump or generator that tells me that number right????
How do I know what is the normal amount of salt to have in the pool. I am guessing that is dependant on the size and type of pool finish??
THANKS you guys always pull thru for me as I am sure you will again.

 

[harleysilo]

Have a neighbor leaving town for work and is going to rent his house. Has asked me to take care of his in ground pool which is a salt water pool. I think it is pebble tec.

That is really nice of you, how long will you be doing this, rest of this summer?

Next question is do you use a different type of kit for testing the water? I do not think so but just want to check. I did see here where the ranges for each level is a bit different than chlorine pools.

What test do you currently use? Ranges are a bit different. Do you know how he tests his water?

As far as the amount of salt in the water..there should be a readout on the pump or generator that tells me that number right????
How do I know what is the normal amount of salt to have in the pool. I am guessing that is dependant on the size and type of pool finish??
THANKS you guys always pull thru for me as I am sure you will again.

Unless he has a leak and is constantly putting in fresh water you shouldn’t have to test the salt for some time. As long as the SWG is working, the pool has enough salt.
I would talk with him about how often he adjustes his pumpr run time and SWG % run time. If he has it set in a happy place you won’t be doing much, if he is constantly fiddling with it you may be too.

 

[4knights]

Just a note so you won't panic later on. When you get a big rain storm the SWCG may show low salt for the first few minutes when turned on. It happened to me and I almost rushed to dump more salt in the pool. I drove to the HW store to get more salt and when I got back my lights were all green.

The rain had diluted the pool some but not as much as I had thought, once the pump had time to mix the rain water and pool water I still had a good salt level. (I actually liked the new level better)

 

[lilpam14]

Thanks been out of town and out of touch. He is going to be gone for 10 months. I like the idea of not having to do much, but how would I know if it needed to be tested?
Like I said a complete virgin at salt water but trying to read up.

 

[4knights]

I test water chemistry with my TF-100 weekly(give or take a few days) I test salt about every 2 weeks and a couple hours after the pump has been running after big rain storms.
Recommend testing PH and Chlorine daily.

 

[lilpam14]

Thanks 4knights