Struggling with my initial salt levels- bad aquacheck strips

[Flot]

So I'm just converting to SWG and struggling with my salt levels - according to my Hayward AQR panel I'm at 3400 ppm. According to the (well inside expiration date) Aquacheck strips that came with it, I'm somewhere between 1200 and 2000, depending on which strip I choose to believe.

Based on my rough math regarding the size of the pool, I believe I'm in the low 3000s.

What's the "definitive" check for salt content? I'm clearly a bit frustrated at the wild discrepancy here. Why isn't the panel the trusted number? Isn't it computing this strictly off of power consumption of the cell? Or is the problem that the panel doesn't know the age/condition of the cell accurately?

 

[jblizzle]

Re: Struggling with my initial salt levels- bad aquacheck st

The only thing that really matters is what the SWG thinks. Looks like you are good to go and the strips are just not working.

The problem with fully relying on the panel is that as it gets dirty and/or old, the SWG will start to read lower and lower salt levels. So if you blindly trust it, then you may keep adding salt and end up with salt content that is too high. Then when you clean/replace the cell, suddenly it reads the higher salt level and you have to replace water.

The independent test is really for a sanity check in the future. Since yours is new, trust the SWG and your calculation.

FYI, my drop based salt kit for whatever reason reads 4-600 ppm higher than my SWG. Since I know this, I can just use the test for trends and not necessarily the absolute salt level.