Discrepancy in readings of salt cell and aquachek strips

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J

jrr

0
Aug 22, 2013
39
Mcallen, TX
Does anyone know why there could be a big difference in salt levels. The aquachek stripes read 1300 and 3400ppm on Hayward. The salt cell is almost an year old and ironically reads anywhere from 3100 to 3400 daily. My FC has been about 8-12 with a cya of 70. I've been working on decreasing percentage as a result of high FC.

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By the way, I have never added salt since it was opened last year in June, and even from beginning it has always read between 3200-3400.
 
I had a similar experience with strips. They told me I had 500ppm, but my Hayward said 3000-3200, I bought a Taylor K1766 test kit. MUCH more accurate than strips. Some people have good luck with the salt test strips, so it must be hit or miss.
 
Salt cell is cleaned every 3 months with a mix of muriatic acid and water.

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Thank you, started reading people's review on stripes and several people make the same claim. Would you know if it's normal for salt ppm to vary 200-300 daily and whether not adding salt in a year is normal?
 
jrr said:
Salt cell is cleaned every 3 months with a mix of muriatic acid and water.
Thank you, started reading people's review on stripes and several people make the same claim. Would you know if it's normal for salt ppm to vary 200-300 daily and whether not adding salt in a year is normal?
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Yes and yes. If you've had a lot of rain, resulting in water displacement, you should've needed to add more.
 
SWG's can vary on the salt readout and you should not worry about the 200-300 difference. You probably have a bad batch of test strips and you should rely on the SWG's reading. What truly matters is if the SWG is working or not and you only need to double check the salt level when the SWG is out of range.

In 3.5 years I have only added 3 bags of salt as I don't have to backwash very often and the amount of splash out is minimal. Different parts of the country will require salt to be added every season as they get a bunch of rain, need to winterize, etc.

Can you post a set of test readings so we can see what is causing you to have to clean the SWG so often? I have never needed to clean my cell with acid, and each time you clean it in acid, it lowers the life span of the cell.
 
Actually my salt cell is barely even dirty when I clean it, I had read somewhere to clean it with a mix of 3 quartz water to 1 quart muriatic acid. I do it every 3 months because the alarm on generator lets me know it's time.
Last reading was 5 FC, 7.5 ph, cya 70, calcium was around 400-500 don't really remember. Ta was normal. I should just clean it with water? Usually it only has a little bit of white crusty stuff on cell.


I live in south Texas it barely rains, could be why salt hasn't changed.
 
Try cleaning it with water and something like a chopstick to scrape off the buildup. Do not use anything metal to scrape the cell as you can scratch the plates. Each time you clean it with acid it shortens the life span of the cell.

With that high of calcium level you want to keep the TA lower, normal does not tell the story, 70 is a good level to shoot for, and make sure the pH stays below 7.8.
 
I did this test and misread the instructions. I only dipped the strip in water and then waited 5 minutes. But the strip needs to sit on an inch of water for several minutes. The first time my reading was MUCH lower than the SWCG. The second time it was within 200 PPM.
 
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