Bought SWG

[Hayseed]

Changing to salt this starting year. Have not installed it yet, doing some investigative work first. I have not even removed the cover yet. Wish I knew the proper questions to ask, but I don't have a clue. in the owners manual, it states that the pool's salt level should be, at optimal 3200 ppm. And it gives me I chart that tells me to add 267 lbs of salt??? I buy a SWG, and the first thing I have to do, is buy hundreds of pounds of salt? Is this me being stupid or just a real good example of irony. After all the “G” stands for generator.

 

[Texas Splash]

Yes, SWGs require a certain amount of sodium in the water to operate and create the chlorine. Before you just dump x-amount of salt into the water, you should test it first. If you've had the pool for a while, there is probably some degree of salt in there already. As a new SWG owner, I would recommend getting a Taylor K-1766 salt drop test kit. And remember, add a little less than the manual or the PoolMath APP suggests because you can always add salt, but just like CH or CYA you can't remove it unless you change water.

 

[Jimrahbe]

H,

Never add a large amount of salt without first knowing exactly how much salt is already in your water.. The best way to do that is to use the Taylor K-1766 salt test kit.

I suspect that you think the SWCG "generates" salt... It does NOT.. It generates chlorine.. It is a Saltwater Chlorine Generator or SWCG...

Most pools use chlorine as a sanitizer... It comes in solid forms like "Pucks or Tablets" or Liquid Chlorine or in Chlorine Gas.. It is all the same chlorine, just delivered in a different way. The SWCG just uses the salt in the pool water and a small amount of electricity to make its own chlorine.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[superuser]

Solid advice. I tested and found my salt level already at 1000 before I added any.

 

[Hayseed]

Thanks for all the help. I have so many questions about how to operate and deal with this system. Is there a section on tfp, I can go to to read about this subject? How would salt get into pool? My generator when bought , the paper work said to clean it, every three months but never mentioned how it would be done. Isn’t that the way.

 

[DeanP66]

Salt will get into the pool is you use liquid chlorine or bleach. It may take a while, but it accumulates with every gallon you add. When I added my SWG last year, I had gone almost 4 years since I had drained my pool and my salt reading with my Taylor K1766 salt test kit (the only one to get) was almost 3000ppm, so I only needed to buy 2 bags of salt from Home Depot and I was all set.

You can check your cell every 3 months if you want, but if the plates are clean don't do a thing. If your water chemistry isn't great, you might find some scaling on those plates. You can clean them with a 4 to 1 mixture of water to muriatic acid, but I would try just water from a hose first. If that calcium is fairly fresh, the water may be enough to blow it out. If it doesn't budge, then go with the 4 to 1 solution with muriatic acid. The more you can avoid using muriatic acid to clean the cell, the longer your SWG will last.

 

[Texas Splash]

Dean's comments should help you, but below are some common SWG references to help as well.

SWG How It Works - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Salt Water Chlorine Generators

Salt Water Generators are designed to produce small amounts of chlorine continuously. This is perfect for day to day use and reduces work for the homeowner.

www.troublefreepool.com

Water Balance for SWGs

Saltwater pools are becoming more and more popular. We discuss How salt generators work and water balance tips for SWGs to run them.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Hayseed]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I used the the litmus type test strips that came with the generator, it showed not a drop of salt. Looked to buy the salt test kilt k-1776, here on the site but only found it to be confusing and no actual kit to buy, it made mention of refill stuff for the salt kit. found it on Amazon, and ordered it there. i can't understand, a problem or maybe just a circumstance that I found this beginning opening. Last year i drained the pool to six inches below circular return orifice. when I took the cover off it was 8 inches below that. other years this was never the case. The only difference this year, was that I used a different type cover. The expensive kind that you put down with heavy springs that you bolt to deck and stretch the Crud out of. The water goes right through ie the cover. I thought that when I took the cover off this year I would have more water, because in the past my covers would keep rain water and snow melt out. Did this type black cover just allow all the water to evaporate out through the cover? I have had to put half the pools water capacity back in the pool. 100 bucks shot all to heck. Now that the water is almost back to capacity, I don’t know how to proceed. I have plumbed in the generator but not the electric yet. I am wondering if I could run the pool like before the generator installment, without plugging in the generator in. To circulate the water that I am trying to clear up, it was green, I put chlorine in, and now the water is just cloudy. Will this hurt the generator running water through it without the electric attached.

 

[DeanP66]

Don't turn on the generator until you have a clear pool. You want to SLAM until your water is clear and you can pass the 3 criterion to finish. Then let the FC drop to it's normal target level and then let the SWG take over. It is great at maintaining FC levels. Because it is more of a slow and steady chlorine infusion, you shouldn't get the large FC swings once you get it set right. It's not great for raising FC quickly or fighting algae if it gets started in the water. For that you want to quick infusion of FC that you get with liquid chlorine to get ahead of the algae and kill it all. Otherwise, you'll only kill some of it, but more will grow back.

It won't hurt the generator at all. Just don't turn it on until the pool is clear.

 

[Hayseed]

Thanks again, should I leave my chlorine feeder in the loop or take it out?

 

[mknauss]

Thanks again, should I leave my chlorine feeder in the loop or take it out?

Your choice. I see no need to have it, some others use it occasionally, in winter primarily, to add some FC and CYA.