Determining if my SWG is working correctly

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slcoulby

slcoulby

0
Jun 7, 2018
17
Purcellville, VA
My pool opened May 1, 2019 for our first swimming season (pool as completed Oct. 2018). Since opening our FC would continually drop to 0, we followed recommendations of our pool store and pool builder who had us shock our pool constantly, boost our SWG, only to have FC consistently drop to 0. as CYA climbed to 80, FC at 0 and water with a green tinge last week I finally took matters in to my own hands and came here desperate for advice. Thanks to you all our water was beautiful and at appropriate levels (held FC loss at 2-4ppm through the weekend with daily testing and bleach added) for us to enjoy our Memorial Day weekend. Based on forum recommendations I went and got Liquid Chlorine 10% and have been using our pool as a liquid bleach pool as opposed to a SWG pool. My test results from last night are as follows:

FC 4 (added liquid bleach last night to bring to recommended level of 8 per Pool Math, didn't test again last night but did test this morning and it was 9.6)
PH 7.6
TA 125
CH 175 (working to increase this)
CYA 70 (we were at 80 last week due to all the shock etc. we'd been told to add. I believe we're around 70 now as we've been lowering water few inches and adding fresh water as we can)
Salt 3500
SWG set to 40%

The pool builder is trying to get out to check the SWG but they are adamant they think it's working, but I've yet to be able to get it to produce FC needed to keep pool at safe levels, but this is also all very new to me. They also currently can't even fit us on the schedule to come out so I'm curious now, if there's a way I can test to see if my SWG is working? I'm currently keeping FC rather high since for bleach pool our CYA of 70 and 80 (last week) requires higher FC levels.

My thought was I would test water this afternoon, add chlorine as needed (to bring to proper bleach pool levels for CYA), adjust PH if needed, but leave everything else alone and increase my SWG %. I'd test FC once sun went down and test again in a.m. before sun comes up and see if FC increased over night. If so, then my SWG is working, right? At which point I'd work to get my numbers to SWG numbers as opposed to Bleach numbers which would allow me to operate at lower FC levels for my CYA. If I do this, how long after I add chlorine tonight, should I wait before doing my FC test this evening? Will having my numbers not ideal for SWG affect whether this shows me if my SWG is working or not (like I know my TA is too high, should I lower that and then try and figure out if SWG is working?) Any advice on how you all would approach this and/or test is greatly appreciated!
 
Your manual should tell you how to test it. I would get a chlorine reading just before dark, bump the SWCG to 100% then test again before dawn, if there is no increase it’s either not working or you have some algae in your pool that’s consuming chlorine. Your pool is on the bigger side and your swg should be running at a high %.
 
Pool_Medic said:
Your manual should tell you how to test it. I would get a chlorine reading just before dark, bump the SWCG to 100% then test again before dawn, if there is no increase it’s either not working or you have some algae in your pool that’s consuming chlorine. Your pool is on the bigger side and your swg should be running at a high %.
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Thanks I'll try it and see! So just to confirm, I should see an increase if it's working? FC staying at same level overnight won't indicate it's working b/c FC should remain within 1ppm overnight, correct?

After 3 rounds of shocking and boosting to 100% to only have FC drop to 0 again we just lowered it to 40% and have been using liquid bleach and bleach numbers from TFP but I am still not 100% sure the SWG isn't working. I have yet to do a OCLT but CC is .5 and we aren't losing more than 4ppm of chlorine a day, but that may be my next test if SWG at 100% overnight doesn't raise chlorine.
 
Glad to hear your pool is sparkling! :)

The Nature2 is a tricky one. I can't find the output, but I believe it's around 1.4 lbs FC per day. If I'm right on the 1.4, that SWCG will produce 0.2 ppm per hour in your pool. That means 15 hours at 100%, or 24 hours at about 60%, to reach 3 ppm per day. With the large volume, don't be surprised if you only need 2 ppm per day, but it depends on number of swimmers, sunlight and so on. Can you find the FC output per day in any of your documents that came with it?

I strongly recommend you search the forums and learn about the Nature2, unless you've already found all the stuff about copper and plaster staining. Don't mean to worry you, but it's only fair to give you the heads-up because it could save you a lot of grief down the track.
 
needsajet said:
Glad to hear your pool is sparkling! :)

The Nature2 is a tricky one. I can't find the output, but I believe it's around 1.4 lbs FC per day. If I'm right on the 1.4, that SWCG will produce 0.2 ppm per hour in your pool. That means 15 hours at 100%, or 24 hours at about 60%, to reach 3 ppm per day. With the large volume, don't be surprised if you only need 2 ppm per day, but it depends on number of swimmers, sunlight and so on. Can you find the FC output per day in any of your documents that came with it?

I strongly recommend you search the forums and learn about the Nature2, unless you've already found all the stuff about copper and plaster staining. Don't mean to worry you, but it's only fair to give you the heads-up because it could save you a lot of grief down the track.
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I've been reading this morning and I think I'm confused with what I have. The box that has all my readings says AquaPure Model APUREM which online is showing as Jandy Pro Series AquaPure Power Pack. But then on the ground, connected to my pumps, etc. is a Zodiac Nature2 Fusion. So does that mean I have the AquaPure Chlorinator with a Nature2 cell? I need to do some research per your recommendation.
 
needsajet said:
The Nature2 is a tricky one. I can't find the output, but I believe it's around 1.4 lbs FC per day. If I'm right on the 1.4, that SWCG will produce 0.2 ppm per hour in your pool. That means 15 hours at 100%, or 24 hours at about 60%, to reach 3 ppm per day. With the large volume, don't be surprised if you only need 2 ppm per day, but it depends on number of swimmers, sunlight and so on. Can you find the FC output per day in any of your documents that came with it?
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So I've been looking through my documents and I believe I have the Jandy® Pro Series AquaPure®/PureLink™ Power Center and Cell Kit with the Nature2. I've attached pictures as well. The docs I have say for the AquaPure1400 I get 567 gm (1.25 lbs) per 24 Hour period. How do I use that to determine the ppm of FC per hour?

The manual also says:

"6.1 Daily
1. Chlorine Test. Test pool water chlorine level with a reliable test kit. Maintain ideal range by adjusting the chlorine production rate using Section 5.4, Startup.
Recommended free chlorine is 1 - 3 ppm. This level can be as low as 0.6 PPM with the use of a Nature2® mineral cartridge that is within its normal operating life. (Nature2 systems and cartridges are sold separately)
NOTE It is recommended that chlorine test samples be taken from two (2) places, one at the pool return line, the other well away from the pool return line. Compare the samples. A higher level should be found at the pool return line. The higher level at the pool return line indicates the system is producing chlorine. "

So I currently have my FC very high because I've been operating our pool as a bleach pool since FC kept dropping to 0 after 3 weeks of shocking and boosting the SWG per pool builders guidance. Should I let the FC drop to 1-3ppm?

In the meantime I can research how to remove the mineral cartridge from the Nature2 and just take that out?

Question - how do I know what FC level is safe? You mention I may only need 2ppm per day, how do I know what level is appropriate? If it was at 9.6 this morning, and I let FC drop to 1-3ppm with SWG set to whatever percentage we determine it needs to hold that level if it holds at that level I can assume it's safe to swim? If it drops below 1ppm with the generator at the appropriate setting I can determine it needs liquid bleach and bring it back to 1-3ppm?

Also I contacted the manufacturer weeks ago and they said if it wasn't working the box would tell me that, it's not indicating any issues.
 

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You don't have an AquaPure®/PureLink™ Power Center. Although, in my opinion, that's what they should have used.

The AquaPure®/PureLink™ Power Center is a bigger box with automation and a subpanel.

You have a regular SWG power center, which just powers the cell.

You have a SWG with a mineral cartridge included. The mineral cartridge adds copper and silver. You don't want metals in your pool. You should remove the cartridge.

If the SWG wasn't working, the box would give an indication.

40% is just set too low for the pool size.

What is the pump schedule?

Is the SWG powered when the pump turns off? If yes, that's not good. Automation handles the coordination between the pump and SWG. Your SWG might have an auxiliary load relay.

You should run 24 hours a day for a while at low speed and keep the SWG % high enough to maintain the chlorine.

Do a SLAM to clear any issues. Get all chemistry in order and then set the % to 100% to see what the chlorine level is.

Back down the % as needed.
 
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JamesW said:
40% is just set too low for the pool size.

What is the pump schedule?

Is the SWG powered when the pump turns off? If yes, that's not good. Automation handles the coordination between the pump and SWG. Your SWG might have an auxiliary load relay.
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We shocked the pool and boosted the pump to 100% for 24 hours per manufacturer recommendation and FC still dropped to 0. Also the salinity reading was saying 4.4 when pool store was saying we were at 2.6. We recalibrated and then within the same day the salinity read 3.7 and then 3.5 and then 3.7 again so manufacturer couldn't explain that.

We have run our pump 24/7 since we opened on May 1 since we've been trying to figure this out. The only reason we set it to 40% was because we weren't getting anywhere with it at 100%, but maybe salinity was off since we couldn't ever get machine and tests to line up?


JamesW said:
Do a SLAM to clear any issues. Get all chemistry in order and then set the % to 100% to see what the chlorine level is.
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So you are suggesting I do a SLAM no matter what? or do an OCLT and then determine if I need to slam?
 

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JamesW said:
Do a SLAM and then run 24/7 on lower speed at 100%.

Clean the filter to make sure that it's good.
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I'm sorry for another question. I just plugged numbers in Pool Math and it's telling me I need 63 gallons of 10% bleach to get my pool to SLAM level. That seems insane (and expensive), is that really what everyone does when they SLAM? My CYA is 70, FC this morning was 9.6 so that's the number I used until I could get a better number tonight and it's telling me I need 63 jugs. Is there something else besides the 10% chlorinating liquid that I should use? When people are having to SLAM for days on end are they really using 100's of bottles of bleach to do so?
 
I think you have a number in wrong. You need 6.3 gallons of 10%.

One too many zeros in your pool gallons?
 
If you think that the water is good, you might not need the full SLAM.

Maybe just go to 25% of the CYA and do an OCLT.

Or, run at 100% until you can maintain the fc at 15% of the CYA for a week.
 
JamesW said:
If you think that the water is good, you might not need the full SLAM.

Maybe just go to 25% of the CYA and do an OCLT.

Or, run at 100% until you can maintain the fc at 15% of the CYA for a week.
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Sorry again, but what does 25% of the CYA mean? So if CYA is 70 then the SLAM at 25% I'm only looking at 7FC for SLAM and see if I pass an OCLT? Am I adding chlorine to reach the SLAM level (7) just once and then trying OCLT? Or should I try to take to 7FC tomorrow morning and throughout the day tomorrow if additional chlorine is needed and then perform an OCLT tomorrow night?

In Scenario 2 am I running SWG at 100% to see if I can hold at 4FC (15% of SLAM level) for a week?

I just want to make sure i'm understanding these scenarios. Really appreciate all the time you are taking to help me!
 
SLAM is usually taking the fc to about 40% of the CYA (28 ppm).

My suggestion was to go to about 25% of the CYA. 25% of 70 is 17.5 and then do an OCLT to determine if a full SLAM is needed.

Or, try maintaining the fc at 15% of 70 (10.5) for a week and then back off the percent until the fc stays reliably at 7.5% of the CYA (5.5) continuously.
 
slcoulby said:
Yes, I have reviewed that chart I guess I was just confused by what 25% of CYA and 15% of CYA that JamesW was referring to meant. And when he said 100% I assumed he meant run my SWG at 100%.
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I did not know where all the mentions in post #16 of FC 7 came from.
 

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