Diary of a Guy Converting to Salt!

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Morning update....all seems to be running well. I just jumped in for about 10 minutes. The water feels better to me than before I added the salt. More "silky" would be the best description.

I tested FC yesterday around 3pm and it was 5.0. The swg was producing by 530pm. I'll assume that I lost .5-1 ppm to the sun yesterday in that 2.5 hours with no production, so I'll test today and hope it tests at 4-4.5 FC. If it does, that will tell me I've dialed it in to correspond with daily loss (I'm not expecting to be that lucky on the first day). If I get lucky and it appears to be dialed in, I'll add 2-3ppm with liquid chlorine and work to maintain around 6.5-7ppm ongoing.
 
Cody,

Your daily loss will change depending the bather load and the weather.. I find it is easier to run my FC a little on the high side and then I never have to worry about going too low, nor do I have to worry about how the weather is effecting my FC consumption on a daily basis..

I guess my point is that you can't dial in an exact amount as it will vary each day. I find that I have to adjust my SWCG "about" once a month during the swim season. I start about 25% in the Spring and incrementally increase it as it gets hotter, I run about 50 or 60% in the middle of the Summer, and then back down to 25% in the Fall..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Jimrahbe said:
Cody,

Your daily loss will change depending the bather load and the weather.. I find it is easier to run my FC a little on the high side and then I never have to worry about going too low, nor do I have to worry about how the weather is effecting my FC consumption on a daily basis..

I guess my point is that you can't dial in an exact amount as it will vary each day. I find that I have to adjust my SWCG "about" once a month during the swim season. I start about 25% in the Spring and incrementally increase it as it gets hotter, I run about 50 or 60% in the middle of the Summer, and then back down to 25% in the Fall..

Thanks,

Jim R.
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Great advice...i worded that poorly. "dialed in" probably not the best term. "somewhat near and just a bit over normal loss for the season" might be better.

Thanks for all your feedback.

How often do you test your salt levels?
 
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Cody said:
How often do you test your salt levels?
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Cody,

I only test the salt level, when I suspect that the reading from the cell is "not close" to what the cell says and when I turn the cell back on after winter.

If I were you, I would test my salt once a month at first... You will soon get a feel for how much salt is being used.. Should not be much. And then decide what testing makes sense for you.

You do know that the salt system will not work when the water temp gets below about 50 degrees..??? I just use liquid chlrorine in the winter.. It does not take much..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Jimrahbe said:
Cody,

I only test the salt level, when I suspect that the reading from the cell is "not close" to what the cell says and when I turn the cell back on after winter.

If I were you, I would test my salt once a month at first... You will soon get a feel for how much salt is being used.. Should not be much. And then decide what testing makes sense for you.

You do know that the salt system will not work when the water temp gets below about 50 degrees..??? I just use liquid chlrorine in the winter.. It does not take much..

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...

Yes, knew it won't produce when water gets that cold...I don't pay much attention to water temp in winter....not sure how often the water temp dips that low. When it does, do you leave your system in place even though it's not producing? In the owners manual it says running it with low water temps can shorten life span...
 
Yesterday FC was 8.0.

Today has been a cloudy day....I just tested and it's at 12.5!

I turned it down from 80% to 60% and will keep an eye on it.

The water feels fantastic.

I've added bleach twice already....I'll monitor this as well. My pH, even when using LC, tends to drift up. Should I consider borates?
 
We do not recommend considering borate use until you have an extended period of understanding your pool water chemistry.
 

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Sunday had a swimming birthday party for my 10 year old. 11 girls in the pool for 2-3 hours. Left the SWG at 60% after the adjustment on Saturday.

Checked yesterday around 5pm with results:

FC 7.0
pH 7.6
CYA 50

I had some liquid stabilizer so I added that....want to bump that CYA up to 70 and will recheck it in a couple of days.

It's cloudy and raining today (thank the Lord) so I would expect the FC Loss to be down a bit (high temps about 10 degrees lower than past couple of weeks).

I'll continue to update, but so far we are happy and my family loves the feel of the silkier water.
 
Update from today's tests:

FC 6.5
pH 7.6 (but really close to 7.8)
CYA 60

I'm leaving town tomorrow morning for 3 days...in the past, that would involve me having to find someone to come by and add LC for me while gone. With the SWG, I am free!!!! lol

I did just add 1 lb of Cal Hypo...have a few bags in the garage...this will bump that FC number to 9.5 and add a small bit of CH (I intend to raise it a little from current levels, so two birds with one stone)

Don't NEED to go to 9.5, but better to be high on the scale than low so what the heck.
 
Just returned from a 3 day trip to watch the Fightin' Texas Aggies kick off the college football season....first time away since SWG install.

While I was gone, we had storms with quite a bit of rain. In that past that would have worried me about water chemistry. I also would have worried about whether my house sitter remembered to add LC every day. This trip, I didn't worry...and I DIDN'T NEED TO!

When I left, TC was 9.5 and pH was 7.6.

As of 5 minutes ago, my TC is 8.5 and pH 7.8. Pool looks amazing because Dr Leo Marvin (our robot) kept it clean and chemistry stayed right on track.

So far, really happy with the conversion!
 
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Cody,

Soon testing will get boring because everything will be OK every time you check it... :mrgreen:

While it is OK to stretch out your test intervals, make sure you keep testing, as the biggest trap to fall into is that testing and balancing the water is no longer needed.

Glad things are working well for you.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
JJ_Tex said:
Hey Cody - Just checking in. Are you still enjoying the SWG?
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Yes, loving it! The water feels better and I haven't been to the store to search for fresh LC in weeks! Chemistry of pool has remained good, although i have a sock hanging right now to bump CYA up to 70 so I'm still tweaking. I'll post test results in a few days once that CYA has had a chance to settle in and I'll give another update at that time.
 
Cody said:
Yes, loving it! The water feels better and I haven't been to the store to search for fresh LC in weeks! Chemistry of pool has remained good, although i have a sock hanging right now to bump CYA up to 70 so I'm still tweaking. I'll post test results in a few days once that CYA has had a chance to settle in and I'll give another update at that time.
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Cody, I live in Texas as well, and I'm looking to switch to SWCG over this winter. Did you also consider the Hayward W3AQR15 Pool Salt System along with the Jandy TruClear? What other SWG's did you look at? I have a Jandy Aqualink RS and I'm guessing it would integrate ok...see in your past history that we have nearly the same equipment.
 
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Exlonghorn said:
Cody, I live in Texas as well, and I'm looking to switch to SWCG over this winter. Did you also consider the Hayward W3AQR15 Pool Salt System along with the Jandy TruClear? What other SWG's did you look at? I have a Jandy Aqualink RS and I'm guessing it would integrate ok...see in your past history that we have nearly the same equipment.
Click to expand...

I really only considered Jandy since that's what all my equipment is. I looked at the 1400 and the TruClear....TruClear was WAAAAY less expensive on the quote I got so that was really the determining factor....cost me about $1200, the other one was quoted at about double that amount (which was too high, but that's what the guy was going to charge).
 

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