FC at Zero today!

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nikolausp

Gold Supporter
Jul 16, 2020
167
Houston, TX
I turned on my SWG about a month or so ago. At first I monitored it very closely, checking FC day, targeting 6 to 7ish or so. Measuremeants in the first couple weeks were always between 5 and 8 or so, depending on if it was a bright sunny day, or overcast & rainy all day, etc. I check at the same time every night, after sunset, around 8:30pm -ish.

So the last week or so, I let it go unchecked, wanting to learn to trust it...... I just checked it twice today, and it's at ZERO. ( I decided to check it earlier in the day than normal, since I had decided to do a full set of tests anyway, so figured why not do FC just to monitor the SWG performance.)

I've been keeping my CSI negative, constantly, since I certainly don't want Scale in the SWG. I also checked the brand new SWG for scale before ever turning it on, and it was clean as a whistle, no scale visible.

Any thoughts? I looked at the SWG on the equipment pad often, to make sure it's green lights are on to make sure it's running, and it's always running. My pump runs 24/7.

Any thoughts?
 
I had the same happen to me. I just started my SWG in June and it was working like it should. Then, one day I checked the FC and it was like 3, where it was holding 5-7 before. I checked the display and it was down to 35%. I didn't lower it. I did some research on my model and found some interesting reading. Maybe do a search on TFP of yours. We had a power outage for a few minutes the day before, and I hope it was because of that.

Have you checked the SWG display %? I returned the % to where it was before and it's been ok since.
 
SecoSteve said:
I had the same happen to me. I just started my SWG in June and it was working like it should. Then, one day I checked the FC and it was like 3, where it was holding 5-7 before. I checked the display and it was down to 35%. I didn't lower it. I did some research on my model and found some interesting reading. Maybe do a search on TFP of yours. We had a power outage for a few minutes the day before, and I hope it was because of that.

Have you checked the SWG display %? I returned the % to where it was before and it's been ok since.
Click to expand...

My SWG % hasn't changed.... I check it in the Automation Phone App and it lets me see and monitor / change the percentage, and it's been constant.
 
Nik,

The obvious causes would be that your CYA has gone down..
Heavy bather load.
More hot and sunny weather..

I have to adjust my % of output about once a month.. up as the summer gets here and lower as fall starts..

The cell will only do what you tell it to do. It is dumb as a rock and has no idea what your FC is.. You have to close the loop.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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Ok well your numbers look good, although I might bump up your CYA to 70 or 80 especially in the summer. Do as Marty suggested in post #3 and let us know.
 

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Ok will do. I just added some Liquid Stabilizer in, and a bit later, put in a bunch of Liquid Chlorine. I will check the FC after sunset to see where it settles in, and add more Chlorine at that time to target 10, then check it in AM before Sunrise.

My CYA had been 70-80ish since I added salt, but we just got a ton of rain the last week or two, so must have dipped from that I suppose.

On a side note, I'm having a tough time keeping PH stable, ever since adding salt to the pool, it seems to want to move up faster than before salt. I realize that PH will usually trend towards going up, especially during 1st year of a new plaster pool, but it was much more stable for me before salt compared to after salt. My research on this forum has led me to believe that the SWG should net to basically a 0 net rise in PH, so I'm a bit confused on that.
 
mknauss said:
How were you chlorinating the pool water before using a SWCG?
Click to expand...

Liquid chlorine, monitoring like a hawk, daily... I'm kinda anal about it, lol.

I had been tweaking the SWG % for the first 2-3 weeks or so, and finally felt comfortable easing off a bit on the testing, and..... here we are, lol. Oh well, live and learn I guess. Hopefully it was just the CYA dipping a bit and not any malfunction of the SWG unit.

(CYA was 40ish, before Salt was added and SWCG turned on)
 
pH change is essentially equal using liquid chlorine vs SWCG. So either it is fill water usage, aeration, etc.
 
mknauss said:
pH change is essentially equal using liquid chlorine vs SWCG. So either it is fill water usage, aeration, etc.
Click to expand...

There's been no change in aeration since I added the salt... Pool runs the same schedule every day , every week, both before & after salt added. Water additions by me don't seem much if any different both Pre and Post salt added, so it's been kinda confusing to me why PH is noticeably wanting to rise faster now. post salt.
 
mknauss said:
Rain, swimming, all cause aeration.
Click to expand...

mknauss said:
Rain, swimming, all cause aeration.
Click to expand...

Totally..... I factored those in when comparing pre & post salt additions.

The change in speed of PH rise happened really fast, and noticeable, like within a day or two after adding salt. It's been puzzling.

For example. Before salt, say I would lower PH to 7.5, I could let a few days go by, say 3 days, check it again, and it might be 7.6 or so, maybe 2 more days go by, it's around 7.7, maybe another 2 more days, 7.8, so like a week from 7.5 to 7.8.

Now, After Salt, if I lower to 7.5, it's gonna be 7.8 in 2-3 days, instead of a week.
 
nikolausp said:
Ok will do. I just added some Liquid Stabilizer in, and a bit later, put in a bunch of Liquid Chlorine. I will check the FC after sunset to see where it settles in, and add more Chlorine at that time to target 10, then check it in AM before Sunrise.

My CYA had been 70-80ish since I added salt, but we just got a ton of rain the last week or two, so must have dipped from that I suppose.

On a side note, I'm having a tough time keeping PH stable, ever since adding salt to the pool, it seems to want to move up faster than before salt. I realize that PH will usually trend towards going up, especially during 1st year of a new plaster pool, but it was much more stable for me before salt compared to after salt. My research on this forum has led me to believe that the SWG should net to basically a 0 net rise in PH, so I'm a bit confused on that.
Click to expand...
I would have held off adding stabilizer before you do as Marty advised. If you should you need to slam it'll need more FC to achieve the same outcome.
 
nikolausp said:
Totally..... I factored those in when comparing pre & post salt additions.

The change in speed of PH rise happened really fast, and noticeable, like within a day or two after adding salt. It's been puzzling.

For example. Before salt, say I would lower PH to 7.5, I could let a few days go by, say 3 days, check it again, and it might be 7.6 or so, maybe 2 more days go by, it's around 7.7, maybe another 2 more days, 7.8, so like a week from 7.5 to 7.8.

Now, After Salt, if I lower to 7.5, it's gonna be 7.8 in 2-3 days, instead of a week.
Click to expand...
Once I turned on my SWG, I see tiny bubbles coming out of the returns(Hydrogen gas?), almost like carbonation from a soda. Could be contributing to Ph rise, and unwanted aeration.

I’ll take the twice a week or so muriatic acid additions compared to daily liquid chlorine additions. I did the daily liquid chlorine for a month while the plaster was curing and don’t miss that.
 

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