First Summer with SWG

[ballyscanlon]

I asked some questions a couple of months back, now I have installed the Pentair IC 60 and power box.

The pool is still covered (and water green) but I am preparing to open maybe in a week.

Readings today:
Hardness 90
CYA <30 (never got dot to disappear)
Salt (my first ever test) 2 drops, so 400ppm?

I have the liquid chlorine to do a SLAM, i might add a little CYA increase to get it to 30 (per pool school recommendations)

My questions are as follows:
1) Pool school says CYA for SWG should be 70-90 (with 60 and 100 not recommended). My Pentair manual says CYA should be 30-50ppm. So Pool Schools range is much higher than Pentair. What should I be trying for as CYA for my pool after SLAM is finished?
2) Carrying on from that, Pool School says FC minimum is 3-4 with 5-6 as the target. Pentair is 2-4.
3) The salt reading was my first ever reading, do I factor it in when calculating salt to get to 3600ppm. When adding salt to a pool for the first time, is there typically a need to add more than calculated, or is over-salting something that happens easily?

Question 1 and 2 is basically, do i follow Pool School and throw out the manual?

Thank you

John

 

[Chuckiechan]

A couple of cautions before the really smart guys wade in.
Don't add salt while your SWG is running, wait until it is dissolved and circulated. Don't over salt! It is embarrassingly easy to do.
A good starting CYA is 40, and plan to add a little more later if you have to. But be careful because if you have too much it will be a problem.
(Too high on salt or cya can force you to drain water.)
A good starting TA is 60.
An good PH is 7.5.
Set the SWG at 50% and see if it is happy and producing chlorine @ around 2900 - 3100 salt level.

 

[Texas Splash]

John, so pool is covered but not opened yet. That implies the pump is not running. Then you can't really test or adjust anything right now. But as for your manual question .... go with TFP. Many manuals, just like pool stores, use generic ranges that will bite you later. When you do address the CYA, only increase it to 30 since you will have to implement a SLAM Process to kill the algae. A CYA of 30 requires a less elevated SLAM FC level. After you pass the SLAM, then you can increase the CYA as needed.

 

[ballyscanlon]

A couple of cautions before the really smart guys wade in.
Don't add salt while your SWG is running, wait until it is dissolved and circulated. Don't over salt! It is embarrassingly easy to do.
A good starting CYA is 40, and plan to add a little more later if you have to. But be careful because if you have too much it will be a problem.
(Too high on salt or cya can force you to drain water.)
A good starting TA is 60.
An good PH is 7.5.
Set the SWG at 50% and see if it is happy and producing chlorine @ around 2900 - 3100 salt level.

Hi and thank you.
Thank you for the caution about over-salting. I have asked this question before here about salt levels for the SWG, TFP versus manufacturer recommendations. I am aware of the taste of salt if the level is too high. I do see you use a SWG, so your 2900-3100 works for you?
One follow-up question also. As this is my first summer with SWG, I assume I am running the pump 24/7 at the beginning. I have tended to run my pump 24/7 during my pool season (i always assumed it would lead to cleaner and less issues with water). When do you introduce pump off times with a new SWG? does on tend to run at night and turn off during the day?
Thanks

 

[ballyscanlon]

John, so pool is covered but not opened yet. That implies the pump is not running. Then you can't really test or adjust anything right now. But as for your manual question .... go with TFP. Many manuals, just like pool stores, use generic ranges that will bite you later. When you do address the CYA, only increase it to 30 since you will have to implement a SLAM Process to kill the algae. A CYA of 30 requires a less elevated SLAM FC level. After you pass the SLAM, then you can increase the CYA as needed.

Thank you. Quick question. when one does a SLAM, assuming I need to add conditioner to raise CYA, can I add it at the same as my shock chemicals? Or does the conditioner need to be in for a while before that?
THanks

 

[MITBeta]

When do you introduce pump off times with a new SWG?

Run your pump to skim, mix chemicals, or generate chlorine. If you don't need 24/7 skimming, you can reduce runtime and increase the generation percentage on your SWG (assuming it's relatively oversized). Use PoolMath to calculate runtime vs. SWG duty percentage.

 

[MITBeta]

can I add it at the same as my shock chemicals?

Yes.

 

[mdills]

Just thought I would weigh in as this was my first season with a SWG as well. I had many of the same results you had initially. I measured salt before running the pump to see how many bags of salt I needed to buy. I had a measurement of 1000 (using Taylor kit) which I thought was really high. I measured again after pump was running and got a measurement of 1200. So I started adding salt slowly in the shallow end so I could dissolve with a broom. Let it run for a while then test again. By the end of the day I had my salt at 3600 (mine recommends 3500-4000).

My CYA was just like yours. I've fought battles with CYA in the past, so I again went the slow route. I did it over two or three days, very slowly. Mine was less than 30 also, I ended up adding two 4lb bags of Chlorox stabilizer from the Wally. I have a 22,000 gal pool, the bag calculations seemed slightly off. I'm at 70 now though.

Also it took 13 40-lb bags of salt, which is pretty close to their calculations since mine was already at 1000.

 

[Newdude]

when one does a SLAM, assuming I need to add conditioner to raise CYA,

SLAM at 30, for a FC level of 12, before adding the CYA for the SWG to 70 with a SLAM FC of 28.

If you open and are below 30, add 10 at a time until you read 30.

 

[Chuckiechan]

Hi and thank you.
Thank you for the caution about over-salting. I have asked this question before here about salt levels for the SWG, TFP versus manufacturer recommendations. I am aware of the taste of salt if the level is too high. I do see you use a SWG, so your 2900-3100 works for you?
One follow-up question also. As this is my first summer with SWG, I assume I am running the pump 24/7 at the beginning. I have tended to run my pump 24/7 during my pool season (i always assumed it would lead to cleaner and less issues with water). When do you introduce pump off times with a new SWG? does on tend to run at night and turn off during the day?
Thanks

I use a separate Intermec timer for the SWG that works within the higher RPM time zoneI set in my VS pump for my sweeper. Thus, I have one dedicated RPM period of SWG and sweep.
With solar panels, there was no accurate way to control SWG output if it ran whenever the pump ran.

 

[ballyscanlon]

Just thought I would weigh in as this was my first season with a SWG as well. I had many of the same results you had initially. I measured salt before running the pump to see how many bags of salt I needed to buy. I had a measurement of 1000 (using Taylor kit) which I thought was really high. I measured again after pump was running and got a measurement of 1200. So I started adding salt slowly in the shallow end so I could dissolve with a broom. Let it run for a while then test again. By the end of the day I had my salt at 3600 (mine recommends 3500-4000).

My CYA was just like yours. I've fought battles with CYA in the past, so I again went the slow route. I did it over two or three days, very slowly. Mine was less than 30 also, I ended up adding two 4lb bags of Chlorox stabilizer from the Wally. I have a 22,000 gal pool, the bag calculations seemed slightly off. I'm at 70 now though.

Also it took 13 40-lb bags of salt, which is pretty close to their calculations since mine was already at 1000.

Thanks for that. I have been reading about the taste of salt when the ppm is above 3200, your SWG recommended range is on the higher side. Did you get any taste of salt? Did you leave your SWG off till you got your salt dialed in? Also, what did % did you run it at initially? I have a 38000gal pool, but I got the pentair SWG for 60k.
Thanks again

 

[mdills]

Thanks for that. I have been reading about the taste of salt when the ppm is above 3200, your SWG recommended range is on the higher side. Did you get any taste of salt? Did you leave your SWG off till you got your salt dialed in? Also, what did % did you run it at initially? I have a 38000gal pool, but I got the pentair SWG for 60k.
Thanks again

Funny you mentioned the taste thing. I've been researching that myself. We've only swam a couple times because the weather cooled back down, but the kids were complaining about the salt taste. Then my wife got in and said she couldn't even taste it. I've read some people are more sensitive to it. I myself could taste it, but I quickly got used to it. The second swim the kids say they didn't taste it as bad. So judge is still out here.

I did leave my SWG off until I got the salt completely dialed in and no visible salt on the bottom to be dissolved.

Upon opening, I cranked it up to 100% for about 3 days or so. I also added in 2 or 3 bottles of liquid chlorine to help get to the breaking point. My chlorine got up to about 10ppm and I dialed it back to 25%. Then it still climbed to 12ppm. So I just turned it off. Been off for a few days now and I've just dropped to 7.5 as of this evening. My SWG is oversized as well. I have a 22,000 gal pool and have a 55k SWG.