High salt causing really high FC?

[Phx_Jay]

They started up my IC40 on Friday. Everything was perfect before the IC40 was turned on. Now my FC is 11. My salt reading is at 5700. I'm wondering if they put too much salt in the pool earlier this week. I've turned down the IC40 to 0% (Is that how you turn it off?). Hopefully the FC will come back down. pH is a little high but that is a daily battle still. Everything else is perfect. Is there anything I should do right now or just wait it out? The IC40 is flashing green for high salt. The super said my pool was 13000 gallons and put in 10 - forty lbs bags of salt.

Thanks!

Jay

 

[mknauss]

High salt does not create additional chlorine of an appreciable amount. You can do what you did in Screenlogic to set the SWCG % setting to zero until your FC drops. But, don't wait too long.

How did you get the 5700 ppm? It is best to have an independent salinity test. But if your SWCG is flashing high salt, you should drain off enough water to get to 4000 ppm or below.

 

[ajw22]

The IC40 is flashing green for high salt. The super said my pool was 13000 gallons and put in 10 - forty lbs bags of salt.

Jay, get a better super or take control of your own pool.

PoolMath would tell you that 400 lbs of salt will give you around 3800 ppm.

But before adding salt you need to check how much salt is in the water using a K-1766 Taylor Salt Test All pools have some level of salt in the water. You can’t assume 0 salt which it looks like your super did.

You also should not add all of the calculated amount in one dose due to the risk of overshooting. Better to add 2/3 then test and see where you are.

Draining water is your fix now.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Jay,

Ten bags should have only increased your salt level by 3677.. If this is a new pool, you should not have had much salt already in the pool..

I never, ever consider the salt reading from the cell to be correct, until I compare it to the actual salt level tested by a Taylor K-1766.. The cell can easily be way off.

I suggest you get the actual salt level tested and then decide what to do next...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Phx_Jay]

I'll order the salt test today. It should take a few days for the FC to come down then I'll start the IC40 back up slowly. I really want to get it dialed in correctly. Starting the IC40 was the last thing the PB needed to do so I think I'm pretty much done with them. I don't think they need to come back out for anything.

 

[ajw22]

Jay, I missed that you have fresh water.

Be skeptical that you have 13,000 gallons in your pool. If 400lbs of salt raised your over 5,000 ppm then you have around 9,000 gallons. We will have a good calculation on your pool volume once you do the K-1766 Salt Test. Every 1,000 gallons difference changes your salt ppm by around 500.

Thinking you have more poolw ater then you do can casue you to overdose your chemicals. So be careful until you get this figured out.

 

[Phx_Jay]

Please help me figure out the actual volume of the pool....the PB has given me estimates ranging from 9100 gallons to 13000 gallons.

I separated it into three main areas:

1st baja: 7' X 12' x 9"deep
2nd baja: 10' X 7' x 12" deep
Main pool: 22' X 12' X 3.5' to 5' deep with a steady slope.

ph this morning was 7.8 to 8 so I added 1 gallon of muriatic acid and it dropped to 7.4.

Is this enough info? It is an irregular shape pool so hard to get exact measurements.

Thanks!

 

[ajw22]

Please help me figure out the actual volume of the pool....the PB has given me estimates ranging from 9100 gallons to 13000 gallons.

I separated it into three main areas:

1st baja: 7' X 12' x 9"deep
2nd baja: 10' X 7' x 12" deep
Main pool: 22' X 12' X 3.5' to 5' deep with a steady slope.

ph this morning was 7.8 to 8 so I added 1 gallon of muriatic acid and it dropped to 7.4.

What % MA did you add?

The salt measurement will give us the best data to determine the gallons.

 

[Phx_Jay]

I used 14.5%. Hopefully salt test will be here by the end of the week. I’m adding water and draining water to the pool right now

 

[ajw22]

Actually draining is going to mess up determining your pool volume with the salt.

 

[Phx_Jay]

OK, I stopped it.

 

[ajw22]

I used 14.5%. Hopefully salt test will be here by the end of the week. I’m adding water and draining water to the pool right now

What is your TA?

 

[ajw22]

Just wait on draining until you get a good salt reading. The problem could be in your cell readout and not in your pool water.

 

[Phx_Jay]

TA is 70-80 right now.

 

[ajw22]

PoolMath says 41oz of 14.5% MA takes a 13,000 gallon pool from pH 8 to 7.4.

You should not have needed a full gallon.

 

[Phx_Jay]

Maybe the 13k gallons is the correct amount then! The initial drawing of the pool said 9100, then the next drawing showed 9700. Super said his drawings said 13k....

 

[ajw22]

You should not have needed anywhere close to a gallon. So something does not add up.

A gallon would take your pH under 7.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Jay,

You will be much better off leaving your pH at 7.8 or 8.0... Most saltwater pools like their pH in that range and it will not hurt anything.. It will only stay at 7.4 for about a micro-second anyway, so what is the point. Mine will often stay at 7.8 for a week or more at a time..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Phx_Jay]

Thanks Jim. I didn't know that. It would be good to not go through so much acid too...

 

[mknauss]

My only comment is you may find you need to lower the pH more during the summer to combat TA rise and thus scaling tendency in your SWCG. The evaporation rate and the high CH and TA fill water will force your TA up. The TA and pH have a significant effect on the scaling tendency.

I lower my pH from 7.8 to 7.4 during the summer months. This keeps my TA at ~80 ppm.