How do i know if i'm generating Chlorine?

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dconnest said:
What am I doing wrong? Please keep in mind I’m new at this so if u could be specific it would be helpful
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You are doing nothing wrong. Just hang in there... you are doing a great job!... this is the weird part where the organics in your pool's water is still using up the chlorine. The closer you can hold it to SLAM level the better it will go. clean your filter when you need to and brush brush brush. That breaks up the algae that is sticks to the walls. pretty soon the the chlorine demand will start to tail off.
 
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Just seems crazy how much i have to keep added. overnight wasn't to bad. lost 4ppm overnight. added more chlorine at 7am to bring to shock level, again at 12 and at 3:30 had to add another gallon. Gonna check again at 6:30pm. Hopefully tonight i don't lose much. pool is crystal clear. i've gone through 8 1/2 gallons of chlorine between yesterday and today already. please tell me this is normal. :(:mad:

after this is all over and the FC starts to come down to normal level, what is the highest the FC could be and we still swim? the family is dying to get back in the pool.
 

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dconnest said:
Just seems crazy how much i have to keep added. overnight wasn't to bad. lost 4ppm overnight. added more chlorine at 7am to bring to shock level, again at 12 and at 3:30 had to add another gallon. Gonna check again at 6:30pm. Hopefully tonight i don't lose much. pool is crystal clear. i've gone through 8 1/2 gallons of chlorine between yesterday and today already. please tell me this is normal. :(:mad:

after this is all over and the FC starts to come down to normal level, what is the highest the FC could be and we still swim? the family is dying to get back in the pool.
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If your dark head kids get out Blond you know it's too high :)
I am in Marietta, Ga, looks like a hot nice weekend so hopefully, your family can swim!
 
we are not using it today. maybe it's a newb mentality, but we didn't want to take the chance of us being in the pool and it lowering the FC and causing a negative response. we are OK waiting another day...even though its Dang hot out there today.

i assume that even though I'm keeping it at shock level that it's normal to continue to lose FC during the day in the sun since the SWG is off and not creating chlorine. at 12:30 i put it back to 20 and at 4pm it was down to 16. i put it back to 20.

i would like to know my final steps if i meet all 3 criteria tomorrow morning. if the FC is at 19-20 in the morning:
1. Should i now turn the SWG back on, or wait for the FC to come down? if wait, at what FC level do i turn it on?
2. i assume at this time i stop adding liquid and just have the FC drop naturally?
3. i know it said to forget about testing PH during the slam, but at what FC level should i start checking PH?
4. Again, if all is perfect in the morning, at what point should i do another "full" round of testing...test everything to compare to the baseline i created when i first started?
5. Once your pool is stable how often do you test the PH and CL with the simple test and how often do you conduct the full set of tests? weekly, monthly etc.

Again, thanks for everyone who responded to me countless questions. i just hope this is it and the rest of the season is easy going.

Thanks,
Dave
 
1. Let FC come down towards target range for your CYA and then turn on SWCG. Set it to generate 3 ppm FC per day and then test to see if you need to increase or decrease that generation amount.
2. Correct.
3. Once you test FC at 10 ppm or less, test pH. Adjust, if necessary.
4. I would wait until your FC is at or below 10 ppm.
5. I suggest you test pH and FC using the FAS-DPD every day for a while. Once you get comfortable you know how your pool is reacting, you can test pH and FC every other day to third day. TA once a week. CH and CYA monthly, unless there is a large water exchange.

The SLAM level was developed so it was still safe to swim in. Enjoy your pool!
 
dconnest said:
we are not using it today. maybe it's a newb mentality, but we didn't want to take the chance of us being in the pool and it lowering the FC and causing a negative response. we are OK waiting another day...even though its Dang hot out there today.

i assume that even though I'm keeping it at shock level that it's normal to continue to lose FC during the day in the sun since the SWG is off and not creating chlorine. at 12:30 i put it back to 20 and at 4pm it was down to 16. i put it back to 20.

i would like to know my final steps if i meet all 3 criteria tomorrow morning. if the FC is at 19-20 in the morning:
1. Should i now turn the SWG back on, or wait for the FC to come down? if wait, at what FC level do i turn it on?
2. i assume at this time i stop adding liquid and just have the FC drop naturally?
3. i know it said to forget about testing PH during the slam, but at what FC level should i start checking PH?
4. Again, if all is perfect in the morning, at what point should i do another "full" round of testing...test everything to compare to the baseline i created when i first started?
5. Once your pool is stable how often do you test the PH and CL with the simple test and how often do you conduct the full set of tests? weekly, monthly etc.

Again, thanks for everyone who responded to me countless questions. i just hope this is it and the rest of the season is easy going.

Thanks,
Dave
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#5 once you get it stable your life is easier. I use to test mine daily or every other day and adjust. After a couple weeks of being 5.5 everyday I convinced myself to move to a couple time a week.
I have a water fall so have to tweak PH slightly every weeek
 
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mknauss said:
1. Let FC come down towards target range for your CYA and then turn on SWCG. Set it to generate 3 ppm FC per day and then test to see if you need to increase or decrease that generation amount.
2. Correct.
3. Once you test FC at 10 ppm or less, test pH. Adjust, if necessary.
4. I would wait until your FC is at or below 10 ppm.
5. I suggest you test pH and FC using the FAS-DPD every day for a while. Once you get comfortable you know how your pool is reacting, you can test pH and FC every other day to third day. TA once a week. CH and CYA monthly, unless there is a large water exchange.

The SLAM level was developed so it was still safe to swim in. Enjoy your pool!
Click to expand...
Thanks, very helpful. one question i have regarding the SWCG. i have Aquacal Nano+ "autopilot" it's supposed to auto adjust based on water temp and i believe the salt level...maybe just water temp. you said "set it to generate 3 ppm FC per day", how do i do that? i have UP and Down arrows that can increase/decrease manually, but every day the filter system restarts it goes back to autopilot mode. Pool math says the Nano+ generates 1.06 lbs per day.
 
I just had a look at the Nano+ manual. I assume you run the Nano+ with the PPM2 cell, which produces 20g of chlorine per hour on 100% output (please excuse my metric thinking...). You have 62000l (16400 gal) of water, that means you are creating 20000mg / 62000l = 0.32ppm of chlorine per hour on 100%. To generate 3 ppm per day, you need to run the chlorinator for about 9.4 hours (let's say 10 hours) per day on 100%. Or proportionally longer if you set the chlorinator to less than 100%. If you have the PPM1 cell, which according to the manual produces only 15.1g per hour, you have to run it longer by a factor of 20/15.1=1.32. Depending on salt levels and temperature, you might create less chlorine, I don't know how sensitive the Nano+ is to these parameters.
 
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mgtfp said:
I just had a look at the Nano+ manual. I assume you run the Nano+ with the PPM2 cell, which produces 20g of chlorine per hour on 100% output (please excuse my metric thinking...). You have 62000l (16400 gal) of water, that means you are creating 20000mg / 62000l = 0.32ppm of chlorine per hour on 100%. To generate 3 ppm per day, you need to run the chlorinator for about 9.4 hours (let's say 10 hours) per day on 100%. Or proportionally longer if you set the chlorinator to less than 100%. If you have the PPM1 cell, which according to the manual produces only 15.1g per hour, you have to run it longer by a factor of 20/15.1=1.32. Depending on salt levels and temperature, you might create less chlorine, I don't know how sensitive the Nano+ is to these parameters.
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interesting. yes i have the PPM2 cell and i run the pool 10 hours. but doesn't make sense to me. not what you said, that makes total sense, but how the device works doesn't make sense to me. it's supposed to be "AUTOPILOT". it's supposed to generate enough chlorine based on size of the pool and the temp and salt levels. when the water is hot i've seen it go up to 70% and when it's cooler i see it around 49%. based on what you are saying i either have to run it at 100% for 10 hours or run the pump 24 hours a day which is crazy. i may need to call the vendor and discuss this.
 
So, i think I found my issue. I feel it was def user error. I feel like an Rear for missing a key step in the manu So all along I’m thinking that when the SWCG is on it’s “automatically” setting the output as needed. It’s a Dang computer with sensors after all. I was under the impression that if you use the arrows to increase the output it will run at that new output but would “reset” after the pool turned off and back on in the morning. Yes that is true IF YOU DONT PRESS SELECT AFTER YOU INCREASE THE OUTPUT.:mad:

so when the pool company installed my pool/system last august. They must have set it at 50%. So it was never producing enough FC, causing algae growth, causing me to have to slam.

what I just read (please tell me I’m right before I fill that giant hole);) is that since 50% is not creating enough that I should increase the output using the up arrow, PRESS SELECT to lock it in at that setting, continue to test daily and if I still see a loss increase more until the pool stays between 1-3ppm.

see attached.

Someone please confirm, it’s late, I’m tired and stressed but feel a little better now...hopefully.
 

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Just had a quick browse through the manual. The Autopilot has what they call a "Tri-sensor" which measures water flow, salt and temperature. It sounds like based on this the system decides how much chlorine to produce. It doesn't seem to measure chlorine (I haven't heard much good anyway about fully automatic chlorinators with ORP sensors, but maybe they have improved in the meantime). The idea of the Autopilot seems to be to automatically reduce the chlorine output in cold water.

Quote from the manual:
The Tri-sensor temperature sensor works in conjunction with the chlorine % feature to automatically adjust chlorine output based upon changes in water temperature. The automatic compensation feature operates between 55°F and 125°F (13°C - 52°C). As water temperature falls below 65°F (18°C), the controller will automatically reduce the chlorine % and will reduce the maximum % that can be selected. This feature prevents the controller from generating excessive chlorine in cold water where it is not needed and prevents premature cell failure. At 55°F (13°C) or colder water temperatures, the controller will adjust to a fixed 1% output, thus preventing over-chlorination and premature cell failure.

What is your water temperature at the moment? But it sounds to me that if the system doesn't allow you to go on 100%, then you'll have to run the pump longer. And yes, if the output is below 50%, then you'll be close to 24h. Is your pump a variable speed pump? On low speed, 24 hour run time is doable. Even though I wouldn't like to be forced to run my system right on the limit.

The ideal salt level according to the manual seems to be 3000-4500ppm. You are currently at 3500, right? Maybe the system needs higher salt levels to actually get to 100%?


EDIT: Looks like you found the solution while I was typing. Give it a go...
 
mgtfp said:
Just had a quick browse through the manual. The Autopilot has what they call a "Tri-sensor" which measures water flow, salt and temperature. It sounds like based on this the system decides how much chlorine to produce. It doesn't seem to measure chlorine (I haven't heard much good anyway about fully automatic chlorinators with ORP sensors, but maybe they have improved in the meantime). The idea of the Autopilot seems to be to automatically reduce the chlorine output in cold water.

Quote from the manual:
The Tri-sensor temperature sensor works in conjunction with the chlorine % feature to automatically adjust chlorine output based upon changes in water temperature. The automatic compensation feature operates between 55°F and 125°F (13°C - 52°C). As water temperature falls below 65°F (18°C), the controller will automatically reduce the chlorine % and will reduce the maximum % that can be selected. This feature prevents the controller from generating excessive chlorine in cold water where it is not needed and prevents premature cell failure. At 55°F (13°C) or colder water temperatures, the controller will adjust to a fixed 1% output, thus preventing over-chlorination and premature cell failure.

What is your water temperature at the moment? But it sounds to me that if the system doesn't allow you to go on 100%, then you'll have to run the pump longer. And yes, if the output is below 50%, then you'll be close to 24h. Is your pump a variable speed pump? On low speed, 24 hour run time is doable. Even though I wouldn't like to be forced to run my system right on the limit.

The ideal salt level according to the manual seems to be 3000-4500ppm. You are currently at 3500, right? Maybe the system needs higher salt levels to actually get to 100%?


EDIT: Looks like you found the solution while I was typing. Give it a go...
Click to expand...
Water temp today was 84
Single speed pump
I was at 3100 but per recommendation from the vendor I increased to 3500

I’ll let you know how it goes.
 
Overnight loss was 2ppm
CC=0
Pool is crystal clear

Knowing now that the loss of chlorine was mainly due to incorrect setup of the SWGC resulting in not enough FC being created do you all feel I can stop the SLAM or should I go one more day?
 
You have to turn the chlorinator off at night to do the OCLT test. Too hard to guess on this. One of the basic tenants of TFP is we do not guess what to do. We test properly then take an action. This may sound a little rigid but it works. A proper OCLT test is very easy to do and well worth it to prevent algae issues...

I read through this thread a little and something isn't making sense with your swg. Is there a way to set it for manual operation? You can use Pool Math to estimate the settings for manual operation. I would switch to manual if you can. Pool Math indicates you need 8 hrs at 60% power to add 2.5 ppm. This would be a good starting point for this time of year in your location. Sunny hot days can consume up to 4 ppm. After you get lined out on manual you may want to try automatic mode again. I just don't know how they can reliably work without calibration of the FC measurement device.

I hope this is helpful.

Chris
 
Chris, are you sure about the 8 hours at 60% to create 2.5ppm? According to the manual, the nano+ creates 20g of chlorine per hour, or 1.06 lb per day. That would require 13.5 hours at 60% to create 2.5 ppm.

But agree on the OCLT. FC shouldn't drop by more than 1 ppm over night with the SWG off.
 
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