IC60 Not Generating Expected FC?

[pjt]

The past few days it seems my IC60 isn't generating the expected amount of FC. I've had it set at 100% output and it can barely maintain the current FC level. Cell appears to be functioning normally with all lights green. Pool Math calculates the IC60 will generate 11 FC every 24 hours, and I'm nowhere close to that.

I did an OCLT and (barely) failed with a FC loss of 1.5 in 9 hours. This would equate to a FC loss of 4 over 24 hours, not counting FC lost from UV exposure. Water is crystal clear and no CCs.

Any other ideas or should I start a SLAM?

Current levels:
FC: 6.5
CC: 0
CYA: 70

pH: 7.6
TA: 80
CH: 275

Salt: 3,400 (K-1766), IC60 measures 3,050

 

[mknauss]

What does the water look like?

Sorry - you said crystal clear.

 

[mknauss]

I would raise the FC to 20% of CYA using liquid chlorine. See if that clears things up. You are running the SWCG for 24 hours, right?

 

[pjt]

I would raise the FC to 20% of CYA using liquid chlorine. See if that clears things up. You are running the SWCG for 24 hours, right?

I'll do that.

Running pump & SWG 24/7 at 100%.

Thanks!

 

[pjt]

Still losing a lot of FC. Was 14 last night, 11 when I woke up this morning, and down to 8.5 right now. I see bubbles coming from the returns, so it appears the SWG is working. I want to rule out organics so I'm starting a SLAM now and will do an OCLT tonight.

 

[pjt]

Day two of the SLAM. Failed OCLT last night. Having to add less and less liquid chlorine to top off the pool at SLAM FC. Hoping for good news tomorrow morning with another OCLT.

 

[pjt]

OCLT on night two was successful and SLAM is complete. I let the FC drift down for a couple days and did an overnight SWG performance check last night at 100% output for 9 hours and it generated the expected amount of FC, so everything is back to normal. Guess there was some residual junk in my water that was consuming my FC and needed to cleared out with a SLAM.

 

[Newdude]

Sweet job Pj !!! Frequent testing will alert you to any whoopsies while they are still easy fixes.

 

[pjt]

Sweet job Pj !!! Frequent testing will alert you to any whoopsies while they are still easy fixes.

The weird part is my FC never dipped below the target. I did have a large pool party (20+ people in the pool) that probably generated a lot of bather waste.

 

[Newdude]

I did have a large pool party (20+ people in the pool) that probably generated a lot of bather waste.

Thats a lot of skin surface area alone. Then factor in sweat, body oils, residual shampoo and conditioner, etc and yeah. That many people will leave as much gunk behind as somebody in a hot tub.

Did you raise the FC before and after ? Might be a good plan going forward if it wasn’t already on your checklist. My small get togethers were crazy because our 2 closest families had 3 kids each. Add a couple of tag alongs and we usually told another family they might as well come too……. Lol. It’s easy for the pool to become people soup.