My Salt Generator Is Not Making Chlorine.

Jump to latest Follow Reply
S

Steve71

0
Jul 16, 2017
6
Hawkesbury/Ontario/Canada
Hi There,

This may be long which I fined scares a lot of people away but I try to give as much history and detail as possible in my initial post so please bear with me.

So I have had my above ground pool for 8 years and 6 of those 8 years have been trouble free. Last year I noticed the cell on my salt water chlorinating system was not producing that white cloudy water after it passes through the fins and with in days my pool went green and I discovered I needed a new cell at $500 taxes in. I got everything back in order enjoyed the rest of our short Canadian summer and closed the pool on our Thanksgiving weekend which is the middle of October. When pool was put away the water was free of organic waste and the water was clear. As the ice started to melted this spring I could see the water was green even though there was still 2-3 inches of ice around the pool. I have never seen this before. Due to weather and commitments I was really late opening the pool and the water was super green. I went to my pool place with a water sample explained water was green they gave me a 48hrs pool opening kit and 4 20kg bags of salt. In the past this has worked with no issue and were off to the races. This year that has not been the case. So my pool went from green to milky and it took 2 treatments to go from milky to clear. Presently it clear but every time I bring a water sample to them, they keep saying I have no chlorine in the pool.

I have a new cell from last year that has maybe 6 weeks use from last summer and 3 weeks use from this summer. The power supply to the cell is 8 years old but has been kept in my house and has never been exposed to the elements, all lights are working as they should. The cell is producing that cloudy water after passing through the fins ( I have always assumed that's chlorine being made before being returned to the pool )

So here are my last 3 water samples. We are starting after I used the 48 pool opening kit with 4 bags of salt.

2 Weeks ago
Visual Inspection Foggy Water
Your Water Has A Corrosive Tendency!
Salt= 3700ppm
FC= 0.07ppm
TC= 0.07ppm
TA= 32ppm
CH= 86ppm
CYA= 10ppm
PH= 7.2

1 Week Ago
Visual Inspection Foggy Water
Your Water Has A Corrosive Tendency!
Salt= 3700ppm
FC= 0.08
TC=0.08
TA=105ppm
CH=78ppm
CYA= 8ppm
PH= 8.2

2 Days Ago
Visual Inspection Clear Water
No Corrosive Water Alert
Salt= 3700ppm
FC= 0.15ppm
TC= 0.15ppm
TA= 90ppm
CH= 235ppm
CYA= 52ppm
PH= 8

I find it odd that according to my pool specialist that I'm not making chlorine, they keep telling me to add this or that which I do but I can't seem to get my FC between the recommended 1-3ppm even though I'm sure I'm making chlorine ( cloudy water after water passing through cell fins )

So that's it I'll be happy to give you more detail if I can.

Thanks for looking

Cheers
 
The generator doesn't make chlorine from nothing. There has to be chlorine in the water already. I learned this last week after owning my pool for 4 years. Add liquid chlorine. And bring the level to the desired range and adjust your cell accordingly and see if the cell maintains the level.
 
Welcome to TFP. If I were you my first investment would be a proper test kit. The second thing I would do is forget the pool specialist. Their test results can not be trusted, and they just want to sell you things you usually don't need.

The experts here can no doubt help you with your problems, but the TFP methods rely on owners to take charge of their pool and do their own testing for the reasons stated above.

There are 4 links in my signature that I would suggest you check out. I would start with the recommended test kits. I know it seems like a huge investment, but you will save 10 fold by not relying on bad advise from the pool store.

I am sure one of the experts will reply as well. Good Luck!
 
Welcome to TFP and good to have you here :)

Your issue is tricky for us to help with because our method of pool care relies on self-testing. Decades of pool management and 1000s of pools have demonstrated that pool store testing is almost never reliable. So we recommend getting a test kit with FAS-DPD chlorine testing, along with pH, TA, CH and CYA. In Canada it's costly because a company there has a monopoly on Taylor testing reagents, and they exploit their monopoly to a fault. You can still reduce your pool management costs and save back the cost of the test kit, but it's a big bite at around $350.

It sounds like your SWC is working fine but you have a nascent algae bloom underway. Algae can be free-floating and invisible. We test for it with an overnight chlorine loss test, but the test requires FAS-DPD chlorine testing. Once the nascent algae is verified, we eliminate it with a SLAM, which is a sustained shock level until the algae is all dead, but a SLAM also requires FAS-DPD testing. Once algae is eliminated, you SWC will very likely keep up just fine.

So I suggest you consider getting a test kit, if you'd like to follow Trouble Free Pool Care (TFPC). Here's a description that is fairly brief and might help you decide.
First two posts in: TFPC for Beginners

Come on back with any questions or for clarification
 
Not necessarily. You have to get a kit that has the FAS-DPD chlorine test. The TF-100 and the Taylor 2006 are the right kits.

The FAS-DPD test allows you to test for Free Chlorine and Combined Chlorine, which is very important.
 
Here's the recommended test kits. You cant get a TF100 in Canada because they don't ship to Canada, so that leaves the Taylor K-2006. Sadly it's dear for you there in Canada.
Pool School - Test Kits Compared

If you have a friend in the US, or a forwarding service, then that might save you a bunch of money.

If the spa is run on chlorine, then yep, same test kit for both.
 
The only other thing I can think of is that a SWC is not good at raising the chlorine level, but is great at maintaining the level. You could try getting your FC up to 5 ppm with chlorinating liquid, and then run your SWC hard enough that it might maintain the level.
 
Hello and Welcome to TFP!

It's likely your SWG is working fine. With your very low CYA, the Sun's UV is burning off the chlorine very fast. Then, since your chlorine has been so low, there's probably some algae growing in there. Your SWG just isn't able to handle both of these combined to increase the chlorine level.

Using regular, unscented bleach from your favorite grocery store, increase the chlorine to 4 ppm. Leave your SWG on and see what that does for you. This is really only a Band-Aid until you get a test kit to test all your water levels.
 
Teald024 said:
Hello and Welcome to TFP!

It's likely your SWG is working fine. With your very low CYA, the Sun's UV is burning off the chlorine very fast. Then, since your chlorine has been so low, there's probably some algae growing in there. Your SWG just isn't able to handle both of these combined to increase the chlorine level.

Using regular, unscented bleach from your favorite grocery store, increase the chlorine to 4 ppm. Leave your SWG on and see what that does for you. This is really only a Band-Aid until you get a test kit to test all your water levels.
Click to expand...
I figured the CYA was an issue, but the pool store results show low a week ago and 52 this week...
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Fingaling said:
The pool store results seem unreliable then...

Have you added any cya (stabilizer) this year? Either by itself or using solid chlorine?
Click to expand...


Yes I added 4.2kg of a product called Salt One my Sani Marc. This is what it does.

Creates softer feeling water to prevent dry skin and hair Establishes 30 ppm of stabilizer (CYA)
Protects against salt corrosion

I also used 2.2 cups or 506.9g of Calypso Eco Protect as advised by my pool store.

To achieve maximum sanitizer efficiency and to prevent chlorine loss due to ultraviolet rays, your pool water stabilizer’s level should be within the recommended range of 30-100 ppm. The ideal range is 30-50 ppm. Maintaining the ideal level of stabilizer will make it possible to keep chlorine residuals under control
 
Actually the chlorine generator makes chlorine from salt, which then recombines back to salt. It's just that chlorine generators are good at maintaining chlorine levels, once the correct level is achieved and everything else is in balance. But with the presence of any algae or without the proper CYA level, it won't be able to meet the demand. That why you need to start out with bleach and get everything in balance and chlorine levels up to required levels, before turning on a salt system.
 
I went to my pool store and they don't have the Taylor 2006, I will order online but since it may take a few days is there anything I can do presently to stave off this potential nascent algae bloom. I can add liquid chlorine but how much do add if we use the numbers from two days ago which are

Visual Inspection Clear Water
No Corrosive Water Alert
Salt= 3700ppm
FC= 0.15ppm
TC= 0.15ppm
TA= 90ppm
CH= 235ppm
CYA= 52ppm
PH= 8

Thanks
 
smallsmx3 said:
The generator doesn't make anything from nothing. There has to be chlorine in the pool to make more
Click to expand...

The necessary chlorine comes from the salt (Sodium Chloride). Additional bleach isn't necessary for the SWG to make the FC. We recommend using bleach to get the FC from zero to the desired level because it is fast and easy. The SWG can't really raise the FC quick enough. After that the SWG can provide the needed 2-3ppm FC per day.
 
The amount will depend on the strength of your "liquid Chlorine".
We prefer to use plain old bleach unscented, plain not the splashless kind.
On the bottle there should be two numbers, concentration 5-12%, normally 8.25% and date it was bottled, avoid stuff that is over 90 days in the bottle as it does decay.
Your pool holds roughly 10,400 gal, recommended FC level of 4 for a pool with cya of 60. Using the calculator heading for a FC of 5 I came up with an addition of 77 ounces of 8.25% bleach. Add it in brush what you can.
While you are waiting for or just finding a Taylor kit, you could use the simple 7$ otho kit walmart and Canadian Tire sell. Not that accurate but it does indicate the presence of chlorine.
 
smallsmx3 said:
The generator doesn't make chlorine from nothing. There has to be chlorine in the water already. I learned this last week after owning my pool for 4 years. Add liquid chlorine. And bring the level to the desired range and adjust your cell accordingly and see if the cell maintains the level.
Click to expand...

This is incorrect. There doesn't need to be any chlorine in a pool for the SWG to produce chlorine. It works by releasing chlorine from the salt that is in the pool, (You know that Cl part of NaCl). But, it releases it slowly. The chlorine it produces may not show up in your test, if it is not enough to overcome the rate at which chlorine is being consumed. The reason we recommend starting out on bleach is that allows you to quickly bring the pool up to the required chlorine level. Once the pool is properly balanced and initial chlorine demand has been met, the SWG is turned on and hopefully can maintain the proper chlorine levels.

Anytime you have increased chlorine demands due to algae bloom, or even heavy bather load, bleach is recommended to meet that additional need.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply