Necessary to heat salt pool when opening early?

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J

jbpete

Member
Oct 22, 2021
5
Utah
Pool Size
23000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
Hi Everyone,

I am in Utah and this is our 3rd season with a salt water gunite pool. We wanted to open the pool a little early to work on the pool chemistry for a few weeks before it warms up. Temps in the low 40’s at night. Pool water is about at 45 upon opening. I was told since we opened the pool early we need to be heating the pool to at least 60 degrees due to the salt water generator. I am fine to do it if needed but would rather not if it’s unnecessary. I searched the forum before posting and didn’t see an answer to this particular question. Would love any help or advice on if this is true.
 
Saltwater generators typically will not work below 55 degree water temp. If you want your SWG to work, then you could heat to 60. That could be expensive and as proavia said, just use liquid chlorine until the temp raises on its own.
 
My SWG is after the heater, so the water going across the SWG cell is far warmer than the overall pool temp.

When I 'soft opened' - I set the heater to like 55, which was enough that the outflow from the heater was around 65, and the SWG was quite happy making FC at that temp.
 
Note that most heaters warn that continuous operation at low temps (for mine it's 68F) causes corrosive condensation and voids the warranty.

I find tabs are very handy for this situation, since CYA is often low early in the year anyway, and they keep pH down. A couple in a floater last nearly two weeks for me, so CYA doesn't rise much anyway. A 10lb bucket lasts a few years.
 
Thank you everyone for your help and advice! This was all great information. I will use some chlorine tabs for now to save some $ until the weather heats up.
 
are chlorine tablets recommended in this situation? We are opening early this year due to a problem but we like the idea so much I think we will open early every year so we will be faced with this issue. this site is not a fan of those. plus how do you add CYA while using it?
 
EmilyOTR said:
are chlorine tablets recommended in this situation? We are opening early this year due to a problem but we like the idea so much I think we will open early every year so we will be faced with this issue. this site is not a fan of those. plus how do you add CYA while using it?
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There is nothing inherently wrong with Chlorine Tabs - you just need to be aware that they add CYA along with Free Chlorine.

If your CYA is already low (which is often is at opening time), then using tabs to tide you over until its warmer is fine - just calculate how much CYA you are adding so you don't end up with more than you want :)
 
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SJPoe said:
If your CYA is already low (which is often is at opening time), then using tabs to tide you over until its warmer is fine - just calculate how much CYA you are adding so you don't end up with more than you want :)
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And the timing matters too. Say you open with little CYA. With tabs dissolving slower than usual with cold water, it may take weeks to get to the 30 you were targeting. Your FC will deplete quickly during that time, possibly inviting an algae bloom.

SWG folks who closed with much higher CYA likely have at least some of it left at opening to protect the FC in the short term. They are in no rush to raise CYA to 70 for the peak season so they can wait out the tabs if they take a few weeks, providing they had 30+ to start.
 

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interesting. we generally close with a lower CYA i think. I know i know, but I don't test it often. i generally have virtually nothing at opening. I could add some towards the end of the season and then maybe this would work. although maybe 30 is what I have and to me that's virtually nothing lol.

SJPoe said:
There is nothing inherently wrong with Chlorine Tabs - you just need to be aware that they add CYA along with Free Chlorine.

If your CYA is already low (which is often is at opening time), then using tabs to tide you over until its warmer is fine - just calculate how much CYA you are adding so you don't end up with more than you want :)
Click to expand...
as far as calculating, that's the issue, how much will the tabs add?
 
EmilyOTR said:
we generally close with a lower CYA i think. I know i know, but I don't test it often.
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You don't need much CYA in the late season as UV loss plummets. (y)


EmilyOTR said:
. i generally have virtually nothing at opening.
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So bump it to 30 with granuals then use the tabs as much as you'd like the rest of the way.

Overnight Chlorine Loss Test at 30 before proceeding though. This year you're SLAMing and will be passing an OCLT already before moving on. Make it a habit to never add significant CYA without the OCLT.
EmilyOTR said:
as far as calculating, that's the issue, how much will the tabs add?
Click to expand...
Go to the upper left menu in poolmath and click effects of adding. MITbeta just beat me still typing. Lol
 
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