Need help navigating new pool and its equipment

[Monkmullen]

We just purchased a new house, and I am now the owner of a pool that is way out of my depth, and I need some help figuring it all out. I don’t know a ton of details about the pool. It’s less than 3 years old, ~15,000 gal, and of an unknown finish. It’s a saltwater pool with a Pentair Intellichlor Generator and a Pentair Easytouch Control System. There are also dual VSP.

The water is beginning to look on the murky side so I’m having some concerns about the water chemistry. But I’ve never owned a saltwater pool, so I’m honestly not too sure what I should be looking for as far as balancing goes, what chemicals I should be adding to keep everything clear, if my system is working correctly, etc. Should I be adding chlorine? There are tabs on the side of the house from the previous owner. Do I add salt?

I have a TF100 but I need to refresh its contents, so I went ahead and used these test strips for now (not ideal, I know). Results are below. The measurements from top to bottom are total hardness, total chlorine, free chlorine, pH, total alkalinity, and stabilizer. Looks like I'm high on the TH, pH, and TA.


And here is the reading from the Intellichlor App. I have no idea what this is measuring or if its good or bad:


And here are some miscellaneous pictures of the equipment. I will take all comments and advice you can provide.





And here's the pool itself.

 

[IceShadow]

Looks like you have one pump for the water features and one for your main filtration system.

We really can’t help with the haziness until the test reagents come in. Strip testing is notoriously inaccurate as I am sure you’ve read from here, and the dropper tests are needed so that our advice can be good. You likely will want to follow the SLAM Process on the pool to clear it up, but we need accurate test results to help.

Don’t add more tabs because you don’t know how much CYA is in the water right now. I’d recommend getting your replacement reagents, including a dropper salt test if you don't have one, turning off the SWG until the kit is in, and adding 5ppm of FC with liquid chlorine daily until the new reagents are in.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Monk,

Nice looking pool..

I agree with Dustin about needing refills for your test kit before we can know what is going on..

I would not shut off the cell, as it appears to be running fine.. Good salt, good flow, and output numbers.

Some things that I see wrong..

Based upon your guess strips your FC (chlorine) is very low... I would add a jug of 6% bleach or half a Jug of 10 or 12% liquid chlorine, to bring your FC up..

I would shut off the water features to keep your pH from going way up.

I see that your app shows the salt level in the water to be zero.. This is a well know issue and not a real problem. Just ignore it and just make sure the salt light on the IntelliChlor (SWCG) stays green.

Besides the standard TF-100 refills, you will need a Taylor K-1766 salt test kit.

If you show us several different pics of your equipment pad, we can walk you through its operation. There are a couple of automated valves that switch between the Pool mode and the Spa mode, but I can't tell exactly how everything works bases upon your single pic.

You have a good sized cartridge filter.. Tell us what the filter pressure is and what RPM the pump is running when you looked at the gauge.

Looks like you have ScreenLogic, which allows you to control things from your PC, Phone, or Tablet.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[IceShadow]

Listen to him over me, he knows a lot more about SWG than I do.

 

[Monkmullen]

Refills are on the way but likely won’t be here until the end of the week.

Re:FC - wouldn’t the chlorinator raise this reading? If not, what exactly does it do then?

I increased its output from 60 to 80%. I located the owners manual, which suggested raising the output when temperatures rise and more swimmers are using the pool. It’s been over 100 degrees here for several days, and my kids and I are in the pool daily.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Re:FC - wouldn’t the chlorinator raise this reading? If not, what exactly does it do then?

Monk,

Yes, but a SWCG adds a little chlorine at a time.. When your FC is extra low, we always suggest to add Liquid Chlorine to quickly get your FC up.

SWCG's are designed to maintain an FC, they are not really designed to quickly add chlorine.

I suspect your CYA is way too low for being in Phoenix, but we don't want to add any until we know for sure.. Low CYA will cause your FC to quickly disappear.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Monkmullen]

Monk,

Yes, but a SWCG adds a little chlorine at a time.. When your FC is extra low, we always suggest to add Liquid Chlorine to quickly get your FC up.

SWCG's are designed to maintain an FC, they are not really designed to quickly add chlorine.

I suspect your CYA is way too low for being in Phoenix, but we don't want to add any until we know for sure.. Low CYA will cause your FC to quickly disappear.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Got it. Thanks. I’ll add some bleach when I get a chance this afternoon.