New pool SWG% question

[AggieTexan09]

Howdy ya'll! So I'm 2 weeks into our new 11k gallon fiberglass pool (no spa) and i've been dialing in the SWG % output, it's been very sunny and hot the past 2 weeks with pretty much no rain so about as sunny and hot as we get here in Houston and I've dialed down the SWG % output to ~10% and am losing ~1ppm FC and making ~1ppm FC. I'm still fine tuning and doing FC test 3 times a day just to really understand how it's working (morning, 1pm, 6ish pm).

I have a hayward t-9 cell, is 10% a realistic number? Seems kind of low, when I had it at higher settings (40%) for example, my FC was rising out of control every day.I realize this will vary greatly from person to person but I was just to know if others use low % output on the SWG!

Thanks!

 

[Jimrahbe]

09,

Weather makes a lot of difference.. In my mind you have two choices...

1. Track everything moment by moment and continually make output changes...
or
2. Set it so that it works on sunny days and don't worry if your FC goes high on cloudy days...

The key in my mind is always trying to make sure your FC is at your target level... Keeping the FC a little high is never a problem, letting it drop too low can be harder to recover from.

What is your CYA? Are you using this chart? FC/CYA Levels

An FC usage of only 1 ppm, in the middle of Houston, at this time of year, seems incredible low... Do you have an autocover??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[thomasandanita]

what jim said.

also, the amount of pump run time makes the difference too. my pump runs 8 hours daily normally. more if hot tub is used. the chlorine generator makes chlorine when the pump is on. i am set around 30%. similar size pool to yours. if my pump ran longer i would turn my output down.

 

[AggieTexan09]

Got y'all. Yea so I don't have an auto cover but I'm currently running my pump at two different speeds for 16 hours a day. I may lower that a bit. My CYA is 60 and I'm trying to keep my FC around 4ppm which seems perfect for the target. Unfortunately I don't have automation so I can't set the SWG on a timer, it runs with the pump runs.

 

[Cody]

Got y'all. Yea so I don't have an auto cover but I'm currently running my pump at two different speeds for 16 hours a day. I may lower that a bit. My CYA is 60 and I'm trying to keep my FC around 4ppm which seems perfect for the target. Unfortunately I don't have automation so I can't set the SWG on a timer, it runs with the pump runs.

You might consider a target slightly above that 4.0 amount....better to be a bit high than to let it drift too low. If you are at 7.0, you have amazing water, happy swimmers, and no algae. If it slips down to 2.0 as an example, you've opened the door for algae....no need to do that.

And Gig'em!

Cody '95

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Absolutely, Gig'em!

You don't need to run your pump for 16 hrs a day, even in the dead of summer, if you don't want to. Some folks do because they get a lot of surface debris and it helps keep the skimmer working and clearing the schmutz. But you don't have to if its causing you to make too much FC. Go down to 12 hrs and if you like the results, then go down and try 10 hours a day...and so on until the pool loses that sparkle the filtering provides. When it does that you just up it a bit and know that that is your happy place for a while.

Maddie

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

We ran our pump on high for 10 hours a day on high speed for the first month, per PB instructions. Then we got the electric bill. Now we do 2 hours on high, 3 hours on low (it's a 2-speed pump) at a higher % (around 60). Pool is clear, FC is spot on. (if you look at my numbers you'll see that the last few days FC has been low - that's because I overestimated the impact of the CYA we had added, and lowered the %. We've dialed it back up, and will be back on track by the end of the day). We have a screen enclosure, so we don't have too much debris to skim.