Hello, everyone.
My wife and I have been pool owners for five years, and over that time, we delegated maintenance to a pool service company. We just completed a pool renovation project, and we’ve decided to maintain the pool ourselves. This website and forum have provided us with the education and confidence to take on this new responsibility. So far, things seem to be going smoothly: the pool has neither turned green nor caught fire over the last three weeks that we’ve been testing and adding chemicals. However, we’re somewhat unsure how to interpret our salt levels.
We have a freshly plastered/pebbled pool that’s approximately 12,500 gallons and chlorinated with a Pentair Intellichlor IC40. The water temperature averages 75 degrees.
Using a TF-Pro test kit, we measure 3200 ppm of salt, a salt test strip says 3290 ppm, and the pool builder measures 2950 using some sort of digital meter. Pretty good agreement. However, the salt cell only measures 2650 ppm, about 500 ppm less than what all the tests say, which is right at the boundary of the equipment’s expected accuracy. To be proactive, we started a warranty claim, and we took a water sample to Leslie’s to get supporting documentation. However, the results weren’t supportive at all: the result was 2468 ppm.
Since we can’t back up our warranty claim, and since the salt cell is generating sufficient chlorine, we’re leaning towards adding a 40 pound bag of salt to satisfy the salt cell and turn the red “Low Salt” light off. We’re looking for validation of this approach because throwing salt in the pool to trick the salt cell doesn't seem to address the root cause of the problem.
And while we’re talking, we’re wondering about our CYA levels. We’re still getting used to the subjectiveness of the test, but it seems like our CYA is somewhere around 40 to 50 ppm. Our pool builder thinks it’s 30 ppm. We want to add more CYA, but the water report we got from Leslie’s for the salt indicates that we have 77 ppm of CYA. Can we consider this measurement erroneous or should meaningful? We’ve been trying to slowly raise the level to a target of 70 pm, but are we already there? It’s the subjectiveness of the TF-Pro test that gives us pause.
In summary, we're looking for your kind feedback on adding salt and interpretation of CYA test results.
Thanks for your help.
My wife and I have been pool owners for five years, and over that time, we delegated maintenance to a pool service company. We just completed a pool renovation project, and we’ve decided to maintain the pool ourselves. This website and forum have provided us with the education and confidence to take on this new responsibility. So far, things seem to be going smoothly: the pool has neither turned green nor caught fire over the last three weeks that we’ve been testing and adding chemicals. However, we’re somewhat unsure how to interpret our salt levels.
We have a freshly plastered/pebbled pool that’s approximately 12,500 gallons and chlorinated with a Pentair Intellichlor IC40. The water temperature averages 75 degrees.
Using a TF-Pro test kit, we measure 3200 ppm of salt, a salt test strip says 3290 ppm, and the pool builder measures 2950 using some sort of digital meter. Pretty good agreement. However, the salt cell only measures 2650 ppm, about 500 ppm less than what all the tests say, which is right at the boundary of the equipment’s expected accuracy. To be proactive, we started a warranty claim, and we took a water sample to Leslie’s to get supporting documentation. However, the results weren’t supportive at all: the result was 2468 ppm.
Since we can’t back up our warranty claim, and since the salt cell is generating sufficient chlorine, we’re leaning towards adding a 40 pound bag of salt to satisfy the salt cell and turn the red “Low Salt” light off. We’re looking for validation of this approach because throwing salt in the pool to trick the salt cell doesn't seem to address the root cause of the problem.
And while we’re talking, we’re wondering about our CYA levels. We’re still getting used to the subjectiveness of the test, but it seems like our CYA is somewhere around 40 to 50 ppm. Our pool builder thinks it’s 30 ppm. We want to add more CYA, but the water report we got from Leslie’s for the salt indicates that we have 77 ppm of CYA. Can we consider this measurement erroneous or should meaningful? We’ve been trying to slowly raise the level to a target of 70 pm, but are we already there? It’s the subjectiveness of the TF-Pro test that gives us pause.
In summary, we're looking for your kind feedback on adding salt and interpretation of CYA test results.
Thanks for your help.
