New to pools

[erspecs]

Moved into a new house in MA 3 months ago that has a 16x32 indoor( enclosed in a non heated glass greenhouse structure that can be ventilated easily) saltwater pool. Needed new pump( hayward variable speed), new DE filter(Hayward) , and propane fired heatr. Pentair salt chlorinator . Has new liner. Unfortunately, by the time we got all work done, cold weather settled in. Experimented with trying to heat it up to 79-80 degrees but propane usage off the wall! Decided to wait till Spring to use it. In meantime water temps around 45 degrees F, have pumps running , mostly at 50% to keep water circulating and prevent chance of freezing.
In meantime salt chlorinator doesn’t or shouldn’t be generating chlorine due to low water temp, but my free and total chlorine levels are very high?! And thus my pH (>8).
Calcium hardness ok.
At this point only concerned that abnormal chemistries may affect new equipment? Any thoughts or experience?

 

[dereksanders]

What test kit are you using and what exactly are the levels. The experts here need a full panel of results. FC > 10 will invalidate the pH reading.

FC
CC
CYA
pH
TA
CH

 

[PoolStored]

Welcome to TFP!!!

As Derek indicated, the pH test is not valid when your FC >10.

The only likely "abnormal" chemistry that may be of issue is when your FC is very high and your CYA is very low or non existent.

Take a sample, put the bottle in warm water to warm the sample to room temperature, then do a full panel of tests and post results. Temperature doesn't matter for most tests, but does matter for CYA test (Precipitation rate is slower but solubility decreases with this test in cold water).