Newb OB with BYOP in Buckeye AZ - pebble and tile touch up suggestions

[Schwimmbad]

Things seem to be progressing nicely. See update below.

Added 200 lbs of salt 2 days ago. Dumped one bag on baja ledge, brushed around until dissolved, added 2 bags, brushed till gone, and did the same with the last 2 bags. Was very easy to brush around the ledge and spent maybe 30 minutes. Had pump running at 2,000 rpms for a couple hours than dialed it back to 1,700 rpms round the clock.

Tested salt at 2400 yesterday, 2200 early this morning, and just tested again at 2400.

Turned off power to the intellicenter panel and installed the water temp sensor and intelliChlor. When electrician’s did their work they wired the communication cable from the main board to the j2 comm port on the SWG board. Instructions manual said to wire to j4 comm port on the SWG board.



I hemmed and hawed for a little while and decided there must be an error in the manual (underlined in red). It mentions the comm cable can be wired to any of the three comm ports on the intellicenter control system board. From what I can tell the SWG board has three comm ports and the intellicenter board only has two. I decided to give it a try as is. I figured they do this all the time so chances are it’s ok to install this way. Is there any reason to move the comm cable to the j4 port on the SWG board?

SWG control board


Main control board


I powered up the panel, put it in service mode, added the intellichlor in the configuration, set chlorination output to 0, and returned to automatic mode. After the pump finished its startup cycle the intellichlor was alternating flashing between red and green for the salt level. It did that for 5 minutes or so and eventually the red light was on constantly indicating low salt, as expected. Seems like it’s working as expected. The app showed salt at 2300. I know not to trust it and go off my own salt level testing.

I set the pump to 2,000 rpms and added one more 40 lb bag of salt. Per pool math that should add 310 ppm. We’ll see over the next few days what I get. I’m not in a hurry and I learned my lesson with CYA ending up a bit higher than I wanted so I’ll just creep up to the min salt level. Is it ok to have the SWG generating chlorine once it reads enough salt or should I wait until i hit my target of 3000?

 

[ajw22]

If the IC SWG is happy with the salt level then let it generate.

 

[Newdude]

Was very easy to brush around the ledge and spent maybe 30 minutes

Next time flatten the pile and let it do the work for 30 mins. When you come back, there will be 5% to 10% of the bag left. You'll have to hit it with the brush to prove it's there. Then when you let that sit for 30 mins, you will find no proof any of it ever happened when you return.

one more 40 lb bag of salt. Per pool math that should add 310 ppm.

What have the bags been adding each so far ? You can now add bags per Schwimmbad. (Or shortly once you prove each bag has been adding XXX).

 

[Schwimmbad]

5 bags added about 1,800 so 360 per bag.

 

[Newdude]

Poolmath is saying 13275 gallons with those #s. The salt test of course has a wide variance with +/-200, but did the other adds seem to pack more punch also ? Or has everything more or less done what PM said it would ?

 

[Schwimmbad]

Yeah, I figured with the salt test variance I’d just creep up to my min.

In general other additions seemed to be close to what I was shooting for. Although I only tested a few times after an addition. I should have paid more attention! I’ll plan to do that the next few times. Especially now that I have the digital pH test meter I could run a little test with it. Might as well while it’s freshly calibrated!

 

[Newdude]

Although I only tested a few times after an addition. I should have paid more attention!

Meh. You're not going anywhere and neither is the pool. It's gonna be there for some time.

 

[Schwimmbad]

You never know, I could be gone tomorrow! Ok, not bloody likely.

Anyway, while I was watching our partial eclipse, I was having some fun with the pH meter and acid additions by testing with the meter and with the comparator.

I thought I’d have a little fun and post two photos and see what those that know how to read the comparator think. I’ll post the results later.

Quiz - What is my pH?

#1


#2


Sorry, no prizes.

 

[ajw22]

#1 - 7.8

#2 - 7.3-7.4

 

[Newdude]

7.85 and 7.479

 

[Schwimmbad]

Hey @Dirk, not to put you on the spot, but to put you on the spot, I’d like to see what you think the pH is in the two pictures above.

 

[Dirk]

Top: 7.9*
Bottom: 7.4*

* Rounded up from 9 decimal places. I'm not a showoff like @Newdude!

Your fingernail has a pH of 7.5 and FC 0.6.

 

[Newdude]

I'm. not a showoff like @Newdude!

Just trying to beat Allen with standard issue Price is Right rules.

 

[Schwimmbad]

Your fingernail has a pH of 7.5 and FC 0.6.

Ok, that’s uncalled for, my fingernail is a perfectly balanced pH of 5.1

The pH of the human fingernail plate surface is around 5 [1][2]. Specifically:
- The mean (± SD) pH of the surface of washed fingernail plates was found to be 5.1 ± 0.6, with a minimum of 3.9 and a maximum of 6.9 measured in 204 fingernails[2].
- Immediately after hand washing, the fingernail surface pH increased significantly, from pH 5.1 ±0.4 to 5.3 ±0.5. However, this raised pH was not sustained, and the pH returned to pre-washing levels within 20 minutes[1].
- The pH of the fingernail plate interior was found to be slightly lower than the surface, at around 4.8 ±0.6[1].
So in summary, the typical pH of a healthy human fingernail plate is around 5, with some variation depending on factors like washing and the specific location measured within the nail.
Sources
[1] [PDF] 1 An assessment of the human nail plate pH S Murdan*, G Milcovich ... https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/epri...ished_in_Skin_Pharmacology_and_Physiology.pdf
[2] The pH of the Human Nail Plate | SpringerLink The pH of the Human Nail Plate
[3] [PDF] An Assessment of the Human Nail Plate pH | Semantic Scholar https://www.semanticscholar.org/pap...vich/3039abfcbb3d1edc1ef999bf28fa04fb97b5a716
[4] extraction and determination of cannabis in fingernails by RIA and ... Nail analysis for drugs of abuse: extraction and determination of cannabis in fingernails by RIA and GC-MS - PubMed
[5] Change in nail plate surface pH upon washing and subsequently with... https://www.researchgate.net/figure...quently-with-time-The-latter-is_fig1_49840534

Ok, now for what the pH meter gave me:

#1 - pH Meter 8.16, ajw22 7.8, Newdude 7.85, Dirk 7.9


#2 - pH Meter 7.61, ajw22 7.3-7.4, Newdude 7.479, Dirk 7.4

For what it’s worth, I was thinking the first one was 7.9 and the second was 7.4.

This surprised me. I know this is an exercise in precision which isn’t critical as we are going for ranges over time. I was just surprised to be off myself by about 0.2, and it seems I’m not alone.

Thanks for playing along! By the way this was with 5 drops R-0014.

 

[Newdude]

. I was just surprised to be off myself by about 0.2, and it seems I’m not alone

If you split the difference, because all tests have variances including the meter, we're all .1 or less off. Even at .2, close enough than most are not even trying for weeks at a clip.

If you dose early, your penance is needing the next dose earlier than you would have.

If you dose late, a week means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

It's WAY more important that the testing beer was cold.

 

[ajw22]

I demand the calibration of the pH meter be audited with standard solution.

 

[mknauss]

The top one looks to be 7.6 to me. No purple hue so less than 7.8
Bottom one 7.5.

 

[Schwimmbad]

all tests have variances including the meter

For what it’s worth the PH60 has an accuracy of ±0.01 pH±1 digit, when calibrated. I auto calibrated it using the 3 standard solutions 2 days before this test.

It's WAY more important that the testing beer was cold.

No truer words have been spoken!

I demand the calibration of the pH meter be audited with standard solution.

Per your request, I just put it in the standard 7.00 solution and it read 7.21! Another eye opening experience.

I recalibrated it and tested the pool water again. The Apera meter said 7.39 and to me the comparator showed around 7.4.

Allen called it! Just shows next time I better calibrate first! Anyone want a slightly used Apera pH meter?

 

[Newdude]

For what it’s worth the PH60 has an accuracy of ±0.01 pH±1 digit, when calibrated

So I'm selling this bridge in Brooklyn. It hasn't gone on the market yet but I thought I'd give you the 1st chance to buy it because we go back.

 

[Schwimmbad]

Just remember if you can’t laugh at yourself others will laugh at you!