Opening an Inground Saltwater Pool

Don't let the title throw you off. Most of it still applies. Remember, if your water is still chilly (60 or below) the SWG may not be ready to operate. You may need to use chlorine/regular bleach. Let us know if you have any questions.

 
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I opened my Saltwater pool today using the thread Texas listed above as a guide. A lot less stressful than I thought it would be! Opened to clear water (my goal with opening early) so after the system mixed water good I added some salt and other chemicals as recommended by the Pool Math App.

I have some bottles of,chlorine because water is still 52 degrees and I'm getting a cold water shutoff, but hopefully need won't be so high and can wait until pool warms up to run the SWG.
 
Don't let the title throw you off. Most of it still applies. Remember, if your water is still chilly (60 or below) the SWG may not be ready to operate. You may need to use chlorine/regular bleach. Let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks, Texas Splash. One more ignorant question. I assume when I start my system up I should run to waste to get the antifreeze out of the lines? I don't see anything in that article about that specifically. . . .
 
when I start my system up I should run to waste to get the antifreeze out of the lines?
In a pool your size, a few gallons of antifreeze will just consumed by chlorine in the beginning, At first start & prime, it may tough to just direct everything to waste right away, so the winter juice may just end-up in the pool anyways. You can try, but if it gets in there it will be fine.
 
In a pool your size, a few gallons of antifreeze will just consumed by chlorine in the beginning, At first start & prime, it may tough to just direct everything to waste right away, so the winter juice may just end-up in the pool anyways. You can try, but if it gets in there it will be fine.
So I should just use bleach until my water hits 60 degrees before turning on my SWG? Is that a minimum temp in order to start it without harming it?
 
So I should just use bleach until my water hits 60 degrees before turning on my SWG? Is that a minimum temp in order to start it without harming it?
Correct. While each SWG manufacture may have a slightly different minimal temp rating, 60 degrees is pretty close. If your SWG doesn't like 60 degrees, you'll know it from an error of some sort. Until then, just use liquid chlorine (regular bleach to maintain the required FC. FC/CYA Levels
 
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Correct. While each SWG manufacture may have a slightly different minimal temp rating, 60 degrees is pretty close. If your SWG doesn't like 60 degrees, you'll know it from an error of some sort. Until then, just use liquid chlorine (regular bleach to maintain the required FC. FC/CYA Levels
I followed Pool math for salt add and unfortunately I am now at 4400 ppm. Should I really release 18% of my water? Will this cause problems for my SWG when I start it in a week or two?
 
I followed Pool math for salt add and unfortunately I am now at 4400 ppm. Should I really release 18% of my water? Will this cause problems for my SWG when I start it in a week or two?
Not just yet. In fact, most SWG manufactures have a fairly wide range for acceptable salt levels. Remind me, how did oyu get 4400? From the SWG itself or your own testing (i.e. K-1766)?
 

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Very good. Understand that there can be a bit of a variance, not only in the test itself (or that of the SWG reading), but between each other as well. I've seen several times where +/- 400 ppm is not totally unexpected. I've been going through that myself where my K-1766 shows about 400 more than my SWG. But it also fluctuates at times. While the 1766 is fantastic, and I love how it changes immediately to brick red once teh end-point is achieved, I want to make sure the SWG is happy. So if the SWG is reading good, I wouldn't loose much sleep over the K-1766 showing a slightly higher level.
 
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Very good. Understand that there can be a bit of a variance, not only in the test itself (or that of the SWG reading), but between each other as well. I've seen several times where +/- 400 ppm is not totally unexpected. I've been going through that myself where my K-1766 shows about 400 more than my SWG. But it also fluctuates at times. While the 1766 is fantastic, and I love how it changes immediately to brick red once teh end-point is achieved, I want to make sure the SWG is happy. So if the SWG is reading good, I wouldn't loose much sleep over the K-1766 showing a slightly higher level.
You’ve been super helpful. Are you ok with me continuing to ping you about specifics this pool year or would you prefer I post to the group? Thanks so much.
 
I kind of accidentally ended up with two K-1766s and I can tell you at least from kit to kit they are identical! Electrical measurements of salt are usually modified TDS (electrical resistance) measurements and are not terribly accurate. I imagine the K-1766 is probably better than +/- 100 PPM because now that I am bringing up salt to start a new cell up, when I calculated out 1900 PPM in Pool Math... The kit started to change a bit at 1800 but not "brick red" still a lot of obvious yellow. One drop later and it was past brick red and almost brown which the kit tells you to avoid in the instructions. I would have otherwise read it in between and... Well that is exactly what was anticipated and calculated.
 
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