Pool barely has any FC; Jacuzzi says it is phosphates

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edschwartz

Member
Jun 21, 2016
21
Lancaster, PA
I have a Jacuzzi brand SWG that was installed about two years ago. I haven't had any problems maintaining FC levels until about 2 weeks ago, when FC suddenly plummeted to below 1.0 ppm. My salt was low (~3400), with the manual calling for 4000-4500 ideally. So I increased salt to 4200, and also increased CYA slightly to 80. I thought that should surely help, but I still have almost zero chlorine.

I called Jacuzzi, who forwarded me to the manufacturer, who suggested that my problem was high phosphates. I've never tested for phosphates, so I couldn't say very much. I did a bit of reading on TFP, and the consensus seems to be that phosphates are not an issue if everything else in the pool is working correctly.

Any advice? Do phosphates testing kits actually work? Should I go to the pool store? (Fun fact: I have never entered a pool store before.) I notice that tftestkits does not seem to sell anything for testing phosphates.

My thought is to SLAM to ensure there is no algae, although that will take a lot of bleach at CYA of 80... But if I SLAM and afterward the SWG cannot maintain FC above 1.0 ppm, that seems like proof to me that the problem is not phosphates because there should not be any algae to feed on it.

Thanks,

Ed
 
Perform an OCLT. After the sun goes down, add a gallon of chlorine. In 30 minutes test to know your FC ppm value. In the morning before the sun comes up or hits the pool, test FC again. If you’ve lost more than 1 ppm FC over night, you can rule out losing FC to UV. You have algae and you’ll need to SLAM.
 
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While you get things sorted out be sure to use liquid chlorine to keep fc in target 🎯 range for your cya
FC/CYA Levels

If you’re confident that you have passed an oclt at target fc levels you can then move on to doing an Overnight Chlorine Gain Test -
Test fc 30 minutes after your last addition of the evening in the dark.
Crank up your swcg to 100% & let it run all night- test again in the am before the sun comes up.
Compare the difference with the
PoolMath estimate for your cell.
What is the make & model of your cell ?
 
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Not losing chlorine overnight doesn't tell you anything about your phosphate level. Please don't tell the manufacturer that or they're going to double down on that excuse.
 
Mdragger88 said:
Crank up your swcg to 100% & let it run all night- test again in the am before the sun comes up.
Compare the difference with the
PoolMath estimate for your cell.
What is the make & model of your cell ?
Click to expand...
Good idea. I didn't know that PoolMath had specific SWGs in it. Unfortunately, mine is not listed.

It's rebranded as "Jacuzzi Pro Grade Salt Chlorinating System". But it's actually made by Custom Molded Products. Judging by this page it looks like it is rated for 25.53 Grams per hour which is 1.35 lbs per day. PoolMath says I should be able to run at 74% for 12 hours to reach 4 ppm FC. Which is pretty spot-on for how it was previously working.

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Donldson said:
Not losing chlorine overnight doesn't tell you anything about your phosphate level. Please don't tell the manufacturer that or they're going to double down on that excuse.
Click to expand...
I think it may be an uphill battle anyway since they suggested the problem was "phosphates" rather than "algae". But I'll do the Overnight Chlorine Gain Test as @Mdragger88 suggested. That should be hard to argue with!
 

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It states that cell produces 1.35 lbs per day.
Put that in pool math effects of adding.
What is your pool’s volume?
At what % & how long do you normally run the cell? For how many months?
 
Do you know what your phosphate level is?

SWG manufacturers believe that phosphates coat the SWG plates and inhibit the chemical reaction with the rare earths that generate the chlorine.

We have seen nothing to support or refute what the SWG manufactures believe. @Texas Splash had issues with his SWG output and lowered his phosphates and saw and increase. We don't have enough member experience to say what level of phosphates may effect SWG output in what models of SWG's.

You can have your pool water tested for phosphates at Pool Stores. Taylor has the K-1106 phosphate test kit. The Taylor K-1106 test kit can test at phosphate levels of 0-1000 ppb or 0-6000 ppb. It has two different color comparator cards for the two tests.

Phosphate Removers - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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ajw22 said:
Do you know what your phosphate level is?
Click to expand...
No, I do not.
ajw22 said:
SWG manufacturers believe that phosphates coat the SWG plates and inhibit the chemical reaction with the rare earths that generate the chlorine.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. The rep I spoke to said something like the chlorine was being used to "combat" the phosphate. Which after reading further, I interpreted to mean the chlorine is combating the algae that was supposedly feeding on the phosphates.

My plan is to perform the Overnight Chlorine Gain Test tonight. If that demonstrates a lack of chlorine output, I'll call the manufacturer again in the morning to see what their response is.
 
Overnight (12 hours) the pool gained 1.0 ppm FC with the cell on "boost" which is supposedly above 100%. According to poolmath, it should have gained 4.0 ppm FC over 12 hours at 74%. So the cell is obviously not performing as well as it should. I'll give the manufacturer another call today.

I also ordered a phosphate test kit.
 
edschwartz said:
That's interesting. The rep I spoke to said something like the chlorine was being used to "combat" the phosphate. Which after reading further, I interpreted to mean the chlorine is combating the algae that was supposedly feeding on the phosphates.
Click to expand...

That is confusing thinking.

A pool should have algae free water. If you have no algae then the chlorine will not be consumed. If you have algae then our SLAM Process can make the pool algae free.

Chlorine does not interact with phosphates. They can happily coexist in a pool together.

Chlorine is algae’s natural enemy and phosphates can be algae’s food. Algae is the link between chlorine and phosphate.

So if you have a pool that is algae free and has chlorine and phosphates in the water how is SWG output affected? Riddle me that one?
 
ajw22 said:
A pool should have algae free water. If you have no algae then the chlorine will not be consumed. If you have algae then our SLAM Process can make the pool algae free.
Click to expand...
You're preaching to the choir. I just reported what he said, and what I think he meant.

To be clear, I think the rep meant to allege the water had algae (because of high phosphates). So he alleged the SWG was generating chlorine just fine, but it was being consumed as quickly as it was generated to destroy algae in the water.

The OCLT test debunks this though, since algae would consume chlorine even when there is no sunlight.
 
I like how they automatically dismissed your claim due to phosphates you may or may not even have! 🤦‍♀️
Arm yourself with data and call them back.
*Boost has got to be just 100% for 72hrs continuously then it reverts back to the normal schedule at 100%
Surely it cannot make more than it can make - it is strange that they elude to the fact that this is possible yet give no actual values.
All other swcg’s operate as I described to some extent.
 
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edschwartz said:
To be clear, I think the rep meant to allege the water had algae (because of high phosphates).
Click to expand...
They expect everyone who follows industry recommendations to have alage. I probably would too. :roll:

Sadly, you aren't going to be able to teach the rep to the point they go off script.
 
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