Bought our house with a pool last October. Pool and equipment was is excellent condition (with one exception). Previous owner had been floating tablets to the point that the CYA was sky high, like 200+ sky high. I've since worked it down to 80-90 range.
I suspect that the reason he had been using tabs was because the salt cell had not been working for quite some time - but have no proof of this, other than the high CYA. Broken? worn out? who knows. He probably didn't want to replace it knowing he was selling the house. But I don't know this for sure.
Anyway, I've kept my chemistry numbers in line over the winter (i'm a bit anal over it, wife says), but as the water temperature is beginning to rise I'm ready to begin the process of chlorine generation. One problem, though. I noticed that the cable from the sensor on the cell to the control unit had been chewed by mice/rabbit? so is causing flow error codes. I have ordered a replacement sensor and will install this weekend. Don't know if this was why he was not using it or it was because he knew the cell was bad. Dunno.
After I get the new sensor installed and the water temp is warm enough, my plan is to add salt and begin to start up the chlorine generation process. I've read a lot of information here on the forums and have a pretty good idea how to begin the process - have my salt test kits, test salinity BEFORE adding salt, completely dissolve the salt, etc (Thanks a million to you experts!), but at what point will I know if the cell is bad? What are some specific things I should be looking for? What would you do in my shoes? Will it be as simple as turning up the production rate and noticing that it does not affect the chlorine number?
Any thoughts and/or recommendations you can contribute will be greatly appreciated.
I suspect that the reason he had been using tabs was because the salt cell had not been working for quite some time - but have no proof of this, other than the high CYA. Broken? worn out? who knows. He probably didn't want to replace it knowing he was selling the house. But I don't know this for sure.
Anyway, I've kept my chemistry numbers in line over the winter (i'm a bit anal over it, wife says), but as the water temperature is beginning to rise I'm ready to begin the process of chlorine generation. One problem, though. I noticed that the cable from the sensor on the cell to the control unit had been chewed by mice/rabbit? so is causing flow error codes. I have ordered a replacement sensor and will install this weekend. Don't know if this was why he was not using it or it was because he knew the cell was bad. Dunno.
After I get the new sensor installed and the water temp is warm enough, my plan is to add salt and begin to start up the chlorine generation process. I've read a lot of information here on the forums and have a pretty good idea how to begin the process - have my salt test kits, test salinity BEFORE adding salt, completely dissolve the salt, etc (Thanks a million to you experts!), but at what point will I know if the cell is bad? What are some specific things I should be looking for? What would you do in my shoes? Will it be as simple as turning up the production rate and noticing that it does not affect the chlorine number?
Any thoughts and/or recommendations you can contribute will be greatly appreciated.
