Question about SWG and scale.

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nikolausp

Gold Supporter
Jul 16, 2020
167
Houston, TX
Hello all,

My new pool builder (filled with pool water on Dec 31, 2020) is clueless about chemistry, it's a long story, but to cover his butt he used a guy for water chemistry that the plaster company recommended and said to let him do his thing until it was balanced.

Long story short, the guy that was hired to balance my pool was also CLUELESS, and had chemistry COMPLETELY drastically out of whack, while I sat by helpless for 3 weeks, measuring things on my own, daily, and biting my tongue, while being told to just let the guy do his thing. It was a nightmare. This was back in early January. After 3 weeks, water chemistry was still off the charts bad in every way except FC, and finally the pool builder fired that dude and told me I could take over and balance the pool. I used TFP method and had things balanced in like a couple days. (TA took a bit longer to get right, since the clueless guy had it at 150 the day he was fired, AFTER 3 WEEKS!!!).

Needless to say, my pool plaster now has scale issues, it actually started to show scale issues in the first couple weeks, before the guy was fired. The plaster company came out and did all their tests, and that's what they determined as well.

ANYhow..... my question is about the SWG. I have never turned it on yet, as I wanted to wait a long while to get things sorted out with the new plaster and scale issues, etc. (This whole things has been a nightmare for me, so far, but that's for some other threads.) If I have never turned it on yet, is it safe to assume that my SWG doesn't have any scale issues? Or, since my pool plaster has scale issues, is my brand new SWG at risk of also having scale issues, despite never been in use yet? I'd rather not take it off and check it because that's another thing to figure out.

I'd like to get the SWG going, since it's so hot here, and I've been having to add quite a bit of Liquid Chlorine every day.

I never really had Pool School, other than reading this forum like a religion, since the guy hired to do my POOL SCHOOL was absolutely clueless as well, and had everything messed up with my EasyTouch settings, and he has since been fired as well by the pool builder. I was running the pool manually in Service Mode for several months, until finally a Pentair rep came and sorted out the EasyTouch settings.
 
Fire that SWG up.. Make sure you test the salt level first... Did you already add salt? if so and it has been over 24 hours fire the SWG up and see what you get... :)

How long are you going to run it?
 
I haven't added any salt yet. I don't even know how to fire up the SWG, lol. I'm assuming I also need to get the FC level at least at the higher end of my range before firing up the SWG? I did notice in Screenlogic setup that there is one little checkbox to tell it I have a Chlorinator.

I run my pump at 1600 24/7, and also run it at 2300 a couple times a day for 45min (5am and 1pm), as I've read people here like to do for better skimming. I also have automation set up to run my waterfall and weeping wall for 15min a day, and also Spa Mode for 30min a day, and also the Spa Blower for 8 minute 2x a week.
 
I am starting to read through this thread now.

Startup SWG chlorinator salt for new pool

hi, its been a month since i filled my 36000 litre / 10000 gallon pebblecrete pool and i have read not to start up chlorinator or put salt in for the first month, so i am at 1 month and have salt ready to go , my chlorinator says it runs at 4000ppm, the chart i read says put in 140 kg of salt...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Although my builder’s pool school was actually pretty good, you have a head start by finding TFP earlier in pool ownership than I did. Tons of valuable information here. And you’ll love the SWG once you get rolling with it. Other than the occasional scooping leaves out of the pool, emptying skimmer baskets and brushing, the only maintenance task I have is adding a little muratic acid once a week to keep pH in check. I mostly just enjoy my pool!
 
nikolausp said:
I haven't added any salt yet. I don't even know how to fire up the SWG, lol. I'm assuming I also need to get the FC level at least at the higher end of my range before firing up the SWG? I did notice in Screenlogic setup that there is one little checkbox to tell it I have a Chlorinator.

I run my pump at 1600 24/7, and also run it at 2300 a couple times a day for 45min (5am and 1pm), as I've read people here like to do for better skimming. I also have automation set up to run my waterfall and weeping wall for 15min a day, and also Spa Mode for 30min a day, and also the Spa Blower for 8 minute 2x a week.
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Do you have a Taylor K1766 salt test https://www.amazon.com/TAYLOR-TECHNOLOGIES-INC-K-1766-CHLORIDE/dp/B001DO35EU, you will need one to test the salt before you add any... you will be surprised how much salt is already in the pool... Once you find out how much you have you will put that into poolmath and it will tell you how much more salt to put in... only put in 3/4 of that amount.. then test again... it will take a day to add all the salt then wait 24 hours to start the SWG up...
 
cowboycasey said:
Do you have a Taylor K1766 salt test https://www.amazon.com/TAYLOR-TECHNOLOGIES-INC-K-1766-CHLORIDE/dp/B001DO35EU, you will need one to test the salt before you add any... you will be surprised how much salt is already in the pool... Once you find out how much you have you will put that into poolmath and it will tell you how much more salt to put in... only put in 3/4 of that amount.. then test again... it will take a day to add all the salt then wait 24 hours to start the SWG up...
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Yup, I test my chemicals all the time, I have the K1766. Salt is currently 1,400 as of 2 days ago.
 
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Right, I'm ready to do that soon, just wanna read up more on how best to fine tune the SWG, and also wanted to make sure my plaster scale issue hasn't effected the SWG cell before I start all this. I've never turned it on, but my pool water has been flowing right through the SWG, so I'm not sure how that works.

Any idea where I should start the % at, once I'm ready? I'm assuming the lower % I keep the SWG, the potential longer life span? Is there any truth to that?

13,800 gal pool.
Pool Pump run at 1,600 for roughly 22 hours a day, and 2,300 for 2 hours a day.
I'm going to keep CYA at 70 once I'm running the SWG.

If SWG % doesn't effect long term lifespan, then ya, I can just figure it out. But if it does, I could see maybe starting it lower than the normal 50% recommendation I've seen, to more quickly fine tune it for a lower %.

From what I gather, my SWG outputs more FC per day than most people's. I think it's 1.88 lb per day, per that one SWG comparison chart link I've seen
 
Yours is 2 pounds per day if ran 24 hours..

24 hours raises fc in your pool
100% = 17 FC
50% = 8.6 FC
25% = 4.3 FC

Just to be safe when you start the SWG I would raise FC to 7 and set your SWG at 30% and let it run... After 24 hours see where your FC is at.. If it is at 7 leave it alone.. if lower raise it 5% if over 7 lower it 2 or 3 %..

I love 7 FC in my pool, keeps it nice and clear and I have no issues what so ever :)
 
Use the PoolMath app effects of adding to calculate how much salt you need to add with a starting point of 1400ppm. Like Cowboy sez.. add 3/4 and sweep it around until its dissolved. Then give it another day to mix. Any brand of pool salt will work, just don't get the Clorox brand as its known to have iron contamination..

You can also use the poolmath app to calculate your theoretical runtime. If you have been adding liquid chlorine all this time you already have a pretty good idea how much FC your pool uses per day. figure out how much runtime and what % you will need to generate that much FC. Personally I like to start with a 50% setting and work from there. In actuality you will be tweaking all year. As the demand goes up to its peak in July you will turn it up.. as the demand goes down into the fall you will turn it down. My ideal starts at 30% in the spring.. the up to 70% in the peak of summer then back down to 30% at the close of the fall... something like that.
 
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It will really take two seasons to figure out the best runtime and the summer output % rhythm that your pool goes through so don't feel like this is something that is a set and forget kind of thing.

I like to keep my pool at 10ppm-ish. That gives me 5ppm to play with if there is a sudden heat wave/pool party/whatever. 'Cause next think you know the pool has lost 5ppm. If I am at 7ppm and that happens the pool is at 2ppm and the TFP alarms are going off. ;)
 
mguzzy said:
It will really take two seasons to figure out the best runtime and the summer output % rhythm that your pool goes through so don't feel like this is something that is a set and forget kind of thing.

I like to keep my pool at 10ppm-ish. That gives me 5ppm to play with if there is a sudden heat wave/pool party/whatever. 'Cause next think you know the pool has lost 5ppm. If I am at 7ppm and that happens the pool is at 2ppm and the TFP alarms are going off. ;)
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Thanks for the input. I thought I've read that with FC around 10ish, that PH measurement gets more inaccurate. I'll probably target 7-8ish, and then if I leave on vacation for a week or whatever, maybe lower PH a bit, (mine seems to like to rise) and then bump up FC to 10ish (with the SWG) before heading to the airport.
 
nikolausp said:
Just curious , is there any truth to my assumption that running SWG at a lower %, might lengthen its lifespan, assuming good water chemistry is maintained?
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Its not worth it. You got the SWG to make chlorine. Don't skimp on it. Let it do its job and don't worry about trying to run on the low output side to extend its like. In the bigger picture it really doesn't save you anything... plus what Jim said.
 
mguzzy said:
Its not worth it. You got the SWG to make chlorine. Don't skimp on it. Let it do its job and don't worry about trying to run on the low output side to extend its like. In the bigger picture it really doesn't save you anything... plus what Jim said.
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Oh i'm definitely not about skimping. Just wondering if % output meant anything in terms of longevity. It was certainly worth asking, if anything, just to learn knowledge. Also, just curious, when I look at the chart, here: Compare and Review Saltwater Chlorine Generator Prices and Features | DSP

It says the Pentair IC-60 is $1,790 now? For some reason, back when I was looking into all this equipment in Fall 2020, I thought the IC-60 was like $800 or something. Is $1,790 accurate?!?
 

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