Questioning my Equipment supplied by PB

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GigiStratford

Bronze Supporter
May 19, 2020
45
Long Island, NY
We had pool installed last fall, unfortunately I did not do my homework first. We trusted the PB, he was highly recommend from friends and co-workers. I asked, please put in what you would use at your home. Sadly Not the case. I wish had found TFP before.
18 x 36, 8’ deep end, 27k gallon rectangular pool with 4x8 out stair, Long Island NY. This is what we were supplied:
Digital Nano + PPC2 SWCG (Manufacturing rating is 30k gallons!!!) obviously undersized.
Hayward Tristar VS 900 1.85 hp pump - I calculated I need pump giving 56 gal/min to overturn pool in 8 hrs, but having trouble with feet of head measurement. 2 skimmers(top of deep end) and main drain. Pool equip is 10‘ back from corner of shallow end. Filter is 425 sq ft. Also how do I know good program like when to run at which speed? PB set it to run 12 hrs per day.
Hayward C4030 425 sq ft Cartridge filter. This appears decent.
My FC is 0.4 running 12 hours per day. What do I do know? Other than rip out SWG and toss on PB ‘s lawn?
How bad is my equipment and how do I fix it?
Thank you so much TFP community!
 
G,

First get some chlorine in your pool ASAP... Use Liquid Chlorine and get it up to 5 ppm or so..

We do not believe in the "turnover" myth... Just quit driving yourself crazy over it... :mrgreen:

That said, to make your 30K SWCG work, you will most likely have to run your VS pump 24/7... With no heater you should be able to run your pump somewhere around 1200 RPM, which should not have much of an impact on your electrical bill.

Short of buying new equipment, here is what I would do... Adjust the speed of your pump lower until your SWCG shows a low flow condition.. Slowly increase the speed of the pump until the low flow condition just goes away. Add 100 or 200 RPM and use that as the slowest speed you ever want to run.. It should be in the 1200 RPM range give or take.

Set your cell to run at 100% output and run the pump 24/7 and see how your FC looks.

Before doing this I would use Liquid Chlorine to bring the FC up to the Target for your CYA... Per the saltwater portion of this chart.. FC/CYA Levels

I would run 24/7 for a week and take FC readings at the same time each day as a test.. See if your FC is going up or down.. In your location a 30K cell may just work good enough.

The good news is that the Digital Nano is supposed to be an excellent SWCG...

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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Jimrahbe said:
In your location a 30K cell may just work good enough.
Click to expand...
It should work great for the overwhelming majority of the time. The brands all have slightly different outputs, but generally speaking your 30k unit should be able to do what my 60k unit can that rarely needs to be above 40% runtime. (Assuming 24/7 pump run). I am local to you and my pool gets full sun.

If we were to get an extended heat wave above our normal, you may need to supplement a little with bleach. The last few years when we did get much higher than our normal it was only for a day or 2 and didn’t matter.
 
Thanks so much, I appreciate the input. I was hoping not to run pump 24/7, that seems ridiculous. Noisy as well as exorbitant energy use even though VS pump. Also as soon as the 12 hr run time my PB set us up at the nano constantly says ”Error purify off, check flow”, it turn off once I run the pump again.
 
G,

Noisy?? What speed are you running? At 1200 RPM you almost have to touch my pump to see if it is working?

I am just trying to tell you how to make what you have work... Either you want to make it work or you don't..

I have no problem with you ripping out what you have, and buying all new stuff, if that is want you want to do.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
What is your CYA? Get your CYA up to 70 to preserve the chlorine being generated.

Post a full set of test results.
 
Oh gosh no, I’m grateful for the help on how to make it work.
I’m just bummed we need to run 24/7. It seems for a few hundred more this could have been avoided. We were not given option. And as we just put pool in in last 6 months we definitely cannot afford to rip out and toss for new. Again, my e ultimatel, I didn’t do my research. As for the pump it’s only noisy for the 1st 2 hours of the 12 hr cycle it’s set at. I will implement your suggestions as soon as I’m done slamming the pool. They opened me and left me cloudy and light green. I’m stressed to the nines. Thanks again for your time and help!
 
GigiStratford said:
pH 7.6
FC 0.4
CC 0.2
CYA 35
Salt 3000
TA 60
CH 20
Click to expand...

I assume that is before you began the SLAM Process

When you complete the SLAM Process raise your CYA to 70.

Note your CYA is 40. We round up. if the dot disappears between 40 and 30 you call it 40. Use 16 for your SLAM FC level.
 

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  • Your CYA needs to be increased to about 70 - after your SLAM Process is complete.
  • Use the FC/CYA Levels to determine what your minimum FC level should be based on your CYA and never let it get below that. Use liquid chlorine to supplement your SWG if needed.
  • Your salt may be a bit low. Check your SWG manual for optimum levels and adjust as necessary.
  • Since you are installing a heater, consider putting in a heater bypass during the install to allow unrestricted flow when the heater isn't needed..
You indicated that the pump makes more noise in the first 2 hours of run time. Check what speed it is running at at that time. I would suspect it is a higher rpm than the rest of the runtime. When it starts, it may prime for 3 minutes or so and should them reduce rpm to the preset speed. Running your pump at 1200 rpm should use less than 150 W per hour.
 
GigiStratford said:
As for the pump it’s only noisy for the 1st 2 hours of the 12 hr cycle it’s set at
Click to expand...
Sounds like they have you set at full speed for 2 hours to skim the water after being off for 12 hours, and then 10 hours of low or medium speed to generate chlorine. If you run the lowest speed that activates the SWG 24/7 there is no need for high speed skimming because you are always skimming. 2 hours at full speed costs more than 24 hours at low RPM. Add your 10 other hours that you were running and you’ll save a bunch. And like Jim said, you can’t hear the low RPM running.
 
GigiStratford said:
Yes, those numbers are pre slam, I just got home from ACE picked up 8 bottles HTH Liquid Chlorine, in case I have to do it twice. Once I’m clear, Is there a preferred stabilizer to raise CYA?
Click to expand...

Stabilizer is a commodity. Any one that says it has 100% Cyanuric Acid.

Regal Pool Stablizer/CYA

Regal Pool Stablizer/CYA

 
GigiStratford said:
I’m just bummed we need to run 24/7
Click to expand...
Since your chlorine level has been too low, it's entirely possible that you have algae starting to grow in the pool. Your SWG can't keep up with an algae bloom, but they aren't really meant to in the first place. Once you finish the SLAM and get everything balanced, you might find that you can cut back on pump and SWG runtime.
 
Last edited:
I don’t know about your swg, but I used to keep my pool at the low end of salt concentration so people couldn’t taste it. It would run 8 hours on full and kept the fc about right. A couple years ago I accidentally dumped too much salt in when opening. Too much as it was at the top end of the recommended concentration. Well apparently my swg loves it because I set it at 2 or 3 out of 8 and it supplies all the fc I need.
 
TomGallopavo said:
I don’t know about your swg, but I used to keep my pool at the low end of salt concentration so people couldn’t taste it. It would run 8 hours on full and kept the fc about right. A couple years ago I accidentally dumped too much salt in when opening. Too much as it was at the top end of the recommended concentration. Well apparently my swg loves it because I set it at 2 or 3 out of 8 and it supplies all the fc I need.
Click to expand...

Be careful with that statement as different SWGs react differently to high salt. It will burn out the electronics in some. All equipment is not the same.
 
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