A few years ago I built a small pool in our garden. After a few years of maintaining the chloride by hand, last year I decided to switch to salt water.
I ordered an Intex Krystal Clear saltwater system (the smallest one they have) and installed it. Soon I discovered that my pool is actually a bit too small for this one. I set the device to its minimal settings: run for 1 hour each day. After a few days, I measured the chlorine levels and noticed it was way to high!
The only way to keep the levels right, was to turn the device off and on manually instead of having it run automatically each day.
For the upcoming season I am looking for a way to have the system run automatically, but less than one hour a day. Unfortunately, when you cut the power and put it back on, the device starts in standby mode and doesn't start until you press a button. So adding a remote power switch is not an option. Now I have also added an ESP8266 to the pool pump to wifi-enable it, so I was thinking about adding another one to the SWG. Does anyone have any experience with this? I can think of a few options to limit the amount of chlorine:
1. switch the power to the cell
2. limit the current to the cell
3. override the power button so I can remotely (from my home automation system) switch the device off before it would finish its program
I didn't open up the device yet, so without knowing the details I guess option 3 would be the easiest. That way I can let my home automation start and stop the device whenever I want, together with the pump.
Besides all this I was also wondering how the whole process works and how the chlorine levels are maintained. Since the system ran too long/often for my pool, I suppose every time it ran, some amount of salt was converted to chlorine. After running, the chlorine was slowly converted back to salt, but before it was back on its 'original' level, the system started again. This caused the level of chlorine to raise higher every time.
But this would mean the amount of running time would need to be very precise: a bit too long and the levels raise with every run (and lower between the runs, but less than raising). If the running times are too short, the levels would slowly decrease every time as the levels drop more between the runs than they rise during the run.
One way this could work, is when the chlorine level drops to 0 every time. That way the device will generate the same amount of chlorine every time. The other way around is also possible: convert all the salt to chlorine every time. But then I wouldn't have had the high levels, so I suppose this is not the case.
Can someone please explain?
I ordered an Intex Krystal Clear saltwater system (the smallest one they have) and installed it. Soon I discovered that my pool is actually a bit too small for this one. I set the device to its minimal settings: run for 1 hour each day. After a few days, I measured the chlorine levels and noticed it was way to high!
The only way to keep the levels right, was to turn the device off and on manually instead of having it run automatically each day.
For the upcoming season I am looking for a way to have the system run automatically, but less than one hour a day. Unfortunately, when you cut the power and put it back on, the device starts in standby mode and doesn't start until you press a button. So adding a remote power switch is not an option. Now I have also added an ESP8266 to the pool pump to wifi-enable it, so I was thinking about adding another one to the SWG. Does anyone have any experience with this? I can think of a few options to limit the amount of chlorine:
1. switch the power to the cell
2. limit the current to the cell
3. override the power button so I can remotely (from my home automation system) switch the device off before it would finish its program
I didn't open up the device yet, so without knowing the details I guess option 3 would be the easiest. That way I can let my home automation start and stop the device whenever I want, together with the pump.
Besides all this I was also wondering how the whole process works and how the chlorine levels are maintained. Since the system ran too long/often for my pool, I suppose every time it ran, some amount of salt was converted to chlorine. After running, the chlorine was slowly converted back to salt, but before it was back on its 'original' level, the system started again. This caused the level of chlorine to raise higher every time.
But this would mean the amount of running time would need to be very precise: a bit too long and the levels raise with every run (and lower between the runs, but less than raising). If the running times are too short, the levels would slowly decrease every time as the levels drop more between the runs than they rise during the run.
One way this could work, is when the chlorine level drops to 0 every time. That way the device will generate the same amount of chlorine every time. The other way around is also possible: convert all the salt to chlorine every time. But then I wouldn't have had the high levels, so I suppose this is not the case.
Can someone please explain?
