Salt Level Help

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J

jrsmith25

Silver Supporter
Dec 20, 2023
105
Tennessee
Pool Size
20000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
Fairly new to the pool word. Just got my automaton and everything working properly and got my chemicals. Pool installer put shock in, and then he gave me two bags of salt and told me to put one and a half bags in and check the salt and then see if I need the rest. I dont see weight or volume on the baba but they are probabaly 25 ish pounds each?

Anyway my Omni logic app is telling me I have 14,000 ppm which is sky high and seems impossible.

The guide on the salt bags says approximately 10 bags required to go from zero to 3000 ppm for a 15,000 gallon pool, so I am not sure why my guy brought 2.

I figured maybe the issue was with my automation and noticed the control panel was programmed to 8,000 gallons. O updated it thinking it may be a simple calculation thing and that did nothing.

Obviously I need to get a PH test but do you guys have any insight?
 
Show us a picture of the salt bag.

Usually pool salt comes in 40 pound bags.

Is your pool a new pool with fresh water?

What Hayward Omni system did you get? They have a bunch of systems all called Omni - OmniHub; OmniPL; OmniLogic.

What test kit do you have? You cannot rely on the control panel salt levels. The Hayward systems do not have a salinity sensor and they use algorithms that can be wrong.

You need the Taylor K-2006C + K1766 Salt test kit or the TFT Test Kits with salt option.

You should wait on adding salt and getting your SWG operating until you have a salt test kit.

What is your pool water temperature? If it is below around 55F the SWG will not operate anyway.
 
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Jr,

I think you are just peeing into the wind... :mrgreen:

Most all salt cells do not work when the water temp is below about 52 degrees..

I would not even try to adjust anything until the water temp comes back up in the Spring.

The salt readings that the cell supplies do not work very well when the water temp is low.

Every one with a saltwater pools needs the ability to test the 'actual" salt level in the pool vs. what the cell reports, which can be way off. I suggest that you use the Tylor T-1766 and a speed stir device as you salt level test set up.

When working, your Saltwater Chlorine Generator (SWCG) uses the slightly salty water to make chlorine. You need to run the Output% of the cell so that the cell makes the amount of chlorine (FC) your pool needs.

Super-Chlorinate just sets the output to 100% for about 24 hours. There is almost never a reason to use the Super-Chlorinate mode.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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jrsmith25 said:
And what would the “super chlorinate” button do?
Click to expand...
The button runs the system at full power for 24 hours making chlorine. You don’t ever really need to use it. Just add chlorinating liquid (Walmart, Home Depot, pool store) if you need a boost of chlorine.

But like mentioned above the system won’t work when water is below ~55F. I’m in East TN and mine is way colder than 55 already so you may want to wait on adding any salt until spring time when it warm up. You’ll need to add chlorine manually until then if you keep the pool open.
 
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ajw22 said:
Show us a picture of the salt bag.

Usually pool salt comes in 40 pound bags.

Is your pool a new pool with fresh water?

What Hayward Omni system did you get? They have a bunch of systems all called Omni - OmniHub; OmniPL; OmniLogic.

What test kit do you have? You cannot rely on the control panel salt levels. The Hayward systems do not have a salinity sensor and they use algorithms that can be wrong.

You need the Taylor K-2006C + K1766 Salt test kit or the TFT Test Kits with salt option.

You should wait on adding salt and getting your SWG operating until you have a salt test kit.

What is your pool water temperature? If it is below around 55F the SWG will not operate anyway.
Click to expand...
My water is around 42 degrees.
I will attach a picture of the bag. 40 pounds is probably right.
I have OmniLogic.
The water has been in the pool for a few weeks.
Pool is new.

So I understand now the temp will throw off the app stuff.

So it sounds like I need to go get the test kit and add chlorine as required.

Thanks for the replies.
 
Jimrahbe said:
Jr,

I think you are just peeing into the wind... :mrgreen:

Most all salt cells do not work when the water temp is below about 52 degrees..

I would not even try to adjust anything until the water temp comes back up in the Spring.

The salt readings that the cell supplies do not work very well when the water temp is low.

Every one with a saltwater pools needs the ability to test the 'actual" salt level in the pool vs. what the cell reports, which can be way off. I suggest that you use the Tylor T-1766 and a speed stir device as you salt level test set up.

When working, your Saltwater Chlorine Generator (SWCG) uses the slightly salty water to make chlorine. You need to run the Output% of the cell so that the cell makes the amount of chlorine (FC) your pool needs.

Super-Chlorinate just sets the output to 100% for about 24 hours. There is almost never a reason to use the Super-Chlorinate mode.

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...
Good stuff. Thanks
 

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Is this a new plaster pool?

When was the plaster done?

Do you need to be doing a plaster startup for the first 30 days?

With water at 42F wait on the salt and SWG until water is over 60F.

You can use the hot tub. You should at least have 30ppm of CYA and 5ppm of FC in the water.
 
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So I need to buy a few of these kits? Do you just typically rely on your chloronator reading in the summer once you know it’s calibrated correctly? And in the winter test it every month or so? I assume these are once per use test kits and the cost start to stack up.
 
jrsmith25 said:
So I need to buy a few of these kits? Do you just typically rely on your chloronator reading in the summer once you know it’s calibrated correctly? And in the winter test it every month or so? I assume these are once per use test kits and the cost start to stack up.
Click to expand...
You only need one kit recommended by TFP cause it’ll perform lots of test and last for a year or two.

You’ll need to test a few times per week during the summer and every couple weeks in the winter if the pool is open. Using the spa you should test every time it’s used.

The chlorinator isn’t calibrated and needs to be manually adjusted every so often based on test results. It’s not an automatic process.
 
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They are not once per use.
Scroll down on this article and there’s a chart that shows you how many tests for each parameter each kit includes.
Test Kits Compared
You need 1 kit that tests all the parameters
Fc
Cc
Ph
Ta
Ch
Cya
Salt
The ones recommended above (taylor k2006 salt or tf100/pro salt) include all these tests.
You then buy replacement reagents separately as you use them up for a few/several bucks each depending on the type.
 
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jrsmith25 said:
So I need to buy a few of these kits?
Click to expand...

A few? You get a test kit that includes all the tests you need - chlorine, pH, TA, calcium, CYA, and salt.

jrsmith25 said:
Do you just typically rely on your chloronator reading in the summer once you know it’s calibrated correctly?
Click to expand...

Not really. If the chlorinator is not the number you expect you get out the salt test kit and see if your salt is really off or the chorinator has a problem. The panel reading just tells you if you need to break out the salt test.

jrsmith25 said:
And in the winter test it every month or so? I assume these are once per use test kits and the cost start to stack up.
Click to expand...
No, the recommended test kits have enough reagents to last at least one season of normal use.
 
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Circling back, I believe I just need a basic starter kit of additives. Correct me if I am wrong.

My guy added a few small (again I dont know the exact size but they were not nearly the ai””size of the salt bags) bags of shock and the. I added the salt the next day which we now know was probably useless since it’s so cold.

I got my kit and can’t get any FC to register after adding probably more powder than I should have. I also did the cya test and it showed zero (filled tube all the way up and black dot was still visible). Should I just go buy some liquid chlorine and revisit all this?
 

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