20 gallons does not seem plausible unless you have been adding a lot of baking soda to keep the ta up. Every gallon of acid would lower the ta by 50 ppm.
Salt level in a NON salt pool?
- Thread starter oldguy70
- Start date
yes sir..have kept an eye on TA adding baking soda as needed to keep the CSI within bounds, I realize every addition of acid lowers the TA.
It has been a constant battle with new surface on rising pH...it is getting better, don't know if it is the cooler weather or concrete curing or whatever.
The acid and liquid chlorine would raise the salt level. Evaporation and refill would also add salt. However, I don't think that 3,200 is likely. I would suggest a different salt test to confirm. Does the water taste salty? Maybe try a Taylor standard salt solution to check the test kit.
Can you post a full set of readings?
What prompted the salt test?
What do you use as a target TA?
Can you post a full set of readings?
What prompted the salt test?
What do you use as a target TA?
^james, and old guy -- FWIW I believe with high evaporation rates and a softner that deals with harder water (eg lets say 17 grains or more) one can in fact get to 3500 ppm BECAUSE I DID 
I checked it at my PB because I was looking at installing swg and knew my source water was running 450 ppm salinity. (Salinity in softened water is directly related to how much hardness the ions are replacing during the process...there is a formula to calculate same. The CDC issues guidelines for people who drink softened water regarding daily sodium intake,
Btw.)
Then, just to confirm the phenom, I also bought salt test strips. Same range within 100 ppm.
So I don't find this strange, considering he has an autofill with softened water, plus uses liquid chlorine and MA..
Old guy, that's the range people run swg...you might consider it a good time to switch (I am come spring
If you don't want it to go much higher, replacing a bit of water with well or city water (whichever your pre-softened source is) is an option, but so too is draining a bit and topping up with the softened water if your salinity is 400ish because that is still less.
If you want to confirm your reading, this is one of the rare times a trip to the pool store for the use of their machine makes sense, or you can confirm your results with cheap strips just to rule out any problem with the Taylor kit.
The only contraindications of having salt water are the same one would have with swg -- eg. Older heater coils (mine is fine), possible erosion of travertine pavers if you have em (I don't) etc.
Lastly, I always thought this build-up of salt was more or less a known/accepted phenom, because a few years ago, former admin and mod Jason Lion had referred to it in a thread I read when I was debating switching to salt...he'd told another poster that their water was likely already near the salinity for SWG because they used softened water. That was around the time I was battling the wellwater and decided to use softened water an outdoor spigot was plumbed for...so I'd paid attention to the fact that my salinity would increase.
Hope that helps she'd some light.
For those who might wonder, in summer, I have a LOT of evaporation due to a footprint that we chose not to make work with a cover overnight and a constant heated temp of 90 degrees. Its possible my conditions aren't very different than Arizona in this aspect
I checked it at my PB because I was looking at installing swg and knew my source water was running 450 ppm salinity. (Salinity in softened water is directly related to how much hardness the ions are replacing during the process...there is a formula to calculate same. The CDC issues guidelines for people who drink softened water regarding daily sodium intake,
Btw.)
Then, just to confirm the phenom, I also bought salt test strips. Same range within 100 ppm.
So I don't find this strange, considering he has an autofill with softened water, plus uses liquid chlorine and MA..
Old guy, that's the range people run swg...you might consider it a good time to switch (I am come spring
If you don't want it to go much higher, replacing a bit of water with well or city water (whichever your pre-softened source is) is an option, but so too is draining a bit and topping up with the softened water if your salinity is 400ish because that is still less.
If you want to confirm your reading, this is one of the rare times a trip to the pool store for the use of their machine makes sense, or you can confirm your results with cheap strips just to rule out any problem with the Taylor kit.
The only contraindications of having salt water are the same one would have with swg -- eg. Older heater coils (mine is fine), possible erosion of travertine pavers if you have em (I don't) etc.
Lastly, I always thought this build-up of salt was more or less a known/accepted phenom, because a few years ago, former admin and mod Jason Lion had referred to it in a thread I read when I was debating switching to salt...he'd told another poster that their water was likely already near the salinity for SWG because they used softened water. That was around the time I was battling the wellwater and decided to use softened water an outdoor spigot was plumbed for...so I'd paid attention to the fact that my salinity would increase.
Hope that helps she'd some light.
For those who might wonder, in summer, I have a LOT of evaporation due to a footprint that we chose not to make work with a cover overnight and a constant heated temp of 90 degrees. Its possible my conditions aren't very different than Arizona in this aspect
A standard water softener that is a cationic exchange resin will substitute calcium and magnesium with sodium so reduces water hardness, but does not change the chloride level and chloride is what gets measured in most salt tests. So yes SODIUM is increased with the water softener, but not chloride.
If you also had an anionic exchange resin, then THAT could substitute carbonate or bicarbonate for chloride and would be used to reduce high TA in fill water.
If you also had an anionic exchange resin, then THAT could substitute carbonate or bicarbonate for chloride and would be used to reduce high TA in fill water.
Don't know if pool has a salt taste, kinda of thinking now that my tests are correct and as long as there are no concerns or other issues I am ok with that.
TC 13.5
CC 0.0
pH 7.6
TA 90
CH 400
CYA 120
Salt 3200
Borate 0
Water Temp 75
CSI -.24
What prompted salt testing...curiosity....now concerns/issues
Target TA....90-100
- - - Updated - - -
Swampwoman....thanks for the info, interesting and I do think there are many others who have high salt in non-salt pools....my only concern is what issues does this present.
There are multiple contributors to the salt level. A too high TA target and a too low pH target can create a cycle of adding acid and bicarb unnecessarily, which adds to salt levels. Calcium chloride adds to salt levels. Liquid chlorine adds to salt levels. Trichlor and dichlor used would add to salt levels. Evaporation and refill adds to salt levels depending on the chloride content of the fill water. Having heated water and aeration would increase evaporation and pH rise.
All-in-all I still think that the chloride level is unlikely.
I would suggest a different chloride titration test kit and a calibrated conductivity test.
As to the consequence? Mostly not a problem unless your have certain types of stone that is susceptible to salt induced stress/corrosion.
All-in-all I still think that the chloride level is unlikely.
I would suggest a different chloride titration test kit and a calibrated conductivity test.
As to the consequence? Mostly not a problem unless your have certain types of stone that is susceptible to salt induced stress/corrosion.
JamesW...thanks for your help, I will try to test as you suggested and see what is going on....as long as I see no issues and this fall/winter I likely will be doing a full drain, I will start with fresh water and now know much more about what to do than I did 10 months ago.