Salt level

[UKjames]

Firstly howdy, hope you are all well, I’ve not been here for a while as I’m dialled in with pool care. If I’m honest I’ve gotten a bit lazy now I have a swcg and only test every couple of weeks.

Anyway my question is if my swcg is producing chlorine does that mean there is enough salt or could I still have too little salt Such that it is not operating as efficiently as it could do?

I know the answer is test it but as I’m not in the US I can’t buy any of the test kits you recommend, so have to rely on other less reliable methods, which is a dip stick for salt!

(I have a photometer for the other readings which I think works ok, albeit would be a struggle to use if I needed to SLAM. )

 

[PoolGate]

Yes, if you're producing any chlorine at all, your water has enough salt.

 

[PoolStored]

Anyway my question is if my swcg is producing chlorine does that mean there is enough salt or could I still have too little salt Such that it is not operating as efficiently as it could do?

The manual for MY RJ-60 says the following. Yes, your efficiency can be reduced...happened to me earlier this year, rather abruptly...

 

[AUSpool]

A lot of SWCG’s have an inbuilt conductivity monitor that will give a low salt warning. I use a calibrated hand held salt meter which is essentially the same as the inbuilt conductivity monitor. The salt meter is good at monitoring change over time for my salt levels and I have found that they tend to hold their calibration quite well. The Taylor K1766 kit is a direct measure of the chloride ion and probably the most accurate salt test. I used a K1766 for a while and found my salt meter results to be fairly close. Close enough to keep my SWCG happy. The salt meter also provides a temperature which is handy for working out my CSI. They are readily available from ebay, Amazon or lab meter supply places, just make sure to get the correct calibration fluid that ideally is close to you SWCG’s ideal salt range.

 

[UKjames]

Thanks all. A couple of differing opinions . My swcg is an unbranded cheapie one. It errors if the salt is too low (when I first installed it I tried it to see if it would work) but other wise there’s no salt level indication.