Saltwater Conversion Planning

[mknauss]

These forums and the helpful people here have me wondering why I didn't do it sooner.

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[tloomos]

I just donated - well worth it for all the great advice and help I've received - and I'm amazed at how quickly I get answers!!

 

[tloomos]

In preparation to add salt, I was checking my levels and decided to backup my tests with a test from Leslie's.

There are 2 areas of concern I have:

• CYA is at 118 - they recommended I get that lowered before adding the salt. Sounds like I need to figure out how to drain some water from the pool and refill with fresh water to address this
• Salt. I'm really confused on this one. My Taylor K-1766 test shows 600ppm. The sensor on the salt cell shows 900ppm and Leslies shows 1300ppm. Which one do I trust?

Overall I'm finding my test strips aren't as close to Leslies results as I would have liked. I used to have the AquaCheck 7-way strips, but my new ones are the Clorox 6-way test strips.

Here are my test results:
Clorox strip:
Total Hardness 500
Total Chlorine 1
Free Chlorine 3
pH 7.2
Total Alkalinity 120
Cyanuric Acid 125

 

[mknauss]

You need a proper test kit. I suggest the TF-100 or Taylor K2006C. A proper test kit is needed to get the accurate water chemistry results needed to follow the TFP protocols.

 

[tloomos]

I'll pick one up. For now, I'd assume I can trust the Leslie's test? But the salinity still seems concerning since I am using the Taylor test for that and it's way off compared to Leslies.

 

[mknauss]

My Taylor K-1766 test shows 600ppm.

That number is the only reliable piece of data you have.

 

[tloomos]

I got my test kit and finally have my levels right - I had to drain half my pool to get the CYA down to 50. I'm planning to add the salt tonight, and then tomorrow night I'm hoping to be ready to turn on the SWG. Are there any guidelines or best practices for what to set the SWG at to start with? I assume it's a bit of trial and error to get it set right?

Also, since the salinity reported by the SWG is off by 300ppm compared to the Taylor test, should I expect there will be times the SWG is complaining about the salt level when it's actually just fine - all it's going to do is complain, it won't stop producing chlorine, will it?