Startup SWG chlorinator salt for new pool

[mguzzy]

were you here watching ? , u got it all spot on...i already thought it might just be too much fun....but i will check the CC.

Didn't need to... as soon as you said age 13 +3 friends.. its parent math.

Check with the three friends? Did they all get burns on their feet too? If they are like my kids, more likely they have a pit of hot coals, bed of nails, limbo bar and an ax on a pendulum obstacle course that ends at the slip and slide into the pool.

 

[aussieta]

soft squishy feet from too long in the pool
then walk across hot pool surround
equals burnt feet

 

[FIESTA62]

well i guess it must be the pavers around pool, i used limestone in a light sandy colour and its very cool to touch, but we did have a warm day or 2 and i wasn't out there checking if it did get hot so maybe it was the pavers and yep too much fun....

 

[FIESTA62]

Do you have a smart meter with different rates at different times of the day

update on your question, i am now running my heat pump at night and are going to keep it that way ( for now ) as i got it connected today to off peak, hopefully keep the running costs down on heating, so will still heat from 10pm to 7am , target 28 Celsius,
but i did change the SWG to day time now, i set at 9am start to 4pm so 7 hours, at 50% and will see how that goes with the FC levels , if you guys think i am off track please let me know I'm in experimental mode....

 

[FIESTA62]

Chloramines (CC) might actually be the culprit for the eye irritation

i tested for CC today , i did 25ml sample test thought i seen a faint hint of pink meaning CC, then did the 10ml sample test no pink, then 25ml again just to be sure and no pink, so no CC

while at it i did all tests, FC 3.5 i know I'm working on it....CC 0.....PH 7.4 yay.....TA 80.....CYA very faint 60 gone at 50 so calling it 50.....CH 260....SALT 3200...temp 25

so i put all these figures into pool math CSI and i get -0.49 and math tells me this is corrosive, so i play with figures and see if i raise TA to 120 CSI is -0.29 all good, but TA 120 is too high isnt it? so i tried CH if i raise CH from my 260 to 420 then CSI is -0.29 all good

i see CH range is 250 to 650, so should i raise it up to say 450 ? I'm checking before doing cause i am obviously a newby idiot learning, so hope you having a laugh as i wander thru this stuff...

 

[Dirk]

Don't mess with TA. Did you ever test your fill water? What is the CH of your fill water? Are you using Muriatic acid to adjust pH, or is 7.4 happening naturally? Let's check your fill CH before you raise your pool's CH. Play with pH in the CSI calculator, that's the parameter that really affects CSI.

 

[FIESTA62]

Don't mess with TA. Did you ever test your fill water?

ok i tested fill water today ( not when i actually filled a few months ago ) today CH fill water is 40, my pool water is 260

ph 2 days ago was 8, i put in some acid to bring it down to 7.4

i see what you mean, PH really effects CSI, i played with PH and see if i raise my ph target to 7.6 with CH up to 300, i get -0.24 CSI, math says thats fine, so am i better off going for 7.6 ph as u said before going for 7.4 is going to take more acid and concrete pebble pools like the upper 7's, i was just trying to get pool as eye friendly as possible so targeted 7.4

so i can raise ph to 7.6 target and raise the CH a bit from the 260 to say 300 to get CSI -0.24

or keep target at 7.4 ph and raise CH to 450 to get CSI -0.26

i guess just raise my ph target to the 7.6..........

although math says both these csi results are fine is there a ideal csi level ?

 

[Dirk]

A

so i can raise ph to 7.6 target and raise the CH a bit from the 260 to say 300 to get CSI -0.24

^^^ that one. As long as a CH of 300 doesn't violate any terms of your warranty. You have low CH fill water, but even that low amount will collect in your pool over time, so don't go to 450 for that reason. 300 is healthy and then it will probably creep up slowly. Splash out and rain exchange can offset this CH-rise, that's what happens in my pool, it just depends on how much it rains where you are and how your pool and overflow handles the extra water. But until you're sure that's what will happen in your pool, keep the CH at bay.

I used to be of the same mind regarding pH and trying to match my eyeballs, but I don't think realistically you or the boy are going to notice the difference. As you've learned, your pool is going to fight you the lower you push your pH. 7.6, even 7.8, will be less of a battle, and help your CSI, too.

If you go CH 300 and pH 7.8, what CSI do you get? If it's less than 0 you're golden. See how that feels, both in terms of eyeballs and wrestling with acid dosing.

You're really getting a good grasp of all this...

 

[FIESTA62]

ok got it, so 7.6 with 300CH gives -0.24 or if i go to 7.8 with 300 CH i get -0.03.....so i guess i will target 7.6 but if goes 7.8 thats ok, i wont acid until i see 8....

i got no warranty no paperwork zip, it was thru a friend of my builder and it is built ok but the process was very uninforming he told me nothing , after final payment i have not seen or heard from him, no backup, no how is it going etc....i dont need his help as i found this forum, and if something goes wrong i know where to find him....

ok so i will ph around the 7.6 to 7.8 and put a bit more calcium in to reach 300.....thanks

 

[Dirk]

You got it!

 

[mgtfp]

Haven't checked your thread in a while. Looks like you are making good progress and getting excellent advice from Dirk

 

[FIESTA62]

Haven't checked your thread in a while

hi, yep getting there Dirk has been very helpful and you too of course...., added another 10ppm of cya its looking like very faint 60 dot, or dot gone at 50 on last test, i am going to wait longer for another test before adding more , 70 would be the target but at least get 60 dot gone,

i turned up the swg , it was 50% for 7 hours but not getting a steady 5, its been around 3 or so.....i now set at 70% but knocked hours back a touch to 6 hours, still looking to see how this goes and its running during the day now 9am to 3pm, it was FC 4 yesterday afternoon after swg switched off, i put some liquid chlorine in to boost it up late arvo, will see how it is after 3pm today

i know i need to get cya up to 70 so working on that before i change too much, but thinking i might need to either up the hours on swg or raise to 100% output but i would think 100% is pushing it at this time of year its not that hot to need 100% ? as when summer really hits i will be struggling.....my pool temp has been around 26 with heat pump running at night not sure if warmer water is effecting FC or not

all good still testing and learning.....

 

[mgtfp]

i turned up the swg , it was 50% for 7 hours but not getting a steady 5, its been around 3 or so.....i now set at 70% but knocked hours back a touch to 6 hours,

Yep, sun getting more intense by the minute now. My SWG is around 8h@50% now, CYA still at 50 from winter. Will get more CYA next week when Aldi has their annual pool specials - then I can just buy it with my groceries and don't have to do the lockdown online order/pick-up shopping (same price as the Bunnings stuff, but more convenient to get in lockdown).

 

[Dirk]

It makes no difference to the SWG how you set its output. It will make X amount of chlorine during its lifespan, and then stop. Doesn't matter if you run it 50% for two hours, or 100% for one hour. But it matters to the pump. Both in terms of wear'n'tear and energy consumption (cost). So for that reason, less SWG/pump runtime is better.

Some will run at 100% and just adjust the pump runtime to vary the chlorine produced. Other's like to leave some headroom, so maybe 80% SWG output, so they can dial up the output without changing the pump schedule.

Still others (this is my camp) likes the idea of a very long runtime, with a low SWG output, so that the pool gets dosed throughout the entire day, instead of for just a short part of the day. The theory being: that maintains a more constant FC all day, which technically means you could run FC a little lower.

Still others (also me) have their pump runtime governed by something else, and so it is not adjustable, and adjust the SWG % instead to produce the correct amount of chlorine during that fixed pump schedule. In my case, it's solar heating. I run that from 8:00am - 4:00pm, every day. So that's also the SWG runtime. My SWG % is down in the 40s because of that. For others, they might need 12hrs of pump runtime to keep the leaves skimmed off the surface, or for the filter to polish the water to their own liking. One of our experts runs his pump and SWG 24hrs/day, so he's adding chlorine every few minutes, all the time, day and night.

Just some different scenarios to consider. No right or wrong. Whatever works for your setup...

 

[markayash]

I believe if the pump if running let the SWG run unless you overchlorinate

 

[aussieta]

i keep my swg on 100% and adjust run time as required
during winter swg only produces around 40% due to water temp

 

[FIESTA62]

i was thinking about swg verse pump time, my pool hasn't got a leaf problem and is only small at 6 x 4 it stays clean easy enough 5 or 6 hours filtration and its all good, i ran swg today from 9am to 3pm 6 hours on 70% checked FC at 4pm and it was 6.5 highest its been, that was with a variable speed pump running at 1800 rpm, it was a cooler day today and no swimmers in pool, i assume hot day it would have been lower FC at my test time ,

it sounds like you guys can set any output percentage, my swg only has 30/50/70/100 and a boost button which i haven't got to yet

 

[markayash]

Have to just try different things and see what works. In the summer I run my pump 24/7 to help keep it clean and because I like the water fall running.
Mine has 8 bars and in the hot months I had it set at 3/8th

 

[aussieta]

need to remember electricity prices in australia, 27.5c per kw/h

 

[FIESTA62]

need to remember electricity prices in australia, 27.5c per kw/h

hi yes i am well aware of the costs and can afford but don't want to give away money if i can help it, that's one reason i got the variable speed pump they use way less power when running slower as mine is set at ECO which is 1800 rpm,

and i got 6.5 FC on 6 hours at 70% when i tested this afternoon after swg switched off, i guess i could go to 100% and have even less run time but from what i read 6 hours is pretty good on the minimal side of run time, but i know i do need to check where FC is in morning before SWG starts

i haven't had my electricity bill since this all started , with the heat pump and all my experimenting i am not looking for to the bill coming soon...