SWG newbie - will I need 820 lbs of salt?

[Andrew_D]

In my case, no.

All the garden hose bibs (3) are all direct off the well.

Andrew

 

[mguzzy]

Then you will likely have iron staining some time down the road when the iron concentration gets high enough in your pool. Just keep that in the back of your mind.

 

[Andrew_D]

Perhaps. But also, I drain mine for the winter. Fresh water every spring. To date, I have only left 6-8 inches in to freeze over winter. So, 85% new water each spring. Lots up here just unhook the hoses and let that much drain. That would mean I'd only have to refill 50% or so. I might try that, especially with trying to drop TA and increase salt for the SWG. If I can preserve some of the work that went into the water, it would be nice!

Andrew

 

[adl6009]

I am buying my first load of salt. I tested at 200 ppm with 28000 gal pool looks like I need about 20 bags of salt. I plan on putting some in and testing on the way. How many 40lb bags should I put in at a time? When should I test the salt level?

 

[mguzzy]

If you are feeling timid I would put in half of what you think will make it to your target.. if you feeling bolder go with 2/3rds of your target.. then test and do it agin.. creep up on the level so you don't over shoot.

 

[adl6009]

I threw in 4 bags about an hour ago to see how long it would take to dissolve. It's the water softener type so it is a chunky.

 

[mguzzy]

How warm is your water? cause dissolving salt is an endothermic reaction... it feels cooler. If your water is warm the kids like feeling the cooler saltier water on their feet as the kick it around for me. If your water is cold you'll never feel the difference.

 

[red-beard]

I threw in 4 bags about an hour ago to see how long it would take to dissolve. It as the water softener type so it is a chunky.

Push it back and forth with a pool brush

 

[adl6009]

I don't know what to do about the calcium hardness and should I wait another day to see if the cya goes up a little on it's own?

I seem to have brought most of my numbers to about where they belong.
CH -50
LSI - 0.9
cya -maybe a little less that 30
ph -7.6
chlorine -2.5
alk -80
salt -3600
temp -66F

I never tested for calcium hardness before and the tfp calculator recommends 38lbs of calcium chloride. Does this sound right?
I have to update my details, its the same 18x36 pool with a new vinyl liner, intellipro vsf pump, and I will be installing a rj60+
Thank you.

 

[mknauss]

Check your profile in Poolmath as with a vinyl liner pool, it should not be showing your CH as out of range. LSI does not come from Poolmath, it is an outdated calculation based on steam boilers. And is not applicable to vinyl liner pools.

 

[red-beard]

To add to Marty, CSI is what you want. For the most part, CH doesn't matter with vinyl. But it does matter with the SWG. You want it as low as possible so you don't get calcium deposits on the salt cell. High CSI is a problem for any pool. Too low matters for Plaster and somewhat for fiberglass. For Vinyl, Ideal is 50 to 550. Poolmath says -1.09 CSI, based on your numbers.
I run my CSI as close to -0.3 as I can without going under, to keep the SWG clean as I have a Plaster Pool.

 

[adl6009]

I should have said saturation index is .9; not lsi.
What caught my eye was in the rj60 book it lists ideal calcium hardness range as 200 to 400 ppm.

 

[mknauss]

What caught my eye was in the rj60 book it lists ideal calcium hardness range as 200 to 400 ppm.

That is standard industry boiler plate. It does not take into effect pool surface, equipment, etc.

 

[aussieta]

You want it as low as possible

too low will damage the heater, keep csi in the low happy range

 

[red-beard]

Low pH will hurt the heater. You do not need to add calcium to protect the heater.