SWG Not Keeping Up

[danzgator]

I have had my pool running for a few months now, but every weekend it seems like my FC levels drop to close to 1.0. I thought maybe just because it had been raining so much, but it was dry this week and has dropped from FC 5.0 Sunday to 1.6 today. I’ve been turning the SWG (intelichlor 30) up every week and throwing in bleach on the weekends. I was up to 80% this week and now just bumped it to 85%. The generator must be working because it asks me for more salt every week or two and I drop another 40 lbs in. Test salt levels and they’re right. The only thing I can think of is that maybe I’m being WAY to stringent on the CYA test in the TF-100. Test says to fill the tube until you can’t see the dot anymore. I know this is a little subjective, but I’m waiting until I can’t see the dot at all, no shadiness, no shadow, no outline, nada. Is that too stringent. I don’t know what else it could be. Pool stats below. I made recommended additions just now, so should be back to where it should be shortly.

 

[frogabog]

Bring your CYA level up to 70ppm. For SWG, CYA needs to be more than a manually dosed pool. See FC/CYA Levels

It could be that you have an invisible algae bloom consuming your FC. How are you testing? Do you ever test for CC?

Don't stare into the CYA tube. Do the test mid day (if possible) with your back to the sun. Glance in, glance away, glance back.

If you subscribe to the Pool Math app (it's cheap!) you can log your test results and additions, maintenance, etc. and share them with TFP. If you hover over my screen name, click on the Pool Math button and you'll see how that shows up here.

 

[Divin Dave]

You didnt mention how many hours a day you run your pump. That makes a big difference since teh SWG does not produce chlorine if the pump isnt running.

You might just need to increase th,e pump run time.

FWIW,
At this time of year with SO much UV killing the FC, with CYA of 60/70 I have to run my SWG at 80% for 6 hrs a day to keep my FC from falling below the minimum. My pool is just shy of 15K gallons and my SWG is rated for 40K

 

[ajw22]

How long do you run your pump for?

How do you test the salt? You should not need to add salt every week or two unless you are losing water to overflow.

 

[danzgator]

You didnt mention how many hours a day you run your pump. That makes a big difference since teh SWG does not produce chlorine if the pump isnt running.

You might just need to increase th,e pump run time.

FWIW,
At this time of year with SO much UV killing the FC, with CYA of 60/70 I have to run my SWG at 80% for 6 hrs a day to keep my FC from falling below the minimum. My pool is just shy of 15K gallons and my SWG is rated for 40K

I run the pump for 8 hours. 14k gallons sized for a 30k pool. Maybe I need to run it that high?

 

[mknauss]

14/30 is close to 50%. So 12 hours per day at 100% should be used as a starting point in the summer months.

 

[danzgator]

14/30 is close to 50%. So 12 hours per day at 100% should be used as a starting point in the summer months.

That makes sense. I didn’t realize the % was percent of 30k.

 

[danzgator]

How long do you run your pump for?

How do you test the salt? You should not need to add salt every week or two unless you are losing water to overflow.

8 hours. With whatever kit is recommended on here with the TF100. Im pretty sure salt is OK cause I rest after adding and it’s never high. Can’t be losing water because I have to keep draining my pool.

 

[ajw22]

8 hours. With whatever kit is recommended on here with the TF100. Im pretty sure salt is OK cause I rest after adding and it’s never high. Can’t be losing water because I have to keep draining my pool.

As Marty said, you need to run your pump and SWG longer.

Draining water is the same as losing water. If rain is diluting your pool water to where you need to drain it then you are losing salt in the drained water. You will need to replenish the lost salt periodically.

 

[Fast7]

Check out this link to have a better idea what your end result of CYA test should be.

 

[danzgator]

Check out this link to have a better idea what your end result of CYA test should be.

Thanks I can still make out a faint dot at the "End Test" pic, so I was probably being to conservative in my reading and I probably have less CYA than I am calculating.

 

[danzgator]

Ran the pump overnight with SWG at 85% kept running on normal schedule until 5:00 pm. Reset schedule to 12 hours at 100%. FC up to 4.2 through Florida sunshine all day and late afternoon showers. I know I need to add a little more CYA.