SWG reading 3750ppm, but chlorine level was low

[Shores]

I'm new to owning a pool and am concerned about the salt reading. It just shot up this past weekend from around 3300 ppm to 3600, then 3650ppm, then last night it was reading 3750ppm. No salt has been added since they hooked the equipment up a couple of weeks ago. The chlorine level dropped a bit this past weekend, so I uped the SWG to 25%, then a day later to 35%. The chlorine level is now good, but the salt level is way high. What should I do? The water temp this morning was 64*. I'm using a test kit the installer gave me that only tests chlorine and pH. I will be ordering a Taylor k2006 very soon or at least for next season. The only reason the pool is still opened is so we can look at it. Too cold to swim.

Thanks for any help!

 

[vln]

I think the colder the water is, the more concentrated the salt content is. Possibly it will go down if the water gets warmer?

 

[Shores]

Thanks vln.

Would the water being about a 1/4" low play a role in any way? I'm adding water to the pool now and am thinking this might help. One of the dogs has been swimming several times and brings some water out each time she jumps in and then gets out.

The pool guys are suppose to be here tomorrow to seal the decking and are suppose to look at it too. Got a bit weirded out thinking about it today at work. The pump runs 24/7 per direction from the installer and I don't want to burn anything up prematurely.

 

[dmanb2b]

Colder temps will not cause your salt level to go up, unless the cell/salt sensor itself is affected by colder temps, I don;t know? Anyhow, a 1/4" evaporation would certainly increase your salt concentration, but unless your SWG is shutting off because of a high salt warning, don't worry about it.

The fact that you need to turn up your swg to keep up with chlorine demand has to do with other things such as CYA, organic matter eating up FC, sunlight, etc.

Post a full set of results and we can help see if anything seems off and assist from there.

Welcome to TFP and please do read through pool school...button on upper right of this page.

 

[vln]

Oh. My bad.

I shouldn't give advice for Salt Generators anyway.

 

[mas985]

Water temperature will affect the conductivity of water so if a SWG does not compensate for temperature in the read the readout will be incorrect. Fortunately, most SWGs do compensate for temperature, at least for the salt readout. Some will also compensate for the chlorine production as well (Pool Pilot).

Anyway, the Intellichlor should compensate the salt readout for water temperature so salt readings should not change much with water temperature although they might change a little. However, I know that my SWG is fairly slow with the temperature compensation so if hot water runs through the SWG in a short period of time, for example turning on solar, the salt reading will shoot up for a half a minute or so until it can adapt. I don't suspect that is what you are seeing but just be aware that can happen so make sure everything is stable before reading the salt level.

Also, when was the salt added to the pool? If it was recently, then perhaps it hasn't had a chance to full mix. Also, the readout of most SWGs is average over several cycles so perhaps it is just stabilizing.