SWG readout says more salt than Taylor test, which is correct?

[MrsDubbe]

New pool here, working on balancing

My SWG reads 3100, and the Taylor k-1766 reads 2600-which do I trust?

Other tests

FC .8
CC .4
pH 7.2
TA 390
CH 350
CYA almost non existent according to my Taylor K-2006

 

[mknauss]

Taylor. The SWCG method of determining salinity is with much error.

All that matters is if the SWCG is happy. When it says the salinity is too low, then you check with your K1766. As most SWCG failures present as low salinity readings.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Aside from teh salt reading, you need two things right away: Chlorine and stabilizer. Get a sock soaking with stabilizer with a CYA goal of about 70. Use the PoolMath APP's Effect of Adding Chemicals to help you with the amount. After about 30 min of soaking, start squeezing it all out. While the sock is soaking, add some liquid chlorine or regular bleach right away and get the FC up to about 3 ppm. Do that as needed until you get the SWG dialed-in. Good luck!

 

[MrsDubbe]

Welcome to TFP! Aside from teh salt reading, you need two things right away: Chlorine and stabilizer. Get a sock soaking with stabilizer with a CYA goal of about 70. Use the PoolMath APP's Effect of Adding Chemicals to help you with the amount. After about 30 min of soaking, start squeezing it all out. While the sock is soaking, add some liquid chlorine or regular bleach right away and get the FC up to about 3 ppm. Do that as needed until you get the SWG dialed-in. Good luck!

Thank you so much!

I actually just added 1 gal of liquid stabilizer; the pool math said 5 gallons and the man at the pool store said that was crazy...I do have some dry stabilizer as well, should I add it or should I wait and see what this does first so as not to overcorrect?

I don't have any liquid chlorine or bleach...I do have chlorine tabs though, would that help me any? I'm currently running a boost on the SWG

 

[mknauss]

he pool math said 5 gallons and the man at the pool store said that was crazy..

What volume is your pool? To go from 0 to 70 ppm CYA is going to take some liquid. The dry stabilizer is far cheaper.

You need liquid chlorine. Tablets are slow to add. You need quick before the pool turns green.

 

[MrsDubbe]

30k gallons

I thought the tabs were slow release thanks for confirming

I know once I get the hang of this it won't seem as daunting, right now just trying to make sure I get started on the right foot so I'm not battling all summer!

 

[mknauss]

You do need 5 gallon of liquid stabilizer (just shy of it, actually) to get 70 ppm CYA in your pool.

 

[josta]

I have a similar situation with my AquaRite. It reads 3500 but tested twice at different pool stores at 2300.

I attempted the calibrate procedure; Auto - Off- Auto. Wait for "click" then push diagnostics button five times etc.

It will start at -4000 and slowly go down to -3600 and stop there. Tried several times and won't go any lower.

Diagnostic Displays: 82 / 26.8 / 5.61 / 78P / -3700 / Al-0 / R1.59 / T-9, / 3400. It never did that before and what I also found was the diagnostic button was stuck in the depressed position by the panel cover; I had to drill a larger hole through the panel cover so the button would work freely.

I put a new T-9 cell about four weeks ago. Any advise?

Thanks!

John

 

[JayG]

To the OP: Mknauss is correct in that the most important NaCl reading is what makes your SWCG happy. I have a Circupool and it doesn't appear too fussy about salinity (up to a point). When opening the pool, I will do the Taylor 1766 test and add salt to get to ~4000 ppm and generally my SWCG is happy with that for the rest of the season. Since (like you) I live in an area where I need to partially drain the pool for winterization, I need to add salt at the beginning of each season. For temporary chlorination while getting your pool cleaned up, salinity in order, etc.... another option is calcium hypochlorite. I try to buy when prices are good. It is more stable than bleach and roughly equivalent in price to bleach that I can obtain easily (e.g., Costco). Plus, it adds a bit of Ca++ which I generally need to add each year anyway.