thinking of emptying pool

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If there is nothing visibly on the SWG plates - do NOT clean it again. Every time you clean it you are shortening its life needlessly.

Also, don't over tighten when installing. make sure to lube up the O-rings at each union prior to install. Then just hand tight and check for leaks. This way, maybe you can take it off by yourself. Additionally, go buy a strap-wrench at HD, Lowe's or Ace that will fit around the unions -- this will also allow you to take the SWG off without needing additional human assistance.

Looking for updated numbers from today
 
My Pentair SWG reads zero salt (even with 3200ppm in the pool), when the flow rate is too low. Since it reads salt only once at startup, subsequent flow adjustments won't fix the zero-salt reading, I have to power it down then back up again to force it to retest salt at the adjusted flow rate.

I don't know the Hayward SWG at all, but could this be a flow issue and not a salt issue? I've skipped some posts of your thread, so forgive if this has been covered. I know you've been struggling with your SWG. How have you determined it's getting the amount of flow it needs to function properly?
 
i called leslies since they close at 5 and they said i should be able to get it off without my husband and it should only be hand tightened. my husband uses a wrench and used to use a rubber belt at times and I don't think there are 0 rings. leslies told me to lube the O rings and i told him i don't think there are O rings. hubbie wont' take it off for me so i think i'll call pb tomorrow to tell them there r no ) rings.
 
outdoorsgal said:
i called leslies since they close at 5 and they said i should be able to get it off without my husband and it should only be hand tightened. my husband uses a wrench and used to use a rubber belt at times and I don't think there are 0 rings. leslies told me to lube the O rings and i told him i don't think there are O rings. hubbie wont' take it off for me so i think i'll call pb tomorrow to tell them there r no ) rings.
Click to expand...

Pardon me for saying so - but I think you need to keep "hubbie" away from the pool equipment. His over-tightening things is only going to break them. Unions need only be tightened hand-tight. And there should be an o-ring on each union to help provide a water tight seal.

What is this 'rubber belt' thing you speak of? I'm guessing it's something similar to a strap wrench. Can you post a pic?

Still waiting for you to post todays test results.......
 
messed up today. i was so busy and out of town for soccer tournament... then started checking into salt cell and distracted by grumpy husband upset about salt cell and I didn't check measurements until now. This is a typical thing that happens to me. Can't wait to get salt back up and running so i can have a little more slack. So, I went under FC but I'm hopeful it'll be ok.

measured 8pm:
FC=3
CC=0
pH-7.8 (I think)-hard to see well at night. i tried several lights in the house and put a white paper around it.
TA=130 from 4-28
CH=300 from 4-28
CYA=30 from 4-28-will check tomorrow
salt=2400 (estimate)/was 2000 on 4-27 before adding 40 lbs-will check tomorrow
temp-79
csi .19

added 1/2 gallon chlorine immediately.
added 20 oz acid with the attempt to get CSI to -.1
will recheck salt tomorrow

yes, I have the strap wrench (i looked it up to confirm it's the same thing) which I don't like at all since I always forget how to do it and I think the other thing we use is a plumbing wrench.

sorry, i didn't see that u previously told me the same thing Leslies told me about the O ring and hand tightening the salt cell. we already broke the union (?) once. it would've been nice for the pool company to tell us to not use a wrench or tighten too much or notice that it didn't have an O ring. we'll see how this goes as i sent an email earlier and they are coming this week with a new pressure gauge that was leaking. warranty on most things ends in June so if there r any other things anyone can think of that i might need to have checked out that'd be great. thx!

as far as the 0000 salt I can't find it saying that anymore no matter where I go on the panel. What is shows on when i go and look at it is:

chlorinator off
test salt level
check system-very low salt
check system light is on.

i think there was a piece of calcium stuck in it when i put in back on after cleaning with acid twice for a total of 40 min or so when i emptied the water. i tried to get it out with a knife but it wasn't reachable as I'd need a tool that is curved. also i was told here not to stick anything in there so i'm stuck with the calcium since i'm also not supposed to soak it too long (and i did add like 50% acid/50% water at one point but still can't get that piece off.

- - - Updated - - -

Dirk said:
My Pentair SWG reads zero salt (even with 3200ppm in the pool), when the flow rate is too low. Since it reads salt only once at startup, subsequent flow adjustments won't fix the zero-salt reading, I have to power it down then back up again to force it to retest salt at the adjusted flow rate.

I don't know the Hayward SWG at all, but could this be a flow issue and not a salt issue? I've skipped some posts of your thread, so forgive if this has been covered. I know you've been struggling with your SWG. How have you determined it's getting the amount of flow it needs to function properly?
Click to expand...

it does say there is flow. that's all i know about that. also, i have to go back and reread how to reset it each time since it's not self explanatory. i think i have to press the + sign when it's saying "check system." i'll go try that now
 
Slack off? Not if you want to maintain a santiary pool for your family to swim in.

For right now, you need to make time to test pH and FC on a DAILY basis until you get a handle on what your pool needs. Running the SWG will save needing to manually dose the chlorine - but you still need to test, adjust the output percentage on the SWG and possibly add bleach/chlorine to stay in your target range for FC as our weather heats up.... supposed to drop to mid 70's on Wednesday and up to 103 by Saturday. Seems the heat will be here by this coming weekend - and won't slack off until mid October.

You've been here for almost 3 years now... you need to decide if you want to continue doing it as in the past (you know how well that doesn't work in the long run) or doing it the way you already know works. Time wise, the second way actually SAVES time.

Break out that strap wrench tomorrow and figure out how it works. I have one too - and don't need to use it very often. I need to figure out how to use it each time... and it's by trial and error. :brickwall:
 
Forgive me if I missed this, but why haven't you brought your salt up to the recommended level? If your salt cell is struggling, that seems like a logical step. I know you're being cautious in not overdoing anything, draining isn't fun! But taking your salt to 3000 ppm is only logical. Most salt cells won't/can't work properly unless your salt level is in the sweet spot.

It could certainly be a flow issue, or age, but no one can tell unless you put the correct salt quantity in the pool.

And get some gaskets & o-rings. I actually don't let my husband near the pool fittings due to overdoing the tightening thing. My own weakling strength, plus pipe dope & silicone grease, seems to be perfect for getting a good seal - no tools needed.

Good luck!
 

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ok, I'm back. :) feeling much better! Here's what I ended up with when I tested today:
FC=3-oops (again. i know. i know).
CC=0
pH 8.2 (I know. I know. but still surprised it got so high by missing only 1 day! i'm going to have to retest later and see if it's getting to where i'm wanting it to)
TA=10
salt=2600 (only went up 200 after a 40 lb bag of salt 2 days ago?!)
CYA=50 (remeasured today and was a cloudy day)
CH=300 from 4-29
CSI=.61 (I know. I know).

pb also came out today and helped me to see that there are O rings on the salt cell but he is going to replace the O ring on the leaf canister since I was asking if there was anything that may be up for replacing soon after my warranty is out. He also replaced the O ring on the pressure valve on the DE filter where the other guy was going to replace the whole pressure valve. The pb tech also said my salt cell is bad. He said it shouldn't show 0000s like it was and he took it off and it's clear of calcium. That one piece I remembered must've came out with time. He also said to soak it for as long as i need to with 4:1 and he had to soak one for 4 hrs once and to use a wooden skishkobob stick. I don't think i'd let it sit 4 hrs. I'd be more apt to let it soak then spray with a hose and use a shisk ka bob stick in between.

Best news of the day, he put lubricant on the salt cell and I told him I wanted to put it on myself and with me hand tightening it it went on fine and didn't leak!! So, no wrench needed, maybe only to take it off but I should have a few mths or more before I need to do that if I could get more on the ball with keeping my pool in check.

So, pb is going to bring me a new salt cell tomorrow. I'm wondering if the cell isn't bad since the consensus here seems to be that it doesn't read anything until the numbers are high enough but if they want to give me a new cell I'm happy with that. So, I'll go to HD tonight and get one more bag and add it after I get my new cell.

I added another 1/2 gallon chlorine and I added 55 oz acid. If I would've added 62 oz to get pH to 7.5 CSI would've been -.08 and if I would've added 50 oz to get pH to 7.6 it would've been .01.

As for CYA, it seems i need to add 40 oz volume, right to get to 70, right?

one bag of salt should get me to 2800-3000.
 
Put the additional bag of salt in as soon as you get it. Don't wait for the new cell to be installed. You want the salt dissolved ASAP.

Can you double check the TA number you posted. No way your TA could be 10... maybe 100 or 110?

pH is rising quickly cause you TA is too high. It will come down a little each time you add acid. You can drop the pH to 7.2 to hasten the TA drop.

Yeah - I know you know.... keep on the FC and pH.....
:testkit::testresults::testkit::testresults:
 
proavia said:
Put the additional bag of salt in as soon as you get it. Don't wait for the new cell to be installed. You want the salt dissolved ASAP.

Can you double check the TA number you posted. No way your TA could be 10... maybe 100 or 110?

pH is rising quickly cause you TA is too high. It will come down a little each time you add acid. You can drop the pH to 7.2 to hasten the TA drop.

Yeah - I know you know.... keep on the FC and pH.....
:testkit::testresults::testkit::testresults:
Click to expand...

i meant TA 120 NOT 10. sorry, typo. it's taking a while to come down. i'll be going to HD tonight to get salt. I'm also going to get pool or plumer's lubricant for the salt cell. Any kind of plumber's lubricant ok? thx
 
You want silicone lubricant - try to find one WITHOUT teflon in it. Usually comes in a tube. I usually get mine at the PS since I'm there anyway getting liquid chlorine.

Use the pool lube on the cell o-rings and on the o-rings for the leaf canister, pump basket and filter.

Yeah - with my new fill, it's taking me a while to get my TA down too - but I'm not in a hurry... it will get there.
 
bought a bag of salt and lowes only had very small amounts of silicone so I'll get it at the pool store since i'm not in a rush. pb came and put in a new salt cell so that's great! :)
I wasn't able to see when he looked at the #s on the panel but said "yep, old cell was bad reading 0000s and new cell read 2400." He told me to leave it on 70% and watch it and turn it down as needed saying the higher it's turned up the less long the cell will hae to work. When he left i shut off the cell since I knew I prob need 1/2 bag-1 bag of salt before it'd work and I looked at the panel and it was still saying "chlorinator off. check system" and "check system. very low salt." Then I pressed the service button where I was able to gather more info. There I was able to find an actual #. It said "salt level 1200 PPM." That's strange that he said it read 2400 PPM initially and I was getting a reading of 2600 and now panel is saying 1200. I left it off and added 1/2 bag. i'll be able to remeasure in a few hrs after the salt has been in for at least 4 hrs.

current measures for today:

FC 4.5
CC 0
pH 7.8
TA=120 from 5-1
salt=2600 from 5-1 + added 20 lbs noon today
CH=300 from 4-28
CYA=50 from 5-1
CSI=.16
74 degrees

I am going to add 1/2 gallon chlorine and 22 oz to drop CSI to -.03 by dropping pH to 7.6.
-and add 20 oz stabilizer for now?

going sloooooow, I know.

- - - Updated - - -

proavia said:
You can drop the pH to 7.2 to hasten the TA drop.
Click to expand...

that's what I was doing and I thought you said to focus on CSI being closer to or just under 0 so that's what I've been doing. I could do either I suppose? It's taking a while but once the kids start swimming this weekend if it's gonna be 100 it should move along with the aeration. Maybe i'll check pH twice a day when I"m able. You'll believe that when u see it!:mrgreen::party:
 
Put in the rest of the bag of salt. It's not critical if you are a little high - which you won't be as 1 bag adds about 300 to your pool.

For CSI - I said between 0 and -0.30 .... -0.30 and -0.03 are two different numbers.... anywhere in the range of 0 to -0.30 is fine.

If you want to push TA down faster, lower pH to 7.2 and aerate. When it gets to 7.5 or 7.6, push it down to 7.2 again. Don't be concerned with a CSI out of the range I gave for the few days you will be pushing TA down by lowering the pH to 7.2.

MAKE the time to check pH twice daily... you need to help push the TA down.

Last I saw was CYA was 50. Use Pool Math to see how much stabilizer to attain CYA of 70 (raise by 20). Add that much stalilizer now and get it dissolving.

This drain/refill and startup has been dragging on long enough - let's get 'er done!!!
 
proavia said:
Put in the rest of the bag of salt. It's not critical if you are a little high - which you won't be as 1 bag adds about 300 to your pool.

For CSI - I said between 0 and -0.30 .... -0.30 and -0.03 are two different numbers.... anywhere in the range of 0 to -0.30 is fine.

If you want to push TA down faster, lower pH to 7.2 and aerate. When it gets to 7.5 or 7.6, push it down to 7.2 again. Don't be concerned with a CSI out of the range I gave for the few days you will be pushing TA down by lowering the pH to 7.2.

MAKE the time to check pH twice daily... you need to help push the TA down.

Last I saw was CYA was 50. Use Pool Math to see how much stabilizer to attain CYA of 70 (raise by 20). Add that much stalilizer now and get it dissolving.

This drain/refill and startup has been dragging on long enough - let's get 'er done!!!
Click to expand...

i added the other 1/2 bag of salt after retesting:

salt=2600 5 hrs after adding 1/2 bag salt
pH=7.8
CSI=.17
bringing pH to 7.2 would lower CSI to -.42
bringing it to 7.5 would bring it to -.03.
I'm confused because I thought you said you weren't in a hurry for your pool. Is it due to the probability I'll slack off? Other than pulling u all in the quicksand with me, is there a reason I should be in a hurry to lower TA as to drop pH to 7.2? I thought I was to keep it as close to 0 as possible? Either way no big deal. I can do either. Just want the best for the long run. For now I'll add acid to bring it down to 7.5.

Also adding 10 oz stabilizer for now
 

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