Unexplained High Salt Levels

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hezzer78

Active member
Nov 14, 2020
28
SE Texas
Hello everyone! New here and a new pool owner. We just bought our home about 2 weeks ago and it came with a lovely salt water pool.

I'm learning as I go with regards to the maintenance and chemicals required to balance it. We have a Hayward AquaRite system. When we first moved in 2 weeks ago, our meter said it was at 3200 ppm of salt. After getting our water tested, it had really high levels of free chlorine and high pH. Since the levels of chlorine were so high, I turned down the salt generator from 60% to 30%. We got the pH under control and the chlorine, but then my salt meter said it was at 3500 ppm - even though the test at the store said it was 3100ppm. I turned the whole generator off for a few days (I didn't know what I was doing and stupidly thought it would help the salt levels go down but I know now that's not going to help that), and got my water tested again today and the salt is at 3800ppm (the generator still says 3500 ppm). So on 11/7, according to the store my salt was at 3100 ppm, and today on 11/14 the store says it's 3800 ppm.

I guess my question is - why would my salt level keep going up if I didn't actually add any salt to my pool? The weather is warm, but not enough to lose a ton of water to evaporation. Did I mess something up by turning off the chlorine generator? (FWIW, the chlorine is high again my sample today - so IDK how that would happen if it's been off completely for a few days?).

Should I chalk this up to a potentially bad water sample and just try again tomorrow? The pool store is telling me I need to rent a pump and drain some of the water out, but I'd rather fix whatever caused this to happen in the first place. I don't want to drain the pool and refill it and then this keep happening.

Thanks in advance!
-Heather
 
Welcome to TFP.

First of all salt measurements are only accurate within +/- 200 ppm at best. As long as your SWG is happy your salt level can be anywhere between 2800 and 3800 and be fine.

We find pool store testing is not very accurate and repeatable. You should have your own pool test kits for your general water chemistry and for salt. Before you do anything get your own K-1766 Taylor Salt Test and do your own test. Also consider getting the TF-100 Test Kits. Read Pool Test Kits - Further Reading

While your Aquarite will operate with salt levels up to 4,000 it is better for the life of the control board to keep your salt around 3000. Aquarites have a history of burning up components and the board due to higher amps which higher salt levels require. Read Hayward Aquarite SWG - Further Reading

I would not drain any water. Over the winter your salt level is likely to drop from rains and overflows. You are likely at the high end of the normal salt level range. Just let it drop over time and don't add salt until it falls below 3,000.

It sounds like you are doing the right things. Needing to turn down the SWG as the sun angle deceases and water gets colder and turning the SWG up in the Spring is normal.

Have you checked out our Pool School - Pool School - Trouble Free Pool Lots of good information here and likely better then what you will get at Pool Stores.
 
Heather,

There is no way for you to know if your chlorine (FC) is high, or not, unless you know your CYA level.. See the saltwater section of this chart... FC/CYA Levels It shows the correct FC based upon your current CYA level.

The salt levels reported by the cell are almost "just a guess" and are effected by the water temperature.

As Allen has pointed out, you should take a good read through our Pool School and see what the TFP Pool Care process is all about.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
As water evaporates, salt does not, so salt levels will go up. Of course rain and runoff does not have salt so that will lower it.

As Jim said, results will vary wildly between equipment and various tests.
 
ajw22 said:
Welcome to TFP.

First of all salt measurements are only accurate within +/- 200 ppm at best. As long as your SWG is happy your salt level can be anywhere between 2800 and 3800 and be fine.

We find pool store testing is not very accurate and repeatable. You should have your own pool test kits for your general water chemistry and for salt. Before you do anything get your own K-1766 Taylor Salt Test and do your own test. Also consider getting the TF-100 Test Kits. Read Pool Test Kits - Further Reading

While your Aquarite will operate with salt levels up to 4,000 it is better for the life of the control board to keep your salt around 3000. Aquarites have a history of burning up components and the board due to higher amps which higher salt levels require. Read Hayward Aquarite SWG - Further Reading

I would not drain any water. Over the winter your salt level is likely to drop from rains and overflows. You are likely at the high end of the normal salt level range. Just let it drop over time and don't add salt until it falls below 3,000.

It sounds like you are doing the right things. Needing to turn down the SWG as the sun angle deceases and water gets colder and turning the SWG up in the Spring is normal.

Have you checked out our Pool School - Pool School - Trouble Free Pool Lots of good information here and likely better then what you will get at Pool Stores.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I will purchase those test kits today. I kept my SWG at 30% and will monitor it to make sure nothing is going wonky.
 
Jimrahbe said:
Heather,

There is no way for you to know if your chlorine (FC) is high, or not, unless you know your CYA level.. See the saltwater section of this chart... FC/CYA Levels It shows the correct FC based upon your current CYA level.

The salt levels reported by the cell are almost "just a guess" and are effected by the water temperature.

As Allen has pointed out, you should take a good read through our Pool School and see what the TFP Pool Care process is all about.

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...

Jim,

Thank you! According to the pool store, my latest CYA was 50 - which they say is fine, but my FAC is 5.3ppm - which they say is high. I checked out the chart you linked, but 50 wasn't listed on the SWG section. So I checked out the more detailed CYA chart by Chem geek - but I'm not sure if that's SWG based or not?

I will continue reading through the pool school articles - thank you!
 
We recommend a higher CYA when using a SWCG. But during winter, you can have a lower CYA if you like. Target your FC at 7.5% of CYA. For 50 ppm CYA, you would target a 4 ppm FC.
 
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So I purchased the test kits and did my first testing this weekend.
The kit says my salt is at 3000, but my meter says it’s at 3700 - does this mean my sensor could be bad?
Also, I had been running my generator at 30%, but my Fc was 13.5 😕 with a cya of 60.

I turned my chlorine generator completely off and will test it again in a few days.
Is that common to make that much chlorine when the generator is turned down so low? Do these things need to be calibrated from time to time?
TIA
 
78,

You are the cell's brain.. It needs you to test and then tell it how much FC to make. The cell itself has no idea what the FC level is... It just makes chlorine.

This time a year, pools do not use near as much chlorine as they do in the summer.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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hezzer78 said:
So I purchased the test kits and did my first testing this weekend.
The kit says my salt is at 3000, but my meter says it’s at 3700 - does this mean my sensor could be bad?
Also, I had been running my generator at 30%, but my Fc was 13.5 😕 with a cya of 60.

I turned my chlorine generator completely off and will test it again in a few days.
Is that common to make that much chlorine when the generator is turned down so low? Do these things need to be calibrated from time to time?
TIA
Click to expand...

10k gallons is very small for an IC60. I have almost 30,000 gallons and with ~8 hours pump time, I only need 10-15% to maintain 5ppm with a similar CYA. In the Summer, it's a different story.

I suggest getting the Pool Math app, setting 10,000 gallons, selecting IC60, inputting pump run time and target maybe 0.5ppm per day. If your FC is 13.5, I'd honestly not run the chlorinator at all until you fall below your target, then start playing around with the settings.
 

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