When do I go back to normal pool operation? (In central Alabama)

[aumfc]

Got my pool end of April last year. Once the weather got cold, I switched to running the pumps overnight only to keep things from freezing.

Testing shows no chlorine but I'm guessing that's due to the water temp and the SWG not creating chlorine. The water has stayed is nice and clear.

The water temp today is ~50F. Air temp this week will be ~45-65F.

When do I need to start running the pumps as I did last season? What indicators, temperatures, calendar, etc., do I need to wait for?

Thanks!

 

[Lake Placid]

Start off by manually chlorinating with LC asap. You’re correct that your SWG isn’t producing due to low water temps, but even though the water is clear algae can start brewing at the water temps of 50. It won’t propagate more quickly until around 60 degrees water temp but don’t wait. You need to sanitize now.

As far as changing pump schedule your air temps look well above freezing for the extended forecast, excepting the 10th when there’s a low of 38. You should be fine but it’s a judgement call on your part based on the temps you anticipate week to week. What schedule were you running that you'd like to revert to? You could set the e-pump to run at a low speed 24-7 for a time to keep the water moving until such time as you’re no longer concerned with freezing. The cost should be minimal with the VSP. Most importantly get chlorine in the water or you’re rolling the dice on a swamp.

 

[aumfc]

Start off by manually chlorinating with LC asap. You’re correct that your SWG isn’t producing due to low water temps, but even though the water is clear algae can start brewing at the water temps of 50. It won’t propagate more quickly until around 60 degrees water temp but don’t wait. You need to sanitize now.

As far as changing pump schedule your air temps look well above freezing for the extended forecast, excepting the 10th when there’s a low of 38. You should be fine but it’s a judgement call on your part based on the temps you anticipate week to week. What schedule were you running that you'd like to revert to? You could set the e-pump to run at a low speed 24-7 for a time to keep the water moving until such time as you’re no longer concerned with freezing. The cost should be minimal with the VSP. Most importantly get chlorine in the water or you’re rolling the dice on a swamp.

Thanks! Any particular type of LC? And use Pool Math to calculate how much, correct? I assume I'm trying to get it back to normal swimming levels?

I ran the pumps from 6am to 10pm to keep the chlorine up. They are running on an opposite schedule now, from 10pm to 6am. I'd rather keep to the winter schedule as long as I can since it's more costly for me to run them when trying to produce chlorine. Curious at what temps I need to change over.

Thanks again.

 

[Lake Placid]

Any type of liquid chlorine is fine so long as it’s fresh and contains no additives (if using bleach). Consult the FC/CYA chart and use pool math to determine how much chlorine to add based on its strength % and your CYA level. Yes you’re wanting to keep it at normal ranges for your cya.

It looks like your SWG will start producing again when water temps are above 51 F. Until then keep adding LC. As an aside the mineral pack in your SWG adds copper and silver to the water, I’m not a big fan of that system because of that “feature”. For my customers that have them, if they agree there’s a trick I use that basically allows them to use the unit without the mineral pack installed, but that’s another story.

As far as reverting to your summer run schedule if electric rates are cheaper at night you could run that way during relatively cooler weather until such time as you see the SWG isn’t keeping up with demand during the day, then switch over. In the long run you could probably run overnight all the time, but you’d have to ensure you have a high enough bank of FC residual to carry you through the daytime demand. With a VSP however a lot of members here run at low speed 24/7 to produce chlorine with minimal impact on electric charges. It may be worth considering for you.

 

[aumfc]

Any type of liquid chlorine is fine so long as it’s fresh and contains no additives (if using bleach). Consult the FC/CYA chart and use pool math to determine how much chlorine to add based on its strength % and your CYA level. Yes you’re wanting to keep it at normal ranges for your cya.

It looks like your SWG will start producing again when water temps are above 51 F. Until then keep adding LC. As an aside the mineral pack in your SWG adds copper and silver to the water, I’m not a big fan of that system because of that “feature”. For my customers that have them, if they agree there’s a trick I use that basically allows them to use the unit without the mineral pack installed, but that’s another story.

As far as reverting to your summer run schedule if electric rates are cheaper at night you could run that way during relatively cooler weather until such time as you see the SWG isn’t keeping up with demand during the day, then switch over. In the long run you could probably run overnight all the time, but you’d have to ensure you have a high enough bank of FC residual to carry you through the daytime demand. With a VSP however a lot of members here run at low speed 24/7 to produce chlorine with minimal impact on electric charges. It may be worth considering for you.

Thanks. I heard about the mineral pack. I was planning to not replace it as it's been about a year. Will not replacing it be the same as running it without the pack?

 

[Mdragger88]

Thanks. I heard about the mineral pack. I was planning to not replace it as it's been about a year. Will not replacing it be the same as running it without the pack?

Yes that should be fine

Nature2 Fusion - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

When manually chlorinating be sure to follow the liquid chlorine chart - aim for high target or a scootch above.
After you get fc in target range you may want to do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to rule out anything brewing since you haven’t been chlorinating & fc has fallen to zero.
Easier to deal with a problem now (
SLAM Process)
than to wait until you see algae.

 

[Mdragger88]

@aumfc ,
I hate to be the one to tell you this since I am sure you shelled out a pretty penny for it.
But….
It looks like your cell is barely large enough to keep up with your pool volume even when run at 100% around the clock.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you will need to supplement with liquid chlorine in the heat of the summer to keep up with fc demand. Don’t hesitate to do so.
Its small size will also mean that your cell will have a shorter lifespan in people years. Likely reaching its finite lifespan of 8k hours @100% in 2-3 pool seasons. To stretch this out you could supplement with liquid chlorine regularly so you don’t have to run it on full til. Ideally you need a 60/65k gallon rated system for your pool size.
Using a boost of liquid chlorine every now & then & protecting as much fc as possible by keeping cya in the 80’s is all you can do about it now until it’s time to replace & possibly upgrade. Even an undersized swcg is better than no swcg at all though! I got by for years with undersized ones but it does take some monitoring. We recommend you do that anyway though as nothing with a pool is set it & forget it.