Salt water generator

[kmac1196]

Hi. New here. Not new to pools. I have had this particular above ground pool (Namco 21 x 52 sand filter) for 6 years with no problems. I exclusively use liquid shock. I've never had green, slime, cloud or any other problems. Vaccuum every day filter runs for 12 hours. Ph is always a bit low (kids use goggles) but it keeps my FC good. I shock to 10 every week. So....here's the questions...I just switched to intex krystal clear saltwater generator. Put in the minimum salt level ran for 24 hours without generator on and then switched it on. Ran boost cycle. Checked salt level (said 2972) and FC (said none) and copper (said none). What do I do? Add more salt? The generator isn't saying low salt. I wanted to switch to make it a little easier for me but this isn't easier. Thanks in advance?

Kristen

[aylad]

Hi kmac,

If it says your salt level is okay, then the first two things I would do are: 1)test the water for FC right where it's coming out of the unit (there should be SOME chlorine in that), and 2) turn off the SWCG, Add enough bleach (liquid shock) to get your pool to a known level of chlorine at night, test it for chlorine after sundown, and then test it again in the morning before the sun hits the pool. If you've lost more than 1 ppm of chlorine in that time, then your chlorine is being used up too quickly fighting something in the water and you need to shock it.

What is the CYA level in your pool, and have you checked the manual for this new unit to see what level it requires?

Welcome to the forum!!

[kmac1196]

Thanks. I did liquid shock it last night to get the levels up today. Did test before that at the outlet valve (no reading). Pool isn't fighting anything. No CYA yet (hate the product actually) because I want to make sure it's producing. Covering at night. Tested at night too. It's not producing.

[Watermom]

I can't help with your question about the SWCG, but wanted to ask what your pH level is. (You said in your initial post that it was low.) Too low of a pH reading can damage your pool and equipment.

A few questions for you:
What kind of kit are you using? The volume of your pool is around 10,000 gallons. How much liquid chlorine did you add? What is the concentration of the sodium hypochlorite in it?

Why do you hate CYA? Without CYA, it is not possible to keep chlorine in an outdoor pool. With a SWCG, the suggested CYA level is usually around 80ppm although it varies a little from model to model. What level does your manual recommend?

[kmac1196]

Ph is 6.9 I was waiting to adjust based on salt ( I've heard it raises it). I know it can damage equipment but it's not that low. More discomfort for eyes low. Pool is about 11000 (and change). Not sure about concentration but liquid shock. I always shock to 10 PPM and then let it come down to 4 weekly. I hate CYA because you can't get rid of it. Every other chemical you can adjust. CYA you have to drain the pool a little at a time and refill to get rid of it. I was planning on starting it once I saw some chlorine from the swcg. I've never used it in the past. I just throw some liquid shock in at the end of every night to keep it at 4 then shock to 10 once a week. I check the free chlorine twice a day. Never any algae problem or any cloudiness...always perfect. So, in lieu of chemical help...still wondering about why the generator would not be producing chlorine or copper. It's brand new.

[waterbear]

A few things...salt does not raise pH so I don't know where you got that bit of misinformation. The main cause of pH rise in salt pool (or any pool for that matter) is from outgassing of CO2 and the rate of that is proportional to how high or low your TA is. I suspect your TA is low but you did not post any numbers.

As far as CYA, it is not the only chemical you 'can't get rid of'. Calcium is another and then there is the copper you are going to put into the water with your Intex SWCG. Copper is what turns hair green.
As far as CYA goes, it is only a problem with you continuously use triclor or dichlor, which are both chemicals made from CYA and chlorine. When the chlorine is used up the cya stays. Since you said you only use liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite), which does not contain CYA the proper way to use it is to add the desired amount of CYA (normally 30-50 ppm) so you do not lose most of the chlorine in about 30 minutes (which is about how long it takes in an unstabilized pool in the sun). Since you are not adding any more CYA there is no problem. CYA is a necessary chemical in an outdoor pool and chlorine is much more aggressive in an unstabilized pool so that is probably the source of the eye irritation even more so than the low pH. I am not sure where you got your misinformation from but most of the things you said are wrong. In an unstabilized pool 4 ppm FC is WAY TOO HIGH. (I assume you are talking about FC and not Total Chlorine since you have not specified your testing method.)

How are you testing your water, btw? Strips or test kit and what brand and model? If you are going to run a salt pool (or really any pool) you need to know more than just chlorine and pH (and you need to know if the chlorine is Free chlorine or combined chlorine). You also need to know your TA and CYA (since you will lose a little as the swim season goes on because of splashout), salt (something else that never goes away but you will also lose some from splashout), and calcium hardness (vinyl pools don't need ADDITIONAL calcium if it is low but you need to know if it is high so you can adjust other water parameters to prevent scale deposits, particularly in the salt cell).

If you could post a full set of test results and how you obtained them, and also what other chemicals beside liquid chlorine and salt you have put in the water (such as metal or stain and scale control products or clarifiers) it would be most useful in determining why you are not getting any chlorine or copper showing up on your test readings. I would also suggest getting at least 30 ppm CYA in as the intex manual says and bumping up the salt a bit to see if that lets you generate chlorine (It is usually better to keep the salt a bit ABOVE the minimuim--realize that salt tests are not accurate as you posted, they are accurate to about 200 ppm in most cases and sometimes less precise than that. It is entirely possible that your salt reading of "2972" is actually lower than this by a wide margin.)

First step is to rule out water balance issues, which can cause a SWCG not to generate. You might also want to verify that the flow sensor is not stuck or damaged.

[kmac1196]

Thank you for the information. Put the other bag of salt in and produced chlorine. Very happy that it's working. I have every intention of putting in the stabilizer now. My ph did raise a bit (not sure why, I guess). I use test strips but I will take a sample to the pool store to make sure it's accurate and adjust accordingly.

[PoolDoc]

membership upgraded. -ben

[waterbear]

Thank you for the information. Put the other bag of salt in and produced chlorine. Very happy that it's working. I have every intention of putting in the stabilizer now. My ph did raise a bit (not sure why, I guess). I use test strips but I will take a sample to the pool store to make sure it's accurate and adjust accordingly.

The reson the ph went up is because when the cell is working it aerates the water and that causes CO2 to outgas and THAT is the main cause of pH rise in ANY pool. What is your Total Alkalinity? (NOT adjusted total alkalinity and not done with strips. They do not have the resolution (precision) needed to adjust TA!) High TA will cause pH to rise faster than low TA.

FWIW, Pool store testing is often not that accurate and is geared to sell you as many chemicals as they can. Best investment you can make would be in a good test kit. Also, you might want to consider disconnecting the copper electrode so you don't put copper in your water.