Is this FC too high for a saltwater pool?

[smallpooldad]

Have a Pool Pilot Total Digital SC60 set to power level 2, pH to 7.5, ORP is set to 700; but mostly stays at 650 between 11am to 3pm when the pump runs. GPM is 55. Pool size is 10,000 gals (32 x 9.5). Taylor readings except Borate and temp.

Love this unit, I wish I had gotten one 12 years ago but then again had no money.

FC 8
pH 7.5
Alk 100
Borate 50
Calcium 280
CyA 40
Salt 3000
Temp 88

Pool is crystal clear.

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Pool is covered with a clear bubble as trade winds (16 mph to 26 mph
) reduce the temperature considerably.

Eyes sting a little after 20 minutes. Only remove cover when I swim 7pm to 8pm. There seems to be no negative affects to plaster or stainless.

Is this FC too high for a saltwater pool? And is ORP or FC a better gauge of how well sanitized a pool is? Am I keeping the pool cover on too long every day; can it therefore have a negative effect?

[msjulian]

I have a Watermaid on my 33,500 IG pool and keep my FC 1.5 - 2 and shock to 10 - 12 with CYA @30. I am by no means an expert but 8 sound a bit high. I would have to say that the FC is causing the stinging as the PH is good. I normally keep my PH @ 7.2 and ALK @ 110. After 7 years of working with my pool I have found this to give me the best looking water and no algae issues.

[smallpooldad]

MSJulian,

Thank you for your response.

I have tested the water throughout the day so far and it remains at FC 5. So I must have made some error when taking the reading the other day.

As you stated it still might be too high, although I have read others responses that those with SWGs and FC at 5 have no such problems. It also might be that keeping the pool cover on for a long time causes the chloramines to get trapped in the water. In addition my pool cleaner works off my pump so I have to shut down the skimmer to 20% flow to get it to work, that to might be a problem. To many chloramines trapped under the blanket and not removing them at the surface. Darn now I might need an Aquabot. To think possibly I have been swimming in chloramine infested water, now I need to bathe myself in UltraBleach. In addition 88 F might also be contributing to the problem as chloramines escalate at higher temperatures. Now I need a darker skinned pool cover and finally a loan.

Please see these interesting discussions here:

http://www.alisonosinski.com/pooltips/53.htm


http://www.alisonosinski.com/pooltips/58.htm

So with these two ideas, yours and mine, I will conduct two tests; I will remove the pool cover and see if it helps to release the compounds to the air, if that does not work I will lower the power on the SWG to one and also reduce the ORP to 650. In Germany they want 750 (nearly impossible in an outdoor pool) but 700 is possible.

I will post the results as soon as I can. Your help was thought provoking and made me research further, thank you.

Finally as a word of caution to people with ORP controllers see here:

http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/chem_never.html

"If you use monopersulfate shock (Oxone based) on a pool with an ORP based controller, you can end up with NO chlorine in your pool, just monopersulfate. And monopersulfate is NOT a sanitizer."

[smallpooldad]

MSJulian,

Well thanks to you proding me to investigate further it was the chloramines. Actually I should have known this as every time I pulled the cover of I got the smell of chlorine just before I swam.

So now I will pull the cover off at least an hour before I swim and run the skimmer only. That seemed to do the trick last night, no more stinging eyes. The pool cleaner will automated run in the day time.

Fortunately the trades winds normally blow at around 16 mph to 26 mph as I live 1000 ft up on the side of a mountain and they roll over the top and down my side. Sadly these winds are not as frequent as they once were due to climate change as a central warm high often blocks them from south of the Hawaiian Islands as the La Nina now occurs more frequently and last longer. This has another bad effect Vog from Kilauea Volcano rolls back up the island chain and sits paralyzed by lack of wind making the weather look more like downtown LA in the Smog. But this is only 5 days or so each month.

Also as mentioned 88 F is a little too high, 82 F to 84 F is more than comfortable. Although my neigbour likes 92 F with their solar panel but they are in their mid-70s.

Thank you and Aloha.