Question about the salt test in the PS234s

[Tcap]

Hi,

This is our first real year with the pool. It was finished in Sept. '05 so we only had a couple of weeks before we closed for the season. This is our first pool ever and I am very commited to the BBB system. I really appreciate all the help this forum has given me already!!!

Pool is a 20x40 IG liner 3' to 8' approx: 33,000 gal with a DE filter and SWG. Here are the numbers:

FC: 9 - it's been raining here forever so I added extra yesterday to compensate for anything the rain may pull in. I will let that start to come down
CC: .5
TC: 9.5
PH: 7.5
Alk: 100
Cal: 170 - I have a heater so I need calcium.
CYA: 35
Salt: 6200 PS234s \ 4000 Aqualogic this AM
Temp: 55

OK, the salt is the problem. But I think I must be doing something wrong. I have an Aqualogic \ Aquarite system. The cell says 4000 for the salt reading. When everything was installed last year, the "pool school" the installer was supposed to give us was woefully lacking to say the least. Not sure he understood the SWG. I was not here when they opened this spring so I could not ask questions - how annoying! Anyway, I didn't realize that you had to have the chlorinator set to a % to read the salt level. I had it set to 0 because I was shocking the pool with bleach. The readout kept telling me salt was low. I added salt and it still kept telling me salt was low. I added more salt. Then I figured it out. I set the cl % to 50 and it told me the salt was 5500. I drained and refilled some and it went down to 3900. It has slowly crept back up to 4000 or so on the panel. Before I drained again, I wanted to test the numbers with Ben's kit. Did that this morning and my salt number came out to be 6200. I did the test twice and it came out right around the same. Interesting enough, with all the rain we have gotten, the number on the Aqualogic readout has gone from 3900 to 4000 - 4200. I thought rain would delute the salt. I have had to drain out about 3 inches with all the rain this week. I had expected the number to go down. I did take apart the cell and everything looked great. No scalling, not deposits, nothing. The cell was only used in Sept. for 3 weeks and a couple of weeks this year since we opened. I know it's making cl because I my number is at 9 and have not added any bleach in a while. I was going to see if I could find a pool store that does a salt test - just to have a third opinion on the matter. I'm tempted to just drain off some water now, let the rain fill some up and then fill the rest later. Any thoughts? Anything I'm missing? Is the pool temp. affecting the numbers? Why such a big different between the kit's number and the Aqualogic's #?

Sorry for such a long post. Just trying to get a handle on all of this.

Thanks for all your help!
Tracy

[PatL34]

The salt test from the PS234 has to be the one you use to calibrate the Aqualogic's setting. Once you drain down and refill, check with the PS234 again, and if you have less than 4000 ppm, set the Aqualogic to the salt test value you got.

The Aqualogic is set to a default reading until checked against a salt test, and then you adjust the Aqualogic accordingly.

Hope this helps.

Pat

[Tcap]

The salt test from the PS234 has to be the one you use to calibrate the Aqualogic's setting. Once you drain down and refill, check with the PS234 again, and if you have less than 4000 ppm, set the Aqualogic to the salt test value you got.

The Aqualogic is set to a default reading until checked against a salt test, and then you adjust the Aqualogic accordingly.

Hope this helps.

Pat

Hi Pat,

Thanks for the response. How do I set the Aqualogic to the salt test value? None of my manuals have anything on how to do that. I checked on-line to see if those manuals did - maybe an updated version or something and they don't mention it either. It did read higher at one point and came down after the initial drain so I think it is reading. Before we added salt last Sept. it did read that it had low salt and then was in range for the couple of weeks we had it open in Sept.

Thanks,
Tracy

[PatL34]

Tracy,

I checked the Aqualog/Aquarite manual, and yes there does not seem to be a way to calibrate the salt sensor against the salt test, as you have on the Autopilot.

Okay. Check the salt level as I mentioned previously, and see how it matches the value from the Aquarite. It is possible that the figures may well not agree, as the salt sensor has to catch up with the actual salt level as measured from the test kit. The manual says you may have to wait 24 hours before you might get some agreement.

Please be patient here, as these instruments work at their speed only!!

BTW, I hope you are using Muriatic acid to lower pH as pH Down might interfere with the salt sensor reading. Just a thought.

Hope this helps.

Pat

[Tcap]

Hi,

I have not added any salt in a couple of weeks and it's been over a week since I dropped it the first time. The filter runs everyday for at least 8 hours. Enough to turn the water over at least once. I would hope that week would be enough time for the system to catch up. I think I may just try to find a pool store that tests salt and see where that comes in. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong with the test in the PS234 kit.

I am not using anything to drop the PH right now. 7.5 seems to be in the middle of the 7.2 and 7.8 range so I thought that was pretty good. Is there a reason you think 7.5 is high? I have seen other threads where they thought 7.5 was good.

Thanks for your help!
Tracy

[PatL34]

7.5 pH is quite alright. Once it gets up to 7.6, I would start thinking of adding no more than a pint of Muriatic acid, and test after about 6 hours circulation.

Once you get your salt level checked without using a conductivity meter that pool stores like to use, you can get an idea of what to do. I would still trust the PS234 salt over a pool supplier test any day. The instructions are fairly straightforward.

Hope this helps.

Pat