Re: Looking for Circupool Review

Originally Posted by
badabing
Thanks Ben for a prompt response that conforts me to know that there won't be any imminet danger to the swimmer.
I have young children that swim very frequently along their firends.
I further lowered the dial to 10% and reduced the pump operation by another hour
I could easily tell when the chlorine is generated as the water becomes cloudy (milky)
That is most likely hydrogen bubbles being formed n the cell. This increases aeration of the water and can cause pH rise due to outgassing of CO2.
Special where the sun shines.
Has this been ever reported that during cholrine generation the water becoming cloudy?
If I observe closely the return jets, I could see whitish return stream.
Hydrogen bubbles are formed in the cell as chlorine is generated. This is normal. This is also what tends to cause pH to rise which is why you want to keep your TA at about 70 ppm and not higher. This is also why you want the CYA at maximim (80 ppm) so cell on time is minimized so there is less aeration from these bubbles. This is also why 50 ppm borate is useful in a salt pool to provide a secondary pH buffer that effectively keeps the pH at 7.7 to 7.8. This is also why you don't want to drop the pH below 7.6 and wait for it to climb above 7.8 before lowering it to about 7.6 again, particularly if not using borate.
I wonder if 40K Gallon SWG is too much for a 10K Gallon pool.
I have a Hayward 40k cell on a 65k pool and a 300 gal spa. My pool runs at 5% with a 9 hour pump run time on low speed and my spa runs at 4$ with a 45 minute run tine every day if I am not using it. It is NOT a problem at all. Stop worrying and enjoy your pool. Your advantate to running like this will be longer cell life and better pH stability because of less cell on time.
It's too bad that the cholorine generation power is time sliced instead of power.
Why? This is how they all operate and it works very well indeed, particularly when you understand how the unit affects water chemistry such as my reference above to outgassing of CO2.
Anyone has an idea how long each cycle is?
1hr?
2hrs?
Simply said (for a 25% setting example) does the AQR generate 15 minutes of choline and then sleep for 45 minutes?
or does it generate 30 minutes of chlorine and then sleep for 90 minutes?
Hayward uses a 100 minute cycle if I remember correctly so at 25% it is on for 25 minutes of every 100 minutes. It really is not something that you have to worry about. Just set the output percentage to maintain a FC level that is, at minimum 5% of your CYA (so for the recommended CYA of 80 ppm your minimum FC should be 4 ppm. I keep mine at 4-5 ppm and have not had any problems for years in a pool open year round.) IF you are worried aobut the chlorine level coming out of the return collect some water from teh return and test it. Then test some water a few inches away from the return. You will find that it is not as high as you are iimagining it is. Relax.
I'd prefer shorter cycles (not that it can be changed) to minimize the concentrated injection effect.
You are worrying about nothing. You were wondering above if the 40k cell was too big for a 10 k pool. If you had a smaller cell it would be on MORE and not less so you really have the best configuration on your pool to miniize the effect you are needlessly worrying about.
If you had an inline chlorinator, a bleach dosing pump. or any other kind of feed system you would have a similar effect The chlorine mixes very fast and it really is a non issue. Remember, the unit is only working when the pump is on. I have a two speed pump and run mine on low (when I had a one speed pump I ran it on high at abut 15% for 4 hours. Realize that if you have the recommended 80 ppm CYA in the water then most of the chlorine is chemically bound to the CYA as it is formed in the cell.
one other thing i noticed, the Average salt measurement hasn't changed at all, even after resetting / recalibrating
It was stuck at 2800, I reset it to 2900 during a peak, and now it is stuck at 2900 even though the instant salt reading is around 2700 (which is only displayed when the unit is actually generating cholrine)
Average salt is the salt over the time the unit is on. Instant salt is the salt level being measured at the moment and can change as the unit runs since it is reallly a measure of conductivity which can be affected by such things as water temperature which can change during the course of a day. They are often not the same. You want to go by the average salt reading.
I know 2700 is low end of the chart and I should got up to 3200 PPM (recommende, but I'm a bit reluctant, as this will cause higher concentration of chroline generation (I can't beleive I'm worring for this instead of extending the life of the CELL)
Higher salt will not cause more chlorine to generate. The cell will make the same amount throughout its operating range. It will just require more current flow which shortens cell life at lower salt levels. This is why the cell shuts off at low salt since the amount of current needed would cause damage. Get the salt up to 3200 ppm and keep it there.
Thanks
You are worrying about non issues instead of worrying about REAL issues with a salt pool which are:
1) pH control (which is best accomplished by: minimizing cell on time, keeping CYA at max, keeping TA low--70 ppm is good-- and adjusting CH if needed for plaster surfaces to keep water balanced, not dropping pH too low since the lower you put it the faster it rises--particularly when there is a source of aeration which you have seen your cell provides, adding borate to the water)
2) maximizing cell life (those suckers are EXPENSIVE to replace and they will eventually need to be replaced!) by oversizing the cell (which you have done), minimizing cell on time (see #1), keeping pH from going too high and thereby minimize scale formation in the cell (see #1), making sure salt is not at low end of recommended level nor too high (both are bad for the cell and neither has any effect on the amount of chlorine generated until they go too high or low and cause the unit to shut down to protect the cell)
3) preventing salt damage (common sense here. Hose things off every so often where the water splashes and dries and make sure that the equipment in your pool if ok fo ruse in a salt pool. Seal any natural rock every few years.)
Last edited by waterbear; 05-29-2012 at 01:38 PM.
Retired pool store and commercial pool maintenance guy.
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