Some numbers .. Hardness ?

[chem geek]

Your numbers are near perfect (LSI is 0.01 and my improved CSI is -0.11) and for calcium (CH) and carbonate (TA adjusted with CYA) water balance you get a lot of leeway before you run into trouble (some cloudiness has been reported at CSI of +0.75 so that gives you an idea of how far out of balance you have to get to start seeing any problems).

It is interesting that with your SWG system you are reporting a CC=TC-FC=0.6 since nearly everyone that has an SWG system reports CC=0 all the time. If you trust your test kit, you might want to try shocking your pool with extra liquid chlorine (or bleach), but it's hard to prioritize that against women and beer. You could probably just wait to see if your SWG gets the CC down to 0 (TC=FC) naturally.

Richard

P.S.
If you click on the "Edit" button and then click on "Go Advanced", then you can edit the title as I did in this post.

[Phillbo]

Should I try to do anything about the hardness?

[chem geek]

Sorry, when I said that your water balance was near perfect, that means that your hardness (CH) is fine and you can leave it where it is. Also, I wouldn't worry about the alkalinity (TA) either. If you find that you have an upward pH drift over time and need to add acid regularly, then you can consider lowering your TA; otherwise, leave things as they are.

Richard

[mbar]

When you have a SWG, do you not have to keep the minimum chlorine the same as when you don't? The chlorine level of 3.6 is not high enough with a cya of 65 - 76. The minimum should be 5, max 10 and shock 20. THis could be why there is cc of .6

[chem geek]

Marie,

Well, this is a topic of hot debate as parts of this thread shows. Though the thread was mostly concerning the issue of why a higher CYA level is required for an SWCG system, the answers to that question also relate to why a lower chlorine level may be OK in such a system. Most people find that their CC remains at 0 in an SWCG system and I took a poll recently that showed that this is almost true with manual chlorination though some shocking (1-3 times per season) is typical. At least one user with SWCG reported having algae if not following Ben's table, but most found no problem using a lower amount.

So the jury is still out on this one though I'm leaning towards the belief that the continual shocking of a subset of the water plus fairly even continual chlorine dosing allows one to run at lower FC in an SWCG system.

Richard

[Phillbo]

Maybe I should play with the setting a little to see how much higher I have to set it to increase the chlorine to 5. It's a new system and I have been running it for 8 hours a day (overnight ) at about 30%.

I bought a much bigger cell than needed for my pool so I could run a lower setting . Is there a chart available that shows the increase achieved bases on extended run time or higher cell output ? I'll take a look at the manual when i get home but don't remember seeing anything.

[mbar]

Thanks Richard, I guess that's one good reason for looking at the water clarity. If your water doesn't have any problems, then the lower level is fine, on the other hand if the water isn't clear, then it might be better to raise the chlorine level to see if clears up, even if there is no cc.