SWG and Ph balance

[kjsmom]

Hi Michael --
It's not a "problem", I'm just trying to simplify my life! My, shall we say, "issues" are:

1) I have a new Pacific Pools liner; Pacific says to maintain FC at 1-3ppm. The old liner was temporarily patched last fall - 2 years old - and I was amazed at how much darker the patch was than the rest of the liner. Soooo, to help preserve the color of the new liner, I'd like to maintain the lowest FC possible, without compromising sanitation.

2) Aquarite recommends a FC level of 1-3ppm as "ideal".

3) My drop test kit shows a FC level of 1.0 as "ideal".

3) The first year we had the pool & the Aquarite, I actually did maintain FC at 1-3ppm and my pH was always perfect & I had no other problems. That may well have been dumb luck. The only thing I did differently last year was maintain higher FC levels because I was worried my water was not sanitary; my pH went up and I had to start adding stuff to bring it down.

If soda ash (sodium hydroxide) raises pH, and is a by-product of CL, then it would make sense that maintaining the lowest safe CL level would minimize the soda ash and thus the pH?? I guess the bottom line is, why is the higher CL level recommended here?

I appreciate your comments.
PAT

PAT

[mwsmith2]

The higher Cl level has been developed from heuristic methods by Ben. It's what "works" out in the field. Cl has been scientifically proven to be less effective at higher CYA levels. My other reason for keeping a higher that 1 Cl level is that it gives you some sanitation "reserve" in certain circumstances. I'd prefer to keep it at 3 and give myself some wiggle room, than to be bumping along the lower limit at 1.

However!

If it ain't broke, by all means, don't fix it!

Michael

[kjsmom]

Thanks Sean, You are the sales rep I remember from the old forum -- sorry I got your company mixed up.

I think I'll try actually adhering to Aquarite's recommendations this year and see what happens!
PAT

[waterbear]

Thanks Michael --
Needing to keep the pH down is just the trouble I'm talking about. So, if I maintained lower FC levels, the cell would produce less chlorine, and thus less "caustic", and the pH drifting up would be minimized???

Has anyone followed Aquarite's recommendation of 80 CYA and FC of 1-3ppm? I'd sure like to hear how that has worked out! I thought there used to be an Aquarite sales rep on the forum. Might he still be around?

Thanks again.

PAT

I have the Aqualogic ps-8 (same salt cell as aquarite) and I keep my CYA at around 80 (it's a bit low right now at 55 but I am gonna wait until it goes close to 40 OR my builder fixes the leak in my skimmer before I bring it back up) and I keep my FC in my pool at 3 ppm and in my spa at about 4-5 ppm and I have had no problems so far.
Also, I wonder if the fact that the water in the cell is constantly being 'shocked' when the cell is operating vs. manually adding chlorine and shocking might cause a difference in how the pool reacts to the CYA and FC levels. That would be an intersting piece of research!

[kjsmom]

Also, I wonder if the fact that the water in the cell is constantly being 'shocked' when the cell is operating vs. manually adding chlorine and shocking might cause a difference in how the pool reacts to the CYA and FC levels. That would be an intersting piece of research!

I agree; there was talk on the "old" forum about the steadier flow of cl keeping the water chemistry more stable. Thanks.
PAT

[mwsmith2]

Also, I wonder if the fact that the water in the cell is constantly being 'shocked' when the cell is operating vs. manually adding chlorine and shocking might cause a difference in how the pool reacts to the CYA and FC levels. That would be an intersting piece of research!

Already been done. The answer is yes. Prior to installing my SWC, I used bleach and always had about 0.5 CC. After installing the SWC, my CC dropped to 0 and has been there ever since. Sean has also mentioned in the past that the concentration of Cl is high enough that it does act like a continual "shocking" process. I can definitely confirm the results, as I have not had to shock the pool since I installed the SWC.

Michael