help newbie with SWG in winter

[szcakes]

Sharon,


When mine shuts off, I usually don't bother adding chlorine since algae has never been a problem for me below 50 degrees. Your situation may be different but I suspect that you will not need much chlorine if any at all for temps below 55.

Ok, so just to clarify; you let your pool go with zero chlorine over the winter with no problems? do you keep Ph and Ca etc in balance during winter months?

thank you for replying!

[chem geek]

Just ignore my question about the chlorine being too high and not showing up on the test. That's probably not happening if the pool guy was doing the test. I was just concerned if you 1) added more chlorine than you thought you did and 2) bleached out the test you made. Since that's not what happened, ignore my question.

I don't think you need to run your heater to see if the SWG goes back on. The shutting down of the SWG at colder temps is normal (as Mark said above).

As for what to do in the winter, you have essentially two choices. You can add bleach, probably not more than a large dose once a week since it SHOULD last that long during the winter (with a cover it would last MUCH longer). Or you can not add any chlorine and risk opening your pool next season to algae -- which is just a risk and not a certainty. There are pictures of algae under ice somewhere on this forum so cold temps do not guarantee that algae will not grow, but it is far less likely (usually algae doesn't grow below 50 though some users reported small growth in the 40's). If you get algae, then you'll need to kill it at the start of the season as seen in this post which shows opening in the spring with algae and using bleach alone to kill the algae in less than a week. With added chlorine bleach AND an SWG running 24/7 (when killing the algae), it should get killed faster, possibly in half the time or less. Oh yes, there's a third alternative and that would be to not add bleach regularly, but just add a large dose of PolyQuat 60 algicide which will help to inhibit algae growth. It might not last the winter, but would certainly help.

As far as thinking that an SWG means you don't have to do any maintenance, that simply is not true. You still need to check your pool water chemistry. During summer use, the chlorine demand changes throughout the year based on bather load and sunlight so you have to test chlorine and adjust your SWG output accordingly. Once your SWG is set so that the chlorine level is relatively stable, you won't have to check it as often, but you still have to check it at least weekly. You probably have to check your water more frequently than that because the pH will rise and you'll need to add acid to compensate and that may be more than once a week. Your pool sides and surfaces still need brushing, either manually or by a pool sweep that climbs walls (well, LIGHT brushing for your vinyl liner and I'm not sure automated pool sweeps do that well with vinyl). Maintenance simply does not go away with an SWG -- only the regular daily or every other day addition of chlorine goes away, that's all (though that's a lot!). During the winter things are easier and yes, you probably don't need to adjust most chemistry parameters, but if your SWG comes back on for some reason, you'll need to check chlorine and pH, at least.

My own pool (with no SWG) has a cover on it and I only have to add chlorine about once a month during the winter and could even just dump more chlorine in and go two months without checking if I had to. All other water chemistry parameters (pH, TA, CH, CYA) are rock solid and do not change at all over time (except CYA might drop -- I'm checking on that this winter). My water temps are between 45 and 50. That's why I was surprised that your chlorine didn't last just a few days after "shocking" which implies a high chlorine level when you shocked. That is VERY unusual in the winter time, even without a cover.

Richard

[szcakes]

Thanks Richard!

I understand and appreciate that I have to continue to monitor my chemistires on a continoous basis even though I have a SWG. ( and have been doing so). When I was complaining about the SWG not producing in the winter; I was basically whining about the need to have to manually add chlorine, not all the testing and other stuff. I guess I got spoiled all last summer by not having too add much more then salt and acid a few times, LOL. I have tested regularly since I moved in, including all winter long. It was just this week that I learned that SWG shuts off in cold water. Which in reality, is a relief to know.

Thanks to you, and all the replies to this post; I have a better understanding of what I need to do now. I do not want to close the pool and have to face alage in the summer.I will continue to test every few days, and add chlorine/bleach as the tests show I need it, as well as the other chemistries like Ph, Cya etc.....

I am still perplexed as to why my shock is going away after a few days. Now, remember I live in the deep south, and we might hit below freezing for a few hours once or twice a winter. Low 40's is about as low as we go regularly. And we usually don't stay in the 40's during the day. So maybe the mildness of our winter is contributing to the chlorine loss? We have had an EXCESSIVE amount of rain this winter, just weeks upon weeks of rain. ( In fact; I am pumping water from under the liner at least once a week; but remember I live below sea level too on marshy type land).


I also think I made a big mistake with my pumps this winter. During the summer I was instructed to let them run 24/7 due to our excessive heat here. Well I did not know I was supposed to cut that back for the winter till I read about it somewhere today. So up till today they are still runnng 24/7. Have I done any damage by doing this? And can you please tell me how long I should set them for now, and what time of the day or night I should do this?

Once again I appreciate all your help on these matters. I feel like I have finally found some sound help! I have not gotten too much of that locally!

It is quite a relief just to know the darn thing isn't broken.

[szcakes]

Mark what is CH? Please forgive my ignorance.

[waterbear]

I also do not worry too much about my pool when it is too cold to swim. I live in N Fl so we only have about 2 or 3 months when it's cold enough to shut down the SWG (Goldline Aqualogic) and I don't worry about the chlorine droppping. Pools tend to stay in balance more in the oold weather because:
1) there is no bather load
2) the colder temps slow down the chemical reactions that occur in the water
3) the colder temps slow down the growth of algae and bacteria (much like your refrigerator does for the food you put in there)

The only danger is a suddend warm and sunny day or two in the middle of a cold spell. It could warm the pool enough to let algae take hold if the FC has dropped to near zero but on the other hand the SWG would start generating if the water got that warm. At any rate, it's nothing a few jugs of bleach couldn't take care of quickly!

[chem geek]

CH is Calcium Hardness. It's just a measure of the amount of Calcium in the water.

As for the pumps, don't worry about it as you didn't do any damage. It's just expensive (in electricity) to run that long. I'm surprised you run them 24/7, however. Most people run them around 8 hours a day, sometimes 10 or 12. It all depends on how powerful the pumps are -- specifically, their Gallon-Per-Minute (GPM) rate and the size of your pool, with these two factors determining your turnover rate which is how many times an entire volume of pool water gets pumped by your pump. You usually want to run your pump in the summer so that you have at least 1 turnover per day though some people go with up to 2 and it really depends on how dirty your pool gets (i.e. how much stuff gets in it). In the winter, many people lower the run time to 2 hours or even 1 hour per day, but in your case since you were starting out so high and don't know the turnover rate, I'd say you are safe to go down to 4 hours per day at least for now (tell us your pool water volume or pool size including depth and your pump size in Horsepower and we might be able to estimate something for you).

Richard

[Poolsean]

Richard,

In most of the country that winterize their pools, they tend to run the pumps 24/7 to prevent the pipes from freezing up. For some, that's just how the pool builder built it (NO TIME CLOCK). These are mostly lower HP pumps so the cost to operate is not that bad.

[szcakes]

Update:

I called Polaris tech support again and he had me push some buttons on the screen for readings. He said my cell is having low amperage on one side??? It is still under warranty so I am getting a new one free of charge. Hopefully this will cure my problem. Thank you all for the help and the education I so desperately need!

[mas985]

Ok, so just to clarify; you let your pool go with zero chlorine over the winter with no problems? do you keep Ph and Ca etc in balance during winter months?

thank you for replying!

Yes, the last two months, my pool has had zero chlorine in it. However, not every pool will be able to do this. It really depends on how much stuff drops in the pool over winter but algae had very difficult time growing in cold water so for most pools it is ok. I test PH about twice a month but it does not seem to change much. CH I don't bother with since there is not much I can do about it anyway (mine is always high).