To make your salt water chlorinator last, you'll need to perform regular maintenance on it just as you do every other part of your pool. Try to maintain a consistent salt level of between 2,700 parts per million (ppm) and 3,400 ppm, with 3,200 ppm being ideal.
We suggest you start your salt chlorine generator at 50 percent output and run it for a couple of days, then check the chlorine level. In a balanced pool, a good chlorine level is 1-3 parts per million. If your chlorine levels are low, you can raise the percentage, and if it's high you can lower the percentage.
Salt Systems work best with approximately 3200 parts per million (ppm) of salt, which is roughly the equivalent to a teaspoon of salt per gallon. However, all Hayward Salt Systems are designed to operate with salt levels anywhere from 2700 ppm to 3400 ppm.
Test and adjust your pool water's salt levels
If you're using the Water TechniX Salt water chlorinator then you should try to aim for a salt level of around 3,000 to 4,000 ppm.
Chlorine Feeders:
For each 5000 gallons of pool water, add one 3″ chlorine tablet, more or less. Choose a mid-point setting on the 1-10 dial. The higher the setting, the greater the dissolution rate. A setting of 5 may be too high, and it depends on the number of tablets in the feeder.
Overall, you need to run your saltwater generator and pool pump for at least 8 hours daily. Not running either of these long enough means not enough chlorine to sanitize the water. Remember, the pool pump needs to be running simultaneously with the chlorine generator for the salt cell to produce chlorine.
Chlorine pucks also allow you to manually control how much chlorine is in your pool's water. It is usually 1 chlorine puck for every 5,000 gallons of water.
2700-3400 ppm is the idea recommended levels. However, the reading can go up to 4000 ppm before the Hi Salt light appears. The unit will still produce chlorine until the reading goes above 4000 ppm and the GENERATING light usually will go off.
Highly excessive salinity levels (over 6,000 ppm) will cause corrosion damage to metallic equipment, such as ladders and handrails. This is true because salt doesn't wear out, break down or evaporate; Turn the pump on and run until you reach the desired water level.
The pump and filter system should be allowed to run for at least 24 hours after the superchlorination process has been initiated.
Sometimes a saltwater pool's chlorinator isn't creating enough chlorine, and the water can become cloudy or develop algae. When this happens, a bit of chlorine can save the day, said Hunker. You can add extra chlorine to the pool through calcium hypochlorite, sodium hypochlorite, or chlorine tablets.
Running the pump at night should only be when you are doing a major chemical treatment such as algae clean-up. Your pool is more vulnerable during the day, plants don't grow at night the way they do during the day–that's true of ALL plants including Algae.
For safe swimming conditions, the ideal salt level is going to be between 2500 ppm and 4000 ppm. An overly salted pool will generally not be a major problem (aside from salty-tasting water), but at levels over 6000 ppm there may be corrosion damage to some of the metallic equipment.
3400 is the recomended high limit, but the readings on the panel are notoriously inaccurate. Generally it's better to have the level on the high side than low, so 3800 should be fine.
The only way to lower the salt concentration of your swimming pool's water is to dilute it. Unfortunately, this means you will need to partially drain your pool and refill it with fresh water. This is true because salt doesn't wear out, break down or evaporate; only your water will evaporate.
On the chlorinator box there should be a light or dial that indicates it is working. Take your test kit and place your thumb over the test tube. Then place it right into the eyeball and take the water. Test the water that water has just left the chlorinator - it should have a very high chlorine reading.
Simply putting the chlorine pucks in your skimmer is something you should never do. Putting the pucks directly in the skimmer will dissolve them way to quickly and will send concentrated chlroine through your whole filtration system wearing it down very quickly. The first tip is if you are using a chlorinator.
Never put chlorine tablets into the skimmer baskets of your pool. Some pool companies will put chlorine tablets directly into the skimmer baskets of the pool. Never allow anyone to put chlorine tablets in these skimmer baskets.
To use the right number of tablets, always round your pool volume up to the nearest unit of 5,000 gallons. For instance, your pool has a capacity of 20,000 gallons, you would add four chlorine tablets. But if your pool holds just 16,000 gallons, you'd still use four, three-inch chlorine tablets.
The ideal salt level is between 2700-3400 ppm (parts per million) with 3200 ppm being optimal. Before adding salt to your pool, test the water to check your salt level.
The size of your pool, the efficiency of your pump and filter, and how dirty your pool is are just some of the factors you need to consider. Nevertheless, most pool cleaning professionals would advise against running a pool pump for more than 8 hours a day.
The rule of thumb is generally 8 hours, although it could be anywhere from 6-12 hours, depending on your pool's size. Each pool is unique, so to keep your pool pump efficient and effective, you need to figure out exactly what your pool's turnover rate is.
Chemicals that you add to your pool while the water is circulating don't need to be recirculated; they will stay mixed even if you don't pump the water continually. Although it's generally recommended that all the pool water undergo filtration every 24 hours, the pump does not need to run all the time.
If your pool pump manufacturer has declared your pump is rain safe, you can leave it on in rainfall. Nevertheless, during a thunderstorm, it is highly recommended that you switch off and unplug your pool pump to prevent any costly and irreversible damages to your pool equipment.