Saltwater
System Maintenance

Properly
controlling a salt water chlorinator – There
are three things that are important when using salt water chlorination:

1. 
Keep the proper level of salt and stabilizer in the pool

Most salt
water chlorinators require a 2500 – 3000 parts per million salt concentration
in the water.  This can barely be tasted in the water, but provides
enough salt for the salt cell to produce the chlorine needed to maintain the
pool.

If the salt
level drops too low, the system will not be able to produce chlorine. 
Most systems have some sort of indicator to show low salt levels in the pool. 
The answer to low salt levels is to add rock salt to the skimmer and let it
dissolve into the water.

NOTE: 
If the system indicates a low salt level, be sure to test it with a salt test
kit before adding salt.  If a salt cell is failing or is scaled it may
give a false low salt indicator.

It is also
important to have a good stabilizer level (30 – 50 ppm) in the pool or the
sunlight will burn up the chlorine and the saltwater system will not be able
to keep up with the demand.

2. 
Adjust the control knob on the salt system

The
salt system has a setting that controls the amount of chlorine that is
generated.  This can be adjusted to keep the production of chlorine in
line with the demand.

3. 
Make sure the pool is running long enough to produce adequate chlorine

The timers on
the pool should be set to run during the hottest daylight hours, preferably
from at least 10 am to 6 pm during the summer.  This is when your
chlorine usage is highest.  The system will only produce chlorine while
the pump is running so it is important to run the pool long enough.

Shocking
a Pool (Superchlorination)

If
the chlorine reading gets too low then it
is important to superchlorinate the pool in order to quickly raise up the
chlorine level to avoid unsanitary water.  The salt system should be sized
to provide sufficient chlorine output, but in the event of very heavy chlorine
demand (swim party, heavy rains, etc.) it might be necessary to supplement the
chlorine feed with a manual shock (this is a rare occurence).

It
is important to use only as much granular chlorine as is needed.  Many salt
system owners are sensitive to heavy amounts of packaged chlorine with all its
byproducts.

Simply
adding more salt to the system WILL NOT be enough to solve the problem
if you have a low chlorine level.  That will enable the salt system to
begin making chlorine, but will not immediately raise the chlorine level.

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salt systems