No chlorine reading

[browerjs]

I have a flair limelight delivered 10 days ago.  I can’t get the chlorine to hold.  My dealer told me to put in a 16 oz bottle of Clorox, which I did and then set the salt to 10.  After this the reading was a little on the high side.  I moved it down to 5 but now I’m getting a zero reading.  We have used it quite a bit, so are we just using all the chlorine?  Today I put in another 16 oz bottle of Clorox in, but what should I do so I don’t need to continually do this?  Or if I give the salt system enough time will it just start generating?

FWIW, I’ve yet to have my pH or TA at the ok levels, they are both still high and I’ve been putting 2 capfuls of ph down in a day.

I’m starting to get a bit frustrated trying to get these levels correct.

[castletonia]

A setting of 5 is too low.  I don’t know exactly what quite a bit of usage is.  Turn it back up to 10.  Then, check your chlorine levels daily.  If your chlorine reading is high(above 5 ppm) then turn it down by 1 each day until you find the number that allows you to maintain a chlorine reading between 1-3 ppm.

Keep working on getting the pH and alkalinity down.  What is your hardness at?  Needs to be under 75 ppm.  Also, get your phosphates tested.  Anything about 500 ppb can be counter productive to the amount of chlorine the salt system can produce. 

If your water is still clear, there is no reason to add 16oz of bleach.  2-4 oz should be plenty to increase the chlorine reading.

[browerjs]

We are probably averaging 60mins a day.  Water is clear.  Hardness is about right after using the vanishing act.

[ratchett]

Just a random question - but how are you testing chlorine?  Are you using a chemical test kit, or are you using test strips? 

Just asking because test strips can go bad and not work correctly.  A chemical test kit like a Taylor test kit is much more reliable

[browerjs]

I'm using the fresh water test strips

[ratchett]

I'm using the fresh water test strips

Ok, just a heads up those test strips might not be reading correctly.  They can go bad for several reasons including age and humidity.  You might not be getting a reading because the strips are not working as intended.

Not saying they are bad, just saying you might want to get a second test to confirm it's not just the strips not reacting properly

[browerjs]

Another noob question.  I’m getting a lot of white marks on the cabinet and steps.  I assume this is from the salt water and is completely normal.  Any preferred method to clean other than a wet rag?

[castletonia]

We are probably averaging 60mins a day.  Water is clear.  Hardness is about right after using the vanishing act.

Is that 60 minutes per person and if so, how many people?  If multiple people 60 minutes each, then that is heavy use which would require a higher output setting and even could require you supplement the salt system with a bit of chlorine every now and then.

[browerjs]

We are probably averaging 60mins a day.  Water is clear.  Hardness is about right after using the vanishing act.

Is that 60 minutes per person and if so, how many people?  If multiple people 60 minutes each, then that is heavy use which would require a higher output setting and even could require you supplement the salt system with a bit of chlorine every now and then.

Maybe 2 people total.  The usage will go down considerably, it’s still new . Chlorine was at about a 5 today after my wife used it for 30-45 minutes last night, at a 10 setting.  I moved it down to a 9, and we probably won’t use it tonight.

[browerjs]

Used the tub last night after 3 idle days.  We had 3 people each with about 30 minutes of use each.

Before going in the Chlorine was reading about a 5.  This morning, 14 hours after use it was reading between .5-1.  My salt setting is currently at a 7.  Does this sound like everything is operating as normal?  Should I see the chlorine go up slowly over the next several hours?  I wanted to use the tub again tonight, but really don’t want to be adding bleach every time.

[castletonia]

I would say that is normal.  Remember, salt generators work a bit different than if you manually add chlorine.  A salt generator will not produce a chlorine residual until all contaminants in the water are killed off.  Once there is nothing to kill then the chlorine level will gradually increase.  Also, if you are using the Freshwater AG+ silver ion cartridge you only need 0.5-1.0ppm chlorine to begin with.

You also really should have your dealer test for phosphates as those will prohibit the system from working as well as it could.

[browerjs]

I would say that is normal.  Remember, salt generators work a bit different than if you manually add chlorine.  A salt generator will not produce a chlorine residual until all contaminants in the water are killed off.  Once there is nothing to kill then the chlorine level will gradually increase.  Also, if you are using the Freshwater AG+ silver ion cartridge you only need 0.5-1.0ppm chlorine to begin with.

You also really should have your dealer test for phosphates as those will prohibit the system from working as well as it could.

So what I don’t understand is, if I use up all the free chlorine, which I’d guess would happen if I started at a .5-1 and used the tub for 90 minutes, is the salt system going to start producing chlorine after a use when it goes to 0?

[castletonia]

The salt system is producing chlorine regardless of whether you use it or not.  Your output setting determines how long the salt system runs and how much chlorine it produces.  It’s kinda trial and error to determine what setting is actually going to be correct for you.  Until you can figure that out you can use the boost option in lieu of adding chlorine.