Chlorine – general
If it is a new installation, add enough chlorine (liquid or granular) to achieve a reading of 3ppm on an appropriate test kit.

Stabiliser – general
If the pool is outdoors, it is vital that stabiliser (also known as cyanurate and cyanuric acid) be added and maintained at 50ppm. This compound reduces chlorine destruction due to sunlight.  However, too much stabiliser will reduce the effectiveness of chlorine and can result in poor quality water so ensure stabiliser does not exceed 80ppm.

Good stabiliser level keeps good chlorine levels and reduces maintenance.

pH
For chlorine to be effective, the pH must be within a certain range. This is usually between 6.8 (fibreglass/liner pools) or 7.2 (concrete/plaster) and 7.8.

Adjust pH down with acid – powder, liquid sulphuric or liquid hydrochloric. Be very careful with acid as it can be harmful and corrosive.

Total Alkalinity (TA)
Total alkalinity is also known as carbonate hardness or TA for short.  The recommended level is between 80 and 120ppm.

TA is related to pH in that it stops the pH from varying quickly with small additions of acidic or alkaline chemicals.  When the TA is low it is almost impossible to control the pH.

To raise the TA, buffer (sodium bicarbonate) is added. This must be done slowly as buffer will also cause the pH to rise. As an approximate rule every increase of 20ppm of TA will also cause a 0.1 rise in pH. Once buffer is added it should be left to mix in the pool for a few hours before reducing the pH.

Phosphates and Nitrates
Phosphate and ammonia nitrogen will make your garden green – and they will do the same thing to your pool. Check for phosphates and add phosphate remover if necessary.  Don’t let fertiliser get into your pool! Phosphates are also in some cleaning products – check the label if using around your pool.

Weekly

For your Controller to maintain your pool balance correctly you must maintain some factors yourself:

STABILISER (Cyanurates): 50 – 60ppm

TOTAL ALKALINITY (TA): 80 – 120ppm

PHOSPHATE: zero

SALT (Standard Salt Chlorinators): 3000 – 5000ppm / Extra Low Salt XLS

Chlorinators: 1200 – 2000ppm

Never add salt until the level has been checked

BASIC POOL OPERATION
The Controller uses a multi-electrode (probe) to measure and automatically adjust the chlorine and pH levels of the water in all types of pools. Once levels are finally set or adjusted, the Controller should be left alone. The Controller has been factory-set to achieve a chlorine ORP of 650mV (millivolts) and a pH of 7.6. As all pools are different you may need to adjust the ORP for your particular pool conditions. For information on ORP please refer to the Controller manual. If the unit is used with these factory-set points as the selected levels, it should obtain approximately 1-3ppm chlorine and 7.6pH, providing the stabiliser level is at 50ppm. If the stabiliser level is 30ppm or less, the chlorine will be around 1ppm or less. Stabiliser reduces chlorine consumption and raises the chlorine residual for the same ORP. Low stabiliser will create difficulty in achieving good water quality, and require more chlorine.

NORMAL POOL OPERATION

Weekly Maintenance
If the pool is heavily used (such as in hot weather) it must be checked more frequently.

As a general guide it is recommended that the check should be made at least twice weekly in the swimming season and once every two weeks in the non-swimming period.

Seek guidance from your local authority or qualified pool maintenance technician if necessary.

• Check and clean pump and Vantage leaf baskets if required.
• Check filter and backwash the sand filter or clean cartridge filter as necessary.
• Make sure there is adequate diluted acid in the tank of the automatic feeder for the next week.

IMPORTANT: Always add concentrated acid to the water (not the water to the concentrated acid). Small quantities of water will react violently with concentrated acid, giving off heat and boiling the water that may splash acid.

• Test the pH & free chlorine levels in the pool water with a good quality test kit. The pH should be around 7.6. Compare test results with your Controller readings. If the readings differ greatly, try cleaning the probe. (Refer to probe cleaning instructions in Controller Manual.)
• If the pH is too low, then add sodium bicarbonate (buffer). Again see labels for dosage. If the pH has dropped possibly so has your total alkalinity, but both pH and TA can be raised using buffer. Don’t correct your pH more than once a week.

 Monthly

• Test the TA which should be in the range 120-150ppm. If it is low, add sodium bicarbonate (buffer). TA should never go below 80ppm.
• Check the stabilizer level and make sure it is around 50ppm

Quarterly and Half Yearly.

• Check or clean probe (refer to Controller manual for cleaning instructions.)
• Check all tubing, if tubing is stiff or swollen then replace tubing. Take care as chemical will be in tubing.

These simple steps will give you a clean and sparkling pool at reduced cost – and allow you plenty of time to enjoy it

Phosphates and Nitrates
Phosphate and ammonia nitrogen will make your garden green – and they will do the same thing to your pool. Check for phosphates and add phosphate remover if necessary.  Don’t let fertiliser get into your pool! Phosphates are also in some cleaning products – check the label if using around your pool.

Stabiliser – general
If the pool is outdoors, it is vital that stabiliser (also known as cyanurate and cyanuric acid) be added and maintained at 50ppm. This compound reduces chlorine destruction due to sunlight.

However, too much stabiliser will reduce the effectiveness of chlorine and can result in poor quality water so ensure stabiliser does not exceed 80ppm.

Good stabiliser level keeps good chlorine levels and reduces maintenance

Total Alkalinity (TA)
Total alkalinity is also known as carbonate hardness or TA for short.  The recommended level is between 80 and 120ppm.

TA is related to pH in that it stops the pH from varying quickly with small additions of acidic or alkaline chemicals.  When the TA is low it is almost impossible to control the pH.

To raise the TA, buffer (sodium bicarbonate) is added. This must be done slowly as buffer will also cause the pH to rise. As an approximate rule every increase of 20ppm of TA will also cause a 0.1 rise in pH. Once buffer is added it should be left to mix in the pool for a few hours before reducing the pH.

pH
For chlorine to be effective, the pH must be within a certain range. This is usually between 6.8 (fibreglass/liner pools) or 7.2 (concrete/plaster) and 7.8.

Adjust pH down with acid – powder, liquid sulphuric or liquid hydrochloric. Be very careful with acid as it can be harmful and corrosive.

Total Dissolved Solids – TDS
If a salt water chlorinator is being used, TDS levels will be higher than in a freshwater pool because a certain amount of salt is required to generate chlorine.

A salt concentration of 4000ppm is recommended for our SG and SWC units.  If salt levels fall below 3000ppm, the cell’s lifespan will be reduced.  If salt levels exceed 5000ppm, this will result in high conductivity.  It is a safety requirement that salt chlorinators shut off at really high conductivity (around 10,000ppm) to prevent cell overload.

High TDS can also occur in freshwater pools that are not backwashed (common where a cartridge filter is fitted). Liquid chlorine is approximately 12% salt, so salt is constantly being added to a pool fitted with a Chemigem.

High TDS can affect probe readings and if a probe’s accuracy is in question, TDS needs to be checked and reduced by regular backwashing/pumping to waste if necessary.

Calcium Hardness
Excessive calcium hardness can affect cell performance and should be kept as low as possible – around 80ppm.  Calcium will precipitate out of the water as pH rises – and overall water balance is easier to maintain if pH is kept towards the higher end of the range.

Pool shops generally use the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) in their water reports. The LSI should take into account pH, TA, Calcium hardness, TDS and temperature.

A negative LSI indicates corrosive water and a positive LSI indicates scaling water.  Perfectly balanced water would have an LSI of 0. However, it is better to be slightly scaling (+ve LSI than corrosive (-ve LSI).

For standard salt chlorinators (Pool Controls SG Series or SWC series)

Salt and Minerals – only add salt/minerals after checking the levels
There should be between 3000 and 5000ppm of TDS in the pool ideally 4000ppm.

This is achieved by adding 4kg of salt for every 1000 litres (1m³) of pool volume.  Note that this amount of salt will take time to dissolve.

Minerals: the conductivity of minerals is different to pure salt. All TDS testers are calibrated for sodium chloride salt. You will need less weight of minerals to achieve an equivalent TDS to salt – follow the mineral instructions.

Note: keep salt/minerals below 7500ppm to avoid overloading the cell and causing shutdown. Only add after checking the level.

For Extra Low Salt (XLS) chlorinators
There should be between 1200 and 2000ppm of TDS in the pool ideally 1000ppm.

This is achieved by adding 1kg of salt for every 1000 litres (1m³) of pool volume.  Note that this amount of salt will take time to dissolve.

Minerals: the conductivity of minerals is different to pure salt. All TDS testers are calibrated for sodium chloride salt. You will need less weight of minerals to achieve an equivalent TDS to salt – follow the mineral instructions.

Note: keep salt/minerals below 3000ppm to avoid overloading the cell and causing shutdown. Only add after checking the level.

Oxidation Reduction Potential – ORP
ORP is most easily described as the “bacteria killing power” of the chlorine in water.  Research has shown that 650mV is the lowest level required to kill the bacteria in water quickly (in a few seconds).  If ORP is maintained at 500mV it will take several hours to kill the same bacteria.

The difference between measuring chlorine content using ORP rather than in parts per million (ppm) is that the ORP reading relates directly to the time it takes to kill bacteria while a ppm reading does not.  An ORP reading also reflects the amount of stabiliser in the water, whereas ppm of chlorine does not.

ORP and Stabiliser (Cyanuric acid)
Stabiliser is now widely used in pools and spas sanitised with chlorine.  The key advantage of stabiliser is that it is not destroyed by UV rays in sunlight.  Tests have shown that in an outdoor pool without stabiliser, chlorine residuals are 90% destroyed in six to eight hours, while in pools with stabiliser, only 10-15% of chlorine residual is lost in the same period of time.

In water without stabiliser, an ORP of 650mV will give a reading of 0.05-0.5ppm chlorine.  If 50ppm of stabiliser is added, the ORP reading will remain at 650mV, but the chlorine ppm will rise to approximately 2.5-3ppm.  The sanitiser will kill bacteria quickly and the ppm levels meet Health Department requirements – and those of the concerned customer.

If your Pool Controls water management system is consistently giving readings different from those obtained from a test kit, it may be necessary to clean the multi-electrode.

To do this:

• Remove the probe from the injection point by twisting the bayonet (or unscrewing the retaining nut) and remove the o-ring.
• Holding the cable, gently swirl the probe in a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid (pool acid) for two minutes
• Rinse the probe in clean water and then replace it in the injection point, making sure that the “o-ring” is in place.
• Twist bayonet to lock (or tighten nut with fingers)

The Pool Controls’ electrolytic cells are self-cleaning, however, some conditions such as very hard water can cause the cell to become scaled over time.

The cells uses an electronic means (polarity reversal) to remove scale from its cathodes.  This system works very well in most pools unless there is extreme hardness and/or mineral levels. Even in the extreme cases where scaling does occur the rate at which it occurs is far slower than for normal Cells.

If scale has become thick enough to nearly bridge between the cell electrodes, it is time to clean the cell. cells can be cleaned in a solution of hydrochloric acid.

Please read the warnings and instructions on the acid container.

To make the acid solution, add 1 part hydrochloric acid to 4 parts water in a suitable container. This solution can be used a number of times so a re-useable container with a lid can be used, but make sure it is stored safely. Alternatively a commercial Cell Cleaning solution can be used according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

• Any Control unit should be turned off so that any AutoMode functions cannot turn it back on until after the Cell is clean and back in its housing.
• Remove the Cell from its housing and immerse in the acid solution. Note that it may foam up and overflow the sides of the container – so take care!
• The Cell should not take longer than a few minutes to clean.  It may also be possible to remove some or most of the scale with a jet of water.

Never use a stiff brush or hard implement to clean the cell because this will damage the coating.