Aquacal 75003 13

PREPARING THE POOL WATER

Basic Water Chemistry

Your Pool Pilot Digital is designed to produce chlorine on a daily basis. To monitor your system’s efficiency, the water chemistry ranges and schedule of periodic checks outlined below should be followed.

CHEMICAL			IDEAL RANGE		IDEAL TEST	EFFECT OF LOW/HIGH LEVELS	CORRECTIVE ACTIONS
					SCHEDULE
Free Chlorine			1.0 To 3.0	ppm	Weekly	Low free chlorine: Not enough residual	Low free chlorine: Check for
						chlorine to safely sanitize pool water.	combined chlorine level and shock as
						High free chlorine: Corrosive to metallic	necessary. Increase purifier output to
						fixtures in pool water. Can bleach	maintain a 1-3 ppm residual reading.
						swimwear and hair.	High free chlorine: Decrease purifier
							output. Let chlorine dissipate
							normally until 1-3 ppm is achieved.
							In extreme cases, pool water can be
							diluted with fresh water or a chlorine
							neutralizer added. (Diluting will
							reduce salt and CYA. Check and
							adjust as needed.)
pH			7.2 To 7.8		Weekly	Low pH: (acidic) Equipment corrosion,	Low pH: Add sodium carbonate or
						eye/skin irritation, plaster etching, rapid	soda ash
						chlorine consumption
						High pH: (basic) Scale formation,	High pH: Add muriatic acid or
						cloudy water, eye/skin irritation, poor	sodium bisulfate.
						chlorine effectiveness
Total			80 To 120	ppm	Monthly	Low TA: Eye irritation, pH “bounce”,	Low TA: Add sodium bicarbonate.
Alkalinity						stained/etched plaster and metal	High TA: Add muriatic acid often, a
						corrosion.	little at a time (may take a week or
						High TA: Constant acid demand,	more to lower the TA). Aerate by
						difficulty in maintaining pH, and	pointing return jets toward the
						contributes to scale formation or cloudy	surface.
						water conditions.
Salt			2500 To 3500 ppm		Monthly	Low Salt: Below 2,400 ppm causes	Low Salt: Add salt according to
						premature cell failure and reduces	digital display on Pool Pilot unit or
						chlorine production	salt chart.
						High Salt: Above 6,000 ppm can cause	High Salt: If undesirably high,
						corrosion of metallic fixtures and will	partially drain and refill the pool with
						taste salty. Note: AutoPilot can safely	fresh water. (Diluting will reduce
						operate with salt levels up to 35,000.	CYA. Check and adjust as needed.)
Calcium			200 To 400	ppm	Monthly	Low CH: Etching of plaster, equipment	Low CH: Add calcium chloride
Hardness						corrosion	flakes.
						High CH: Scale formation, cloudy	High CH: Partially drain and refill
						water. Rapid buildup of scale may	pool with fresh water to dilute.
						exceed the system’s self-cleaning	(Diluting will reduce salt and CYA.
						capability and require manual cleaning	Check and adjust as needed.)
						of the SuperCell.
Cyanuric Acid			60 To 80	ppm	Monthly	Low CYA: destruction of chlorine by	Low CYA: Add cyanuric acid
(CYA or						the UV rays from the sun.	(1 lb/5000 gallons increases CYA 25
Stabilizer)						High CYA: Requires more chlorine to	ppm)
						maintain proper sanitizer levels.	High CYA: Partially drain and refill
						Note: CYA not needed for indoor or	pool with fresh water to dilute.
						bromine pools.	(Diluting will reduce salt. Check and
			30 To 50	ppm		CYA can be reduced to 30 – 50 ppm for	adjust as needed.)
						Pool Pilot Digital TC/ORP or colder
						climate regions.

		! WARNING		Excessively high chlorine levels can cause premature cell failure and corrosion
		! WARNING		damage to pool fixtures and equipment.
				damage to pool fixtures and equipment.

	! WARNING			Always follow the instructions on the manufacturer’s label whenever adding
	! WARNING			chemicals to your pool.
				chemicals to your pool.