Intex saltwater chlorinator -no free chlorine

[heather2084]

I bought an Intex 24x12 ultra frame rectangular pool that came with the saltwater chlorinator. IT as been set up and running for over a month. When testing, I get results off the charts. The pH is always high despite adding acid to bring it down. I test my water myself and also take it to a pool shop in town. The other thing is that there is never any free chlorine. I've tested the salinity of the water and it is in the right range, and the pool shop has conirmed this. The lady told me to continuously run my chlorinator for about a week and that should get it up, but it hasnt. I can only run my generator for 12 hours at a time. My next step is going to be testing if chlorine is actually coming out, but if so, I dont understand why I cant build up any free chlorine and why the pH never goes down. Please Help!

[chem geek]

You need to shock the pool with chlorinating liquid or bleach to kill off what is consuming the chlorine. You do need to check to make sure your SWG is actually putting out chlorine -- try measuring it at the outlet/return. Read Water Balance for SWGs and note that the pH will tend to rise if your TA is higher so you'll need to lower that and should also consider adding 50 ppm Borates.