Hello. First post. First newbie question. I just bought a house with a pool and Aqua Rite SWG. I'm trying to get it all up and running, as the previous owner apparently let the system go. I added 200 pounds of Morton pool salt based on the manual's recommendation (15,000 gallon pool and salt reading at 1200) trying to ease my way up to the 3200 ppm. After 24 hours, the reading stands at 1700, which leads me to believe either I badly miscalculated the pool size or the panel is in error. Should I continue to add salt, say another 200 pounds, or do I stop now and test the salt level with strips (or both)? The panel's No Flow and Check Salt are steady on, and the pool place told me there was "zero" chlorine in the water, so I know the SWG hasn't been generating for awhile. The cell is a t-15, and it's about four years old. I appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Test with strips. Here's a salt chart:

http://www.h2oco.com/h2o_online/referen ... e1salt.htm

Scott

I agree...get some strips (salt strips are ok...all other strips are useless).

If the cell is reporting wrong (which I would assume) and you keep adding salt, the only way to lower it later is by draining.

The salt strip test scored about 7.0 on its scale, or 4410 ppm. So at least I know I can use a calculator. I guess my options now are to find some place to test the cell or have somebody check the panel. How reliable are the salt test strips? Any other suggestions?

If the strips are stored in a cool, dark place, till the expiration date. As far as accuracy, typically they are +/- 200 ppm, sufficient for your needs.

Here's the Hayward PDF doc link: http://www.haywardnet.com/products/Manu ... ual239.pdf

Check through the diags and let us know what you find.

Scott

Yeah, I went through that manual and the troubleshooting steps first thing, once I realized the system had a problem. I am going to get another cell and try replacing the existing one. It's not a cheap fix, but it's about the last thing I can try on my own.

Until the SWG is working correctly you need to be adding chlorine manually every day.

Have you done a visual inspection of the cell? You might have calcium scaling (white chalky deposits on the cell plates).

Also, if you are getting a check flow error, that is separate from everything else you mentioned. Check flow either means you aren't getting enough water flow, or the flow sensor is having problems.

Yes, I have been manually adding chlorine and monitoring the chemical balance. I grew up with a chlorine pool, so I'm familiar with what I need to do other than the SWG areas. Knowing that I needed help, I had a friend's "pool guy" come out and do a once over on the pool right after I moved in. We removed the cell, cleaned it, and cleaned out the filters and baskets. His opinion (and I have a feeling this will generate some chatter on the board) was to convert the system back over to regular chlorine. I'm not ready to do that yet. I purchased a cell online and am hoping it will come in this week. I will update the post as this progresses. Thanks for the continued help.

Update: The cell came in a couple days ago, and today was the first opportunity I had to install it. Good news is that the unit now appears to be working. The bad news is that the salt reading on the panel is 4200 ppm, which pretty closely matches the readings on the salt test strips. So I have some work to do to get that right. But at least it's a step in the right direction. Thanks again for the help, guys!