My Aqua Rite salt reading is reading wildly, 2 days ago it was 2900, right now it is 1700, last week when I tested the water it was at 2900 and fine. Every day is an adventure on the reading, does this signal that the unit is going out?

Welcome to TFP....it's likely that your water temps are cooling off and causing the sensor to read low. Come the cooler months folks usually switch over to manual chlorine dosing or just close the pool up.

It could be temp, but I had this happen to me in the middle of summer - turns out the auto-fill leveler was higher than the pool auto-overfill drain, so that the pool was constantly diluting itself. Going from 2700 to 1900 just seems like too big a jump to be temp alone. Also, pull the cell and look for scale, as this will give a false low reading.

How old is the cell? That is a symptom of a cell going south...

When our Goldline Aquarite SWCG started to give the "check salt" readings and started providing impossible salt and temperature readings, the cell was bad. It lasted 5 years. The good news is that the cell is consumer replaceable. The bad news is that it is expensive. When I removed the cell and looked inside, there was no Calcium build up (scale) on the plates, but there was a greenish blue gel seeping out of the cell. I was told this was a sure sign of cell failure.

Remove the cell and inspect the inside plates for deposits. If you see white deposits on the plates inside the cell, then the cell needs to be cleaned and serviced. Here is a link to the manufactures website with operations and installation manual in PDF format. Look on pages 8 and 9 for the correct procedure to clean and service your cell.

http://www.haywardnet.com/products/Manu ... ual345.pdf

Be sure the correct size and cell type has been selected in the menu. See page 7.

A substantial build up of white deposits or flakes may indicate a water balance problem. Keep the water chemistry in your pool at the recommended levels to get the maximum use and service life from your SWCG cell.

If cleaning and servicing does not correct the problem, then it is time to replace the cell. Many pool stores keep these cells in stock but charge a premium price. Search on-line for the best price including shipping. Be sure to purchase the correct replacement type cell for your unit.

While your aqua rite is not working, you will need to add some form of chlorine on a regular basis to maintain the free chlorine in your pool. Regular household bleach is inexpensive and accessible.

pool-school/types_chlorine_pool

If your pool water started to turn hazy, dull or light green before you noticed the SWCG had stopped working, see the instructions in pool school for defeating algae.

pool-school/defeating_algae

Hope this helps