Pentair Intellichlor At End of Life?

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M

mhosborn

0
Jul 2, 2011
312
Broken Arrow, OK (Tulsa)
I noticed yesterday that no lights are lit on my Intellichlor IC40, despite the pump running. I'd gone out to the equipment pad to backwash when I saw this. I went ahead with the backwash, and turned the pump off to change over to the backwash valve position. When I turned the pump back on, the lights came back on the salt cell...but all turned off within a couple of minutes.

I'm wondering if this is a sign the unit is at its "end of life"? This is our 4th year with the salt cell, and we do run the pump a lot (probably more than needed...it's only off 6 hours a day, and on the rest of the time).

Or is this something an acid cleaning might correct? (I must confess...I didn't acid clean the cell this year).

Has anyone seen this issue before?
 
Well, from the manual you can check the hours on the unit to see if it is nearing the end of it's life:

IECG Usage Hours Meter
The IECG provides a built-in cell “usage hours” meter that reports how many hours IntelliChlor has been operating. The IECG is designed to operate for approximately 10,000 hours before replacement is needed or roughly five (5) years of average use.

To access the system status mode:
1. Press and hold the MORE button for three (3) seconds until the lights scroll across the unit.
2. One (1) of the five (5) Sanitizer Output LED indicators (20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%) will be lit, indicating the hours of usage. The Output LEDs are as follows:

• 2000 hours (20% LED on)
• 4000 hours (40% LED on)
• 6000 hours (60% LED on)
• 8000 hours (80% LED on)
• 10,000 hours (100% LED on)
Click to expand...
 
Well, I think these Intellichlor units are smarter than I thought! They must have a sensor on them that indicates when a replacement unit has been ordered, as I ordered a replacement this morning from work....and when I got home the lights were all giving normal indications.

(I checked the run time on it, and it is showing 2,000 hours).

I may be returning the new cell after it arrives Saturday!

Thanks again for your help!
 
sbc,

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I'd kinda figured the run time showing on the unit wasn't correct. Our pool's open 7 months out of the year, and some quick math tells me the run time should be closer to 3,780 hours.

Pretty sure I'm going to hang on to my replacement unit.

Strange, though, that the unit "dies" this way...no slow reduction of chlorine output over time....just "lights out" on the unit. I guess that's their way of telling you it's done working for you....LOL.

Thanks again.
 

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Still interested in learning more about the symptoms of an Intellichlor SWG that's reached its end of life. I was kind of thinking there are some folks here who've had to replace theirs, and am wondering if these units just go "lights off" when they're bad, or if the lights remain on but the unit no longer produces adequate chlorine?
 
tim5055 said:
Well, from the manual you can check the hours on the unit to see if it is nearing the end of it's life:
Click to expand...


When I checked this I had both the 20% and 40% lights on. The manual says only one light should go on. Any ideas what two lights mean? I have been lucky enough to get 8 seasons out of my original equipment. 8 yrs at min 12 hrs per day for at least 100 days per summer... should be darn close to the 10,000 hours if not over.
 
The most common failures of SWGs that I have observed on TFP are sensor errors with flow rate or salt level errors that are inaccurate. Like low flow error when flow is good or low salt or high salt error when the salt level is good. But, there are plenty of other scenarios where there is total power failure, seal leaks, smoked boards or power supplies, resistor failures and other things.

8 years is awesome. No idea what 2 lights means.
 
My IC is way at the beginning of life, so can't help with end-of-life indications. But, the IC has a low flow cutoff - if your flow drops below that, it stops working, but, I believe you would/should still some lights on it
 
I had a similar problem with my previous IC40 cell about 5 years ago. Was working fine, then all of a sudden went dark. Don't want to alarm you unnecessarily, but it never worked again.

I don't think it's an intentional EOL indicator. I think what's likely happening is that the onboard voltage regulator or power supply is about to kick the bucket. One thing I noticed was that whenever I initially powered up the IC40, the lights would come on for about 1-2 seconds, then go dark again.

I eventually switched to tablets for two years and then replaced the cell. The new cell has been working for about 3 seasons now (knock on wood), so I know that the problem was isolated to the cell rather than being in my Easytouch power center.
 
Peter,

Thanks....it quit working again last week, but when I disconnected it, then reconnected it, it came back to life. It could be in the cord or the unit itself, but either way I'm going to try and limp along until the first week of October when I close the pool. I'll put a new one in next spring.
 
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