Finally got the pool clean and ready for the season and got to use it for the first time this past weekend. Monday morning, I woke up and the pool was starting to turn green. I've got a Hayward H-40 generator. I opened the box, and it was still showing 2600 ( salt content) in the display screen, but none of the other indicator lights were on. I turned off the pump, and turned it back on. The no flow light blinked like it usually does when the pump first starts up. It stayed blinking for much longer then normal, and the generating light did not come on. The no flow light went off after about 20 seconds. I turned it back off and on again. This time I flipped the switch to super chlorinate while the no flow light was still blinking. The generate light came on, but turned off after less then 10 seconds. It's almost like the system isn't detecting water flow, and so it isn't generating chlorine. The fuse looks fine. I rinsed off the cell and it looks good. It shouldn't be a wiring sequence issue - nothing has changed, and the system has been working fine for 6 months. When I cycle through the diagnostics, the indicator lights don't come on. Are there some obvious things that I should check, or am I better off just calling a service tech? In the meantime, I'm picking up a few jugs of liquid chlorine today to keep the thing from turning into a swamp. Appreciate your help.
Need help diagnosing SWG problem
- Thread starter Jdhgator
- Start date
I can't help you with the SWG - but a few jugs of liquid chlorine is not going to be enough - especially if your pool is already green. You will need to follow the shock process described in Pool School. Treat the pool as if it there was no SWG until you can get it operating - this means shocking it till it's clear and your FC is holding overnight, and then adding a little chlorine each night. Once the SWG problem is resolved you can resume your normal routine.
Welcome to TFP!
Welcome to TFP!
Is the "check salt" led flashing or steady on?
Can you have the salt concentration tested at the local pool store?
If the salinity really is less than 2600, the check salt LED should be lit and the unit will shut down.
After you verify the salt concentration to be within the 2700 to 3400 range, you can test the output of the cell:
Set the output to 100% then
Sequentially press the diagnostic button and post the following
1. Temp
2. Cell voltage
3. Cell current
4. output %
5. salinity
6 produt name
7. Software revision level
PSG
No, the check salt light doesn't come on at all. The only two lights that will come on are the no flow flight - which blinks and then eventually turns off after about 30 seconds. I can also get the generating light to turn on if I put the switch on superchlorinate before the pump turns on - but then that light also turns off after 10 seconds. I can't even get the Power light to light up.
Have you checked your flow switch? It should just ahead of the SWG, if it has one. May be built into the generator. Salt is low, but I would test it first before I started dumping in salt.
I pulled the flow switch out to make sure there wasn't any obvious problems with it, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I thought that might be the problem, but even if the flow switch was out, I would think that the power light would come on the swg when I turn on the pump. If the issue was the flow switch, I think both the power light and the no flow light would be lit rather than just the no flow light.
I can get a new board on bay for about $190. That's not chicken scratch, but not a killer either. I wouldn't mind paying it and swapping it out myself if I could be sure that would resolve the issue. It would be a bummer to find out that it didn't fix things or that I could resolved the issue for much less.
I would try opening up the main unit and making sure the cable from the main board to the display is properly connected. It probably won't help, but is easy enough that it is worth checking.