Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorinator

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D

danceswithbass

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Sep 22, 2011
5
Great forum, glad I found it. Have had a Jandy Salt system for 12 years. I am on my third board and fourth cell and the fourth one is throwing a 120 error code after having it 2 years. I have a 33,000 gallon pool, live in Dallas area where its hot, and run it year round (10 hours in summer and about 7 hours a day in winter). Have trouble keeping PH right and frequently have to add acid to pool. I think the long run times and PH issues are maybe culprits on why I only get 2 years and some change out of a cell. Been doing research on Autopilots and Pentairs and people seem to have similar problems with them. I have a pool maintenance guy, so I am seriously thinking of getting an inline chlorinator (Pentair or Hayward) and being done with the $400 a year in salt cell costs.

Questions:
1) Will an inline chlorinator like a Pentair 320 drop enough chlorine to maintain a 33,000 gallon pool in the Texas heat?
2) It seems the Pentairs have a pretty solid design, are there any that are better, have a higher capacity, or can keep up with a 33K pool better?
3) I attached a picture of the Aquapure plumbing. Its 2 and half inch pipe I believe. Would I install the chlorinator right where the salt cell is. How rough is the replumbing going to be? Fairly handy but this might be above my pay grade, not sure.

P1010020.jpg


Thanks!
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

Welcome to TFP!

A 320 setup for top feed is more than enough for your pool. However, I think you will be much happier if you switch brands of SWG than if you go with a tablet feeder. With a tablet feeder you are going to have issues with CYA levels constantly going up, which are difficult to work around. Your problem with PH constantly going up is fairly easy to solve, just lower the TA. Cell replacement certainly shouldn't run anywhere near $400/year, even if you do have a large pool with a high chlorine demand. You may have your CYA level too low, or the percentage turned up too high, both of which are fairly easy to resolve.
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

Scott - I cleaned the sensor and its been replaced (I think about 3 years ago). Do you know if anyone allows returns on the sensor or once its opened, is it non-returnable. Sinking another $180 into it if its not the problem would hurt. Is there a way to confirm its the sensor.

I have my generation percentage at 70% right now, lower it to 40% in the winter. I just got through adding more cyanuric acid where its about maxed out.
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

Code 120 is low cell current in the forward direction. It could be a bad DC cord, cell scaling or a bad cell.

Check the cord or try a replacement cord. Clean the cell, if necessary, and inspect the cell for damage. Some pool stores will test the cell for free on a test system.

Code 172 is the sensor.
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

I am wondering what the CYA level is in this pool. If the stablilizer level was too low, the unit has to run too long to keep chlorine levels up. How low had it gotten before you raised it back up and how high did you raise it?

Can you give us a water test? FC, CC, TC, pH, TA, CH, CYA
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

I had to put in 12lbs of CYA to get it back to the top of the CYA range. I looked for my last water test, but cant find it. I can go by the pool place and they can print the last one and get a new one as well
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

danceswithbass said:
I had to put in 12lbs of CYA to get it back to the top of the CYA range. I looked for my last water test, but cant find it. I can go by the pool place and they can print the last one and get a new one as well
Click to expand...

First, I cannot help at all with error codes and that could be the whole problem. However, if the pool chemistry was off, that could lead to needing to run the SWG much longer than should be necessary. That can make the cell fail early. That also leads to needing more acid to control pH.

Pool Calculator says that 12 lbs stabilizer adds 44 ppm to 33K gallons pool. Next question is where did you start from and where is that now? We hope that you are near 80 ppm now, but you really do need to know.

You also want to know your TA. That has a lot to do with pH. If your tap water is high TA, adding more water due to evaporation will aggravate the pH problem. You can deal with it, Pool School will show you how. But you may just need to get used to adding acid. I add some acid once or twice a week normally.

Before you spend hundreds of dollars taking out what ought to be a decent system to put in something else that has even more problems, I suggest that you get your own test kit and start finding out what is going on in your pool. Read Pool School, Test Kits Compared. I have the TF-100, as do most of us here but there is another kit that is also acceptable but is sort of hard to find. It is so much easier to do your own testing. We hear a lot of complaints about pool store testing. Read long enough and you will find someone who has taken a sample to 3 different stores on the same day and gotten 3 wildly different test results.

Knowing what you start with is key to getting control of your pool.
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

I went back to Robinsons and got my test from a week ago printed.
TDS is 3,600
CYA was 10 (way low I know, after adding 12lbs its now 60)
Total Chlorine was 2.3 (as well as Free Chlorine) but is now 4.2
PH was 7.5
Total Alkalinity was 79 and adjusted was 76
Total Hardness was 279
Salt was 2,700 but is now 3,100 (shows 3.5 on Jandy console)

Anything stand out here?
The cell is still obviously generating chlorine pretty good. If I could figure out how to permanently unplug the speaker, I would probably ride it until the mule fell down. Anybody know how to disconnect a wire or something to turn off the alarm beep?
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

Check the DC cord or try a replacement cord. Clean the cell, if necessary, and inspect the cell for damage. Some pool stores will test the cell for free on a test system.
 

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Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

The low CYA was a major problem. Low CYA forces you to run the cell way way more than it would otherwise have to. Other than that, your levels look fairly good. Low CYA explains why your cells get worn out so quickly, though it doesn't explain your current error code.
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

Yeah - I just don't know if my pool maintenance company has been asleep at the wheel on CYA for two years or if they just slipped up recently. I will find out next week
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

Cyanuric acid does not disappear that quickly. It couldn't have been good recently unless there has been a lot of dilution.
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

danceswithbass said:
Yeah - I just don't know if my pool maintenance company has been asleep at the wheel on CYA for two years or if they just slipped up recently. I will find out next week
Click to expand...

Well, I think they need to be fired. CYA that low is tragic. In Dallas you need to be at 85 ppm CYA in the summer (see the owners manual for Texas and Florida locations). Not only did they burn out the cell(s) way too early but running that much drives up the pH as well. Did they get paid to replace the cell? I'd assume some markup on the product and a nice fee for labor as well.

Did you get any black algae while it was so low on FC? I ask because my friend's pool did, their service only did a full water test "if the pool looked bad" and apparently getting black algae in the corners and turning green every so often was not enough of a problem to run a full test. They had 0 FC and 0 CYA when I tested it. I guess since the pool company charged them for chemicals, the shocking they did weekly was just more money in their pockets. Since that CYA was fixed they are running the cell less and the pool is clean.
 
Re: Considering switching from Aquapure to a inline Chlorina

You might want to do an overnight FC loss test. Look in the Pool School as how to do this. It seems to be a common issue that people have a low level infestation problem, and compensate for it by raising the SWCG output. This situation can exist for long periods of time. I know that in my area, Tampabay, I was told that it is common for a pool my size to be running the SWCG at 75%! I normally run in the summer at 25 to 30%.
The only way to detect this situation is to do an overnight FC loss test.
 
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