I have an Aqua Rite Turbo Cell T-15 that is constantly giving me low salt readings. It is still producing chlorine, but every day I need to reset the cell under the diagnostic mode to bring the salt level on the read-out back up to normal operating range. And then over an 8 hour perior of my pump running, the salt level shows that it drops from 3500 to 2300, so I reset it again. I took a sample of water to the pool store and was told that my salt level is currently 3200. Is there a way I can know for certain if I need to replace the Turbo Cell or could it possibly be another problem with the system? The pool is 3 years old and I live in Arizona, so the pump runs 6 - 9 hours everyday all year long.
Aqua Rite Turbo Cell Replacement
- Thread starter j.killi
- Start date
Welcome to TFP!
Many pool stores are able to test the cell to determine if it is still good or not. If you haven't already, you should start with a visual inspection of the cell plates (you need to remove the cell to look inside). If you see any white crusty deposit, that is most likely the problem. If the cell looks clean, then chances are it get wearing out. One other possibility is cold water. Water below 60 degrees can cause the cell to read a lower salt level than actual.
Many pool stores are able to test the cell to determine if it is still good or not. If you haven't already, you should start with a visual inspection of the cell plates (you need to remove the cell to look inside). If you see any white crusty deposit, that is most likely the problem. If the cell looks clean, then chances are it get wearing out. One other possibility is cold water. Water below 60 degrees can cause the cell to read a lower salt level than actual.
Thanks for the tips. I will see if my local pool store can test the cell. I have already looked at the plates and they are clean. I have to clean them every couple weeks because our water is so hard down hear and the calcium builds up pretty rapidly. Could it possibly be that becuase I have to clean the cell so often with muratic acid, that this has caused the cell to deteriorate? The pool water right now is still a cool 84 degrees thanks to the 100 degree outside temp here in Arizona, so I dont think cold water is the issue.
Frequent cleaning can shorten the lifetime of the cell. That effect is not usually dramatic. It is plausible that it has moved you toward the short end of the normal lifetime (typically 3 to 5 years), but you can't be certain of that.
j.killi said:
I had that same problem with one of my pools. You have to lock in the pH. Lower the TA down to 70ppm-80ppm and that will lock in the pH. If the pH swings way up all the time the CSI might be going too much in the + and cause scale to form in the cell. I was cleaning the cell every 2 weeks also until I dropped my TA down to where the pH stopped moving up and I was able to then keep CSI below 0. CH was 490ppm in this pool so CSI tended to swing too much in the + cause pH kept bouncing up high.
as Jason said too frequent cleaning will shorten the life of the cell. To avoid that keep CSI just under 0 but balanced. but to do this lock in the pH to make sure CSI doesn't swing so high as to scale up the cell.