Help with Intex saltwater generator

Jump to latest Follow Reply
R

RJ&JBright

0
May 8, 2012
3
Hi, my husband and I have just erected our first intex AGP, size 32' x16'x52", so we are new to this... Water testing we are familiar with as we have a hot tub. We have an Intex sand filter/pump SWG and a heat exchanger attached to the pool. It has now been running for about a week.
The Intex information said to add 165k salt, we have.
Right from the start the SWG alternated from 'working' to fault code '91', low salt. We turn it off, turn it back on and it goes to 'working', after 1 - 2 hours, it starts beeping code '91' again.

We believe that having added the recommended amount we shouldn't add more? Is this right?

We have tested the water with Aquachek white (salt) test strips. On the first test this morning it read about 3000 ppm, we did another and it kept rising?

Also checked other chemical levels with Insta 3 way/5 way test strips. They are not showing any chlorine, is this right? But all other levels are ok.

The water temp started off at 15 deg,and is slowing rising (now 18)but would that have any effect?
Should we add chlorine to be on the safe side? What else can/should we do to make sure SWG is working correctly? Any help greatly appreciated.
 
Welcome to TFP!

If you haven't already, give the salt 24 hours with the pump running to fully mix in before worrying about a low salt error code. If the low salt error persists beyond 24 hours, then by all means add a little more salt.

If the SWG is not maintaining the chlorine level, you need to do so manually until you can get the SWG working.

What is your CYA level? The SWG needs a CYA level around 70 to 80 to work correctly. All of the other levels also need to be balanced for everything to work correctly.
 
My first thought was that your water temp is too cold for the generator to work. But then if my memory is right 15 degrees celsius is 59 fahrenheit so it should be working as I believe it is supposed to work above 50 degrees fahrenheit. Your salt level sounds in range. How old is the unit? Is it still under warranty?
 
Thank you to both Jasonlion and Jamison04 for replying so quickly! We did run pump for over 24 hours. We didn't add CYA as we thought that was only a precaution against losing chlorine in high temperatures.im guessing thats not correct so will get that sorted ASAP. According to the Insta test strips all other levels are ok.
On the second salt test the range seemed to have increased to 6000 but I'm going to double check this. Unit was new when installed last week, do you think it may not be working correctly?
 
With CYA at, or close to, zero you will lose chlorine to sunlight more quickly than the SWG can add more. That explains what is happening as far as FC being zero. Adding CYA will greatly cut back on how much chlorine you lose to sunlight, and get things back in balance.

The salt test strips are often very good, but now and then they can be wildly wrong.
 
Wow! 6000! That is high. Definately retest just to make sure. If it truly is that high then the swg should be saying high salt not low. Jason is right about the cya. You must have that in range for the swg to work efficiently otherwise you are just burning off what it can produce via the sun or bather load. But regardless of cya level the swg should still produce chlorine. I agree for salt the strips are fairly accurate but not always 100%. Other than the salt not being completely dissolved in the water I don't really have any idea why it doesn't produce chlorine for you. :( Fwiw when we set ours up last year I put in exactly the amount of salt that the chart in the Intex manual called for for our volume of water and it has worked flawlessly unless the water temp got too cold (below 50) then it would say low salt. So over winter we just shut it off. Second season now and it has been working since march once the water warmed up so I wonder if you just got a bad unit??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply