Intellichlor IC60 low salt reading

Jump to latest Follow Reply
C

CraigMW

0
LifeTime Supporter
May 19, 2011
697
Orange County, CA
Our recently installed Intellichlor IC60 is reporting VERY LOW SALT at 2750 ppm. However, if I measure with the Taylor salt kit (K1776?), that test measures the salt at 3400 ppm. Here are the details of the water as tested today...

pH: 7.4
FC: 8.5
CC: 0.5
TA: 110
CYA: 80
CH: 480
NaCl: 2750 (IC60 reading) vs. 3400 (Taylor K1776 result)

BTW, the IC60 is running for 8hr/day at 80%. I'm seeing a small amount of yellow algae on the walls of the pool, so I'll probably throw more liquid chlorine in there. But, I'm also wondering if the IC60 might need to be cleaned and that's the reason it's suddenly reading such a low level of salt (this has changed from about 3150 to 2750 over the last few days). Perhaps such high CH means I need to clean the cell more often than if the CH level were on target?

Thanks.... Craig
 
Your TA of 110 is way to high for a SWG pool.
You need to bring it down to between 60-80, this helps pH regulate due to the aeration of the water inside the cell.
Your pH is a bit too low, it is recommended to keep it at 7.5-7.8, adding acid when it hits 7.8 to bring it back down to 7.5/7.6.
This is CRITICALLY important, otherwise you will get scale buildup.
It is ideal to have a lower CH, but it shouldn't be a big deal, so long as that's coming from high CH in your fill water, just keep your pH in line and lower your TA, this will keep scale buildup down and reduce premature cell failure.

If pH continues to be a problem after doing this, you may consider adding borates to help, it's not a fix all, but it helps. Each pool being different, some more than others, some less. Either way, it makes the water sparkle, has algaestatic properties and feels good on the skin.

Of immediate importance, if you truly have an algae outbreak, which combined with your cell that is more than likely suffering from scale buildup, hence the low salt reading, thus not outputting CL like it should, I'm sure you do have an algae problem by what you have said. So 8.5ppm is nowhere near your shock level of 30ppm.

Follow the shock instructions in Pool School for a standard shock with numbers as mentioned here, then, once you pass all 3 criteria, follow it up at the end with yellow/mustard shock levels for 24hrs.
What you describe, sounds like the presence of such algae and only this will kill it completely.
You should also lower the pH to 7.2 before shocking as CL is more effective at lower pH levels and it will rise during the shock process due to the high CL levels.
Note: pH tests are ineffective above a FC of 10ppm, so don't bother testing pH once you go above that. Just lower it 1st, then start the shock process.
Defeating Algae - The Shock Process & Links to Adl. Info
Mustard Algae Shock Process - Following Normal Shock

Also, your 80% run time may be able to be reduced once you get the cell cleaned up and the pool cleared up, then things will run more efficiently.

For daily use, that level is unnecessarily high for a SWG pool!
It should be no less than 4ppm, test 30min before the cell turns on for the day as CL will be at it's lowest and target for 6ppm, adjust accordingly based on CL demand and subsequent loss throughout the day.

Have a look at this for further info.
Water Balance for SWGs

Have fun, hope that helps you out. :)
 
Thanks for the comments, y-not. I agree that the TA is way too high and the pH is on the low side, but I've been struggling over the last month to get the TA down using aeration and muriatic acid. So far, I've gotten it down from where it started at, 170. As a result, the pH is currently quite low due to addition of acid, but will creep up due to the aeration. This cycle repeats each week or so, and I am definitely making progress, but it's quite slow. The high CH is probably a result of having a pool guy who insisted on using trichlor despite my protestations (he is no longer in my employ). In addition, our local water does have a rather high level (around 350 ppm).

I'll go ahead and shock the pool with liquid chlorine to deal with the algae. I assume I will also need to deal with acid buildup in the cell, so I'll need to clean it. If I'm still getting a low salt reading after cleaning, I guess I'll need to add some salt as well. I've read others having different readings on their SWCG vs. using a test kit.

Thanks again!
 
bk406 said:
My guess is the temp of the pool is throwing off the salt reading.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I don't think so. It was reading normally for the last couple of weeks with the temp. averaging between 73 and 74. Would the temp. of the water throw the unit that far off? Also, in the manual for the Intellichlor, it says that a VERY LOW SALT reading should come up when the salt concentration goes below 2600, and mine is showing this error at 2700 PPM. Maybe I'm nitpicking here, but it does seem strange.
 
I looked removed the cell from the plumbing to have a look at the cell today. I could see no obvious buildup on the plates themselves, but could see what appeared to be white porous buildup on either side of the cell inside. I will definitely do an acid clean once I get the cleaning kit. I didn't expect to need it this soon, but then read that you need to acid wash every 2 months in pools with high CH.
 
BTW, I added 4 40lb bags of salt, and now the reading is up to 3650!?! Based on the pool calculator, I should have added a little over 200 lb to get to 3400. I've been pretty close to being accurate in terms of the pool volume in the past, so this seems very odd behavior. Before adding salt, I measured with the K1776 kit and that read 3200 PPM using 20 ml of water. I'll have to see what it reads now. I hope it remains stable for a while!
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
When I added salt a few weeks ago, the PC called for close to 10 bags to bring to 3400. I added 8 bags to take it to 2700. After testing, it brought it up to 3400!!! Luckily I went on the low side initially. Not sure if this is an issue with the PC or what.
 
phipsi1237 said:
When I added salt a few weeks ago, the PC called for close to 10 bags to bring to 3400. I added 8 bags to take it to 2700. After testing, it brought it up to 3400!!! Luckily I went on the low side initially. Not sure if this is an issue with the PC or what.
Click to expand...

I think I checked too early. Now the Intellichlor is reading 3350, which makes more sense. I think it could have been due to having the automatic cleaner running. It probably was picking up undisolved salt on the bottom, leading to an artificially high reading. I should have heeded the note in the manual that says to let the salt mix for 24h before taking an acurate reading.
 
I love it when I get impatient with something, then beat my head against the wall because things aren't going right. Only to discover in the end, that ooops, I should have waited. GREAT!!!
Really fun when it ruins something. AAHK!
Almost as bad when all you have lost is time, maybe a little money. :(

Cheering you on though!! You can do it, beat it into submission. :hammer:

BTW, you mentioned having to order a cleaning kit? How come?
Just soak it in household vinegar and call it a day. Is there some reason that's ill advised with your unit?

Also, as long as you keep TA & pH in check as I mentioned, you should be fine with scale buildup from the high CH. It'll keep it down to a minimum. But of course, you should still inspect the cell regularly throughout the season and clean accordingly.
 
Y-not:

The Intellichlor cannot just be placed into vinegar (or muriatic acid), as this would damage the internal electronics. The cell itself is not removable. Thus, it is necessary to plug one side of the unit with their "cleaning kit" which is merely a screw on union with a plug and o-ring. This is screwed onto one side, the unit is placed down onto this, and 7.25% MA is poured into the open end. I did this yesterday and noticed quite a bit of bubbling. I did see a significant amount of white "scale" on the two outside plates (the inside ones were devoid of any obvious scale). I let the MA sit in the unit about 5 minutes, during which it bubbled quite a bit. I poured this out and added fresh MA, at which point no additional bubbles were observed. After hooking the unit back up, it read about 3800 ppm. About 18h later and now it appears to have stabilized to 3500. In any event, I should not need to add anymore salt for a while.

I'm slowly starting to get the TA down, as it's around 100 now. I plan to get it down to about 60 and then keep the pH at around 7.6. The chlorine levels are still quite high, as this is in order to kill off any algae. My FC is 21ppm and CC is 0.5.

Cheers....

Craig
 
Ah, I'm back to a low salt reading on the IC60 again! Even though it really hasn't been running much due to low water temp (low 60's), it is reading that the salt level is down around 2600 with a Very Low Salt error message. I guess it is time to do another acid cleaning because the Taylor 1776 test reads 3600. All other water tests look pretty good, except the CH level which remains high. Unfortunately, there seems to be little I do about that due to our high water hardness here in SoCal. But, my TA is now at 70, so I'm quite happy with that. I still need to add MA every couple of weeks, but not a big deal. The water itself is crystal clear.
 
Craig first off the Intellichlor readings are plus or minus 200ppm. Second when acid washing use a solution of 4 to 1 pour it into the cell and leave it until it stops bubbling, rinse, reinstall. Don't acid wash any more than is necessary, the more acid washing the less life it will give.
 
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