Help with SWG

[gutterman]

I have a mineral springs and discovered it is an Aqua Rite unit pretty quick when I bought it 6 years ago. Opened the pool and the salt level reads 2300. Bought 2 80 lb bags of Morton White crystal water softner salt. Always bought pool salt before. Dumped one 80lb bag in and after two days no change. Pulled the cell off, mixed 25% muriatic acid, 75% water in a bucket and let it sit for 45 minutes. Pulled it out, sprayed it out and looked in cell. It looks good nothing like the pictures on Goldline's website of a bad cell. Looks new compared to those pictures. Saw what looked like a very small pc of a leaf buried in a hard to get spot. Sprayed wide open with a garden hose on that spot and it would not budge. Figured it might not be a leaf and left it alone. Other than this pc looks good. Reinstalled. Still reads 2300 but the "check cell" light is not flashing anymore. My questions-

Should I trust the unit's reading of salt? I ordered a salt test kit from the link on this website but that's not going to be here for a few days.

Did I use the right salt?

Should I wait for the test kit before poring in the other 80lb bag?

Is it getting time to buy a new cell? I see they are around $400

By the way-Waterbear's sticky for SWG water balance is dead on!! For years I have puzzled over the ever rising PH problem. I must have bought 12 gallons of acid every season. Pool Store said "we don't know", "that's the way it is", "do you know what you are doing?". The a few years later "It's all the borates!" Huh? As soon as I get this SWG working I plan to

CYA 70-80
TA 80
PH 7.6
Buy some borates

Anybody know a way to measure borates?

 

[JasonLion]

LaMotte borate test strips are your best bet for borate testing.

It can take meter in a SWG a day or two to adjust to and properly reflect salt you have added.

The salt sounds right, the right kind usually comes in a blue bag.

How many gallons in your pool?

 

[miller9951]

First and formost you need to have your salt level tested before adding ANY salt. I made the mistake of listening to Hayward customer support and the end result was that they had me add to much salt to my pool and I had to drain the pool and refill to get the correct level of salt. As far as the borates I know that Aquachek and LaMotte both make dip test strips.

 

[Guest]

The LaMotte strips are far superior to the AquaChek and Proteam strips.
If you cell is 6 years old it might be at the end of it's useful life. You can try calling Goldline support (I believe they do offer support for the Mineral Springs units) and they can do some over the phone diagnostics based on the amperage and voltage that is displayed on the readout if you have a unit with a digital display.

A cell that is reading low when the salt level is not is usually one that is failing if cleaning the cell does not have an effect. Test your salt level before making any decision.