pentair rainbow autochlorinator not working?

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T

thptrek

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Bronze Supporter
Dec 18, 2014
32
Houston, TX
I have loaded the chamber with chlorine tablets and have set the setting on the unit to the highest yet I am not building up any FC. I checked the chamber and it doesn't appear that water is circulating through the chamber. Could the flow valve be clogged? How can I check? Thanks.

Tom
 
Not sure how to address your problem other than to highly recommend you stop using the tablets unless you understand exactly all the things they are doing to your water.

They are not a good solution in area where there is little rain fall and you do not partially drain for the winter.

Since the pool is still pretty new, you might not have gotten the CYA out of control yet. Are you tracking the number of tablets you use and how quickly your CYA is rising?

Have you read these in Pool School?:
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool
 
I'm not familiar with the unit, but you might check this link:

Pentair Rainbow 300 Chlorinator Tips & Troubleshooting

That being said, most of us here tend to shy away from dichlor/trichlor tablets, and for good reason. Long story short, tablets contain cyanuric acid (CYA). The CYA addition to pool water via the tablets is cumulative. The higher the CYA content in the pool, the greater the free chlorine (FC) requirements are. This is all covered in great detail in the links jblizzle provided.

Most of the posters here maintain their FC levels either manually with liquid chlorine (aka bleach) or via a salt water chlorine generator.
 
I have the same issue with chlorine level not rising. I don't plan to switch to liquid or other methods. I paid for a chlorinator and want it to work. Service crew apparently came out today and moved the valve adjuster to the top of the chlorinator and plugged the bottom one. Not real sure what that will accomplish.. Have you taken the line off to see if it's clear? If you turn the pump on no water enters after increasing the valve? They thought since I was on a lower speed most of the time it wasn't enough volume. Do you have a variable speed pump? I just put a puck in each skimmer this weekend for a bit. I'll call them tomorrow to see what they found, maybe it'll help you also.


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Keithb said:
I have the same issue with chlorine level not rising. I don't plan to switch to liquid or other methods. I paid for a chlorinator and want it to work. Service crew apparently came out today and moved the valve adjuster to the top of the chlorinator and plugged the bottom one. Not real sure what that will accomplish.. Have you taken the line off to see if it's clear? If you turn the pump on no water enters after increasing the valve? They thought since I was on a lower speed most of the time it wasn't enough volume. Do you have a variable speed pump? I just put a puck in each skimmer this weekend for a bit. I'll call them tomorrow to see what they found, maybe it'll help you also.


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Click to expand...

Using tablets in Texas is a really bad idea. The chlorinator is a sunk cost, don't let yourself cost you more problems in the future.

Btw, never put tablets in your skimmer unless you are running they pump 24/7 and running the pump that much is rarely needed.
 
Guess he is lucky, or has a different definition of "normal". The stabilizer will build up and if you do not replace a lot of water each year, the required chlorine level to keep the pool safe will also go up.
 
Welcome to the Forum Tom!

Pucks are ok for a while, and occasionaly, but pretty soon you will want a good test on the Cya to find out what it is and keep track of it.

When they add enough Cya (stabilizer) to the pool and the FC dips too low, that's when you'll have problems.

Tom, there is a new post Right Here that shows you why we have the mentality that we do about the use of inline Chlorine as the sole source of FC. Eventually, they become a problem. If you stay on the forum during the upcoming season, you will see many, many more with the same circumstances.
 

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Check your CYA and then check this chart, Chlorine CYA Chart. As CYA goes up chlorine has to go up too. Once you get to CYA level of 100 you have to maintain chlorine at 12ppm. After that you have to start draining your pool and refilling to reduce the CYA level.
 
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