Hi folks:
I'm a new pool owner - opened in early July this year - and I am not sure my salt cell is working properly and I'm getting conflicting advice from different pool chemical companies as to what is the problem or what to do about it, whether having salt that is too high (in a low-salt system) is a major issue or not an issue at all - and I'm at my wits end. Everyone has said how easy and low maintenance salt pools are but I feel like we've been constantly chasing problems all summer and that the salt cell was either not working properly, or not installed properly or something.
Overall, I've been able to get a chlorine reading just once this summer on the pool, and have had to regularly super chlorinate using ShockIt packs instead to superclorinate. The Aquarite Low Salt (Turbocell T-CELL-LS-CUL, serial 3E21202-202955), was installed by a pool builder. I noticed a few weeks after install it had been set to "AL-1" instead of "AL-0" - and so I made that switch and after doing so it more accurately read the salt numbers (but still not super accurate), and was less likely to read "low salt" and turn itself off. As we thought we had low salt, we added some more earlier this summer, and our water tested at 3200ppm - the first pool company said that was fine to be high for the AquaRite Low Salt system. Alkalinaty was consistently high (~180) and Ph around 8, and they recommended only adjusting down the PH, not worrying about the alkalinity as it wasn't 'too' high. So, we worked on reducing PH, adding stabilizer to help the chlorine be more effective, but didn't address the alkalinity based on their advice (which, now that I'm learning more I think is incorrect, and I should have adjusted that first).
However, as I began to wonder if their advice was sound - I took my water to a larger pool company tested the water using the computerized Taylor SureTreat system, and it tested the salt at 3700ppm, and they said that the salt was so high it could damage the AquaRite Low Salt cell and burn it out, if it hadn't already, and recommended we immediately drain a large amount of water and add fresh, then re-test (at which point to address the alkalinity etc, which was by then super high at 215ppm).
So, we've drained some water (not a ton yet, a few inches at at time, twice) and refilled (twice), and since doing this our salt cell is not registering appropriate numbers at all, nor staying on consistently (so, back to it's old tricks). When I measure by a home salt test it says we are about 2900ppm, so, still need to come down a bit on salt, but we're going in the right direction. My question is: for the AquaRite Low Salt - user manual says 1200ppm-1800ppm, and that it will shut down if the salt is too LOW, which makes sense, there's not enough there to make chlorine. However I can't find out if/whether the salt cell will shut off if it is too High, I see people reference keeping the salt ~400ppm higher than listed on the user manual - but what is the high end cutoff? Is there a high-end cutoff for the LowSalt system? We have a 'high salt' light - but it has never once turned on - and the display in the box just says "N/A" for action for a continuous or flashing light. Even when our salt has been tested as high at a pool store, the High salt light has never turned on, and in fact it has almost always read Low.
For example, today: My salt test (AquaCheck) says ~2900ppm salt.
Readings (and I turned it on/off a couple of times to re-test), and I re-set the instant salt reading, are:
1. Salt: 1600 (turn on/off to re-test - 400, 200)
2. Temp: 81 (81, 81)
3. Cell Volt: 28.2 (29.2, 28.1)
4. Cell amp: 2.14 (1.46, 2.19, 1.02) *this seems to really vary, often it is at 0 when I check it - I wonder if this is too low for the cell type?
5. % output: (100 (100,99)
6. Instant salinity: -600 (-300, -200)
7. Product: AL-0
8. software: 1.62
9. Cell type: t-15 (Is the t-15 correct for the T-CELL-LS-CUL? I can't seem to find the code written anywhere - online/manual/cell itself, and t-15 is default).
The pool company said we could bring the salt cell in to get tested - but looking at the install - there's like 30 zip ties and nailed on brackets attaching this cord to the rest of the electrical and the shed, it would be a nightmare to remove it from the power source. The salt cell is installed horizontally. Is there a way to test it at home other than visually inspecting for buildup? Or, if a pool technician were to come out is that something they could test on-site?
I'm having a hard time finding any guidance online b/c all of the troubleshooting guides are for the regular salt systems used in the US, not the LowSalt system used in Canada.
Thanks so much,
Mel.K.
I'm a new pool owner - opened in early July this year - and I am not sure my salt cell is working properly and I'm getting conflicting advice from different pool chemical companies as to what is the problem or what to do about it, whether having salt that is too high (in a low-salt system) is a major issue or not an issue at all - and I'm at my wits end. Everyone has said how easy and low maintenance salt pools are but I feel like we've been constantly chasing problems all summer and that the salt cell was either not working properly, or not installed properly or something.
Overall, I've been able to get a chlorine reading just once this summer on the pool, and have had to regularly super chlorinate using ShockIt packs instead to superclorinate. The Aquarite Low Salt (Turbocell T-CELL-LS-CUL, serial 3E21202-202955), was installed by a pool builder. I noticed a few weeks after install it had been set to "AL-1" instead of "AL-0" - and so I made that switch and after doing so it more accurately read the salt numbers (but still not super accurate), and was less likely to read "low salt" and turn itself off. As we thought we had low salt, we added some more earlier this summer, and our water tested at 3200ppm - the first pool company said that was fine to be high for the AquaRite Low Salt system. Alkalinaty was consistently high (~180) and Ph around 8, and they recommended only adjusting down the PH, not worrying about the alkalinity as it wasn't 'too' high. So, we worked on reducing PH, adding stabilizer to help the chlorine be more effective, but didn't address the alkalinity based on their advice (which, now that I'm learning more I think is incorrect, and I should have adjusted that first).
However, as I began to wonder if their advice was sound - I took my water to a larger pool company tested the water using the computerized Taylor SureTreat system, and it tested the salt at 3700ppm, and they said that the salt was so high it could damage the AquaRite Low Salt cell and burn it out, if it hadn't already, and recommended we immediately drain a large amount of water and add fresh, then re-test (at which point to address the alkalinity etc, which was by then super high at 215ppm).
So, we've drained some water (not a ton yet, a few inches at at time, twice) and refilled (twice), and since doing this our salt cell is not registering appropriate numbers at all, nor staying on consistently (so, back to it's old tricks). When I measure by a home salt test it says we are about 2900ppm, so, still need to come down a bit on salt, but we're going in the right direction. My question is: for the AquaRite Low Salt - user manual says 1200ppm-1800ppm, and that it will shut down if the salt is too LOW, which makes sense, there's not enough there to make chlorine. However I can't find out if/whether the salt cell will shut off if it is too High, I see people reference keeping the salt ~400ppm higher than listed on the user manual - but what is the high end cutoff? Is there a high-end cutoff for the LowSalt system? We have a 'high salt' light - but it has never once turned on - and the display in the box just says "N/A" for action for a continuous or flashing light. Even when our salt has been tested as high at a pool store, the High salt light has never turned on, and in fact it has almost always read Low.
For example, today: My salt test (AquaCheck) says ~2900ppm salt.
Readings (and I turned it on/off a couple of times to re-test), and I re-set the instant salt reading, are:
1. Salt: 1600 (turn on/off to re-test - 400, 200)
2. Temp: 81 (81, 81)
3. Cell Volt: 28.2 (29.2, 28.1)
4. Cell amp: 2.14 (1.46, 2.19, 1.02) *this seems to really vary, often it is at 0 when I check it - I wonder if this is too low for the cell type?
5. % output: (100 (100,99)
6. Instant salinity: -600 (-300, -200)
7. Product: AL-0
8. software: 1.62
9. Cell type: t-15 (Is the t-15 correct for the T-CELL-LS-CUL? I can't seem to find the code written anywhere - online/manual/cell itself, and t-15 is default).
The pool company said we could bring the salt cell in to get tested - but looking at the install - there's like 30 zip ties and nailed on brackets attaching this cord to the rest of the electrical and the shed, it would be a nightmare to remove it from the power source. The salt cell is installed horizontally. Is there a way to test it at home other than visually inspecting for buildup? Or, if a pool technician were to come out is that something they could test on-site?
I'm having a hard time finding any guidance online b/c all of the troubleshooting guides are for the regular salt systems used in the US, not the LowSalt system used in Canada.
Thanks so much,
Mel.K.
I'm going to open-up this discussion to help get it some visibility and I'm sure others will reply soon. A few things that I wanted to point out:
