Can SWG become less effective with age?

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C

cuzpool

0
May 16, 2016
21
Mississauga, ON, Canada
Our T-CELL-15 is on it's 5th year. I've noticed this year, it seemed like I need it on a lot longer to keep the same levels as last year - about twice as long. I had one error message last week to check the cell. I cleaned it out. Message went away for now. I also gave it the acid bath when I opened this year as it was detecting lower salt readings compared to my test kid. Just wasn't sure when it died, if it was a binary event, or if it slowly goes.

The board shows 24.18V and 6.41A right now. It's working - just not as well.
 
cuz,

Yes.. SWCGs get used up overtime, generally about 10,000 hours. Most cells last 4 to 5 years, some less many more...

Since your numbers are about dead center of the spec, you might have something in your pool consuming your FC..

To confirm, I would run an OCLT... Here are the specific directions... but the important part is testing after dark and sorry... before sunrise...

Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
 
Hmm - or there isn't enough stabilizer in. I just did a test for CYA and it was under 50. I'm using this liquid stabilizer - based on my pool size and the instructions, I would need 6 jugs of that to get to 80. I definitely didn't add that much last year. The pool store looked at my like I was crazy. They said you usually need 1. Don't want to be conspiracy, but is it common for them to guide lower on stabilizer?
 
Cuz,

Your CYA has a direct relationship to how quickly your FC will burn off. Too little CYA will cause you to run your SWCG at a higher output to keep up with the demand.

Even going from 70 ppm to 80 ppm will make a noticeable difference.

I'm not sure how big a jug of Liquid Stabilizer is, but pool math says a 128 oz. should raise your FC by about 14, so 6 jugs sounds like a lot to me too...

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Yes, CYA < 50ppm is BAD for SWG pools. You need higher stabilizer levels to allow the cell to keep up. Use granular CYA, it's far cheaper than liquid.
 
I think Jim had a typo in there, you should need 280 ounces of liquid stabilizer to raise the CYA from 50 to 80 in your pool.

Look for the granular CYA which will be around 7 pounds, as this will be much cheaper like Matt pointed out.
 
Thanks guys - yeah, confused. I swore I put this liquid stuff in last year and was over 70. No issues. I'm looking at the bottle, and it says - it's Canada, so all metric - 3.78L container will raise 40,000L pool from 0 to 32PPM. I've got about 100K L. I'm thinking - when I opened last 2 years, I must have had more stabilizer in the water when I opened. And almost nothing this year. I did use a Taylor test kit on this.

It is expensive - I'm being lazy as I find the granules a pain to get in and get dissolved.
 
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