How to prevent another cascade of failures? Hayward AQR15 ;-(

[nousername]

I think a cascade of failures in my pool equipment killed my salt cell. (no explosions necessary )

I have a Hayward Goldline AQR15 AquaRite Electronic Salt Chlorination System on a timer synced up with schedule of my variable speed pump.

So here is what seemed to happen:

• The flow valve for the salt system failed in the closed position so that it always showed there was flow even if the pump was off. (I did not notice this to later though.)
• My kids who create tsunamis in the pool caused the skimmer door stop to break off
• The broken skimmer door stop allowed the skimmer door to rotate out towards the pool and it then broke wedging it in the skimmer hole.
• This broken skimmer door blocked the flow into to the skimmer causing my pump to run dry and shut off.
• Since my flow switch was failed in the closed position the salt cell continued to run without flow killing the cell.

I found this by going out and I testing the pool water and chlorine was at nearly 0. So, I then noticed the pump was empty and it shut off because it was dry. I reset the pump and turned it on. It could not get primed which was weird for my current setup. I then found the broken skimmer door and removed that. The pump then started fine and I switched on my salt cell. The check salt and inspect cell lights were both on and solid. The salt level reading was way off. Removed the cell it was rather clean and scraped it with a wood shim. Reinstalled with no change. I tried resetting the salt level a few times. Each time I did the reading would alternate between 2600 and 1100. The salt was 3400-3500 with the Taylor k-1766 test. I messed with the cell more before taking it to the pool store where it tested bad.

I got a new cell and put it in. It started generating immediately. Then while working on it I accidently turned the pump off first and then reached over to switch off the salt system and it still said it had flow. After replacing the flow switch now everything works as normal. YAY!!!


So how do I prevent it from happening again or is this too much of a freak event to worry about?

Do I add in a current sensing switch, is there a realistic way to know if the flow valve fails in the closed position, or something else?

 

[ajw22]

All sort of things you can McGyver into your pool system...

• Install a flow switch and that illuminates a red light in your house when there is no flow. Of course you need to look at the red light occasionally and know if that is the normal no flow time or not.
• Put a camera over your pool equipment so you can view if it is operating properly. Of course you need to check the cam view occasionally.
• Put a second flow switch in series with the existing flow switch. Now it will take two flow switches to fail before your SWG self destructs but that will happen eventually if you don;t check them occasionally.
• Build a Raspberry PI systems with a bunch of sensors and program logic to prevent your failures. Good luck testing and debugging it.
• There are threads of folks who have built current sensing systems for their pumps that turn the SWG on and off.

Really I think you need to give your pool a bit more attention and checkout the proper functions more often. I doubt that flow switch failed yesterday or last week. It has probably been failed for a long time and waiting for you to find it.

The skimmer door stop has probably been fragile for a while before it broke.

 

[nousername]

Thanks. I assume that to test if the flow switch I would have to try running the salt cell without flow or test for continuity regularly. Is there another way? I did not think of needing to check the flow switch regularly to see if it is stuck closed. It was not a check specified in the manual but I can do that.

 

[ajw22]

Thanks. I assume that to test if the flow switch I would have to try running the salt cell without flow or test for continuity regularly. Is there another way? I did not think of needing to check the flow switch regularly to see if it is stuck closed. It was not a check specified in the manual but I can do that.

Just turn off the pump and observe if the SWG stays powered or goes off.

You must backwash your filter once in a while and turn the pump off.

 

[nousername]

Thanks. That what I was thinking.

 

[chiefwej]

It’s rare that flow switch fails closed. Much more common to fail open, showing no flow.