Pentair Clean&Clear quality issues - Rust and Pressure Gauge thread breaking

[tron]

I have a Clean and Clear 420 installed in 2020. pH and chlorine are both controlled with IntelliChem/IntelliChlor (SWCG) connected to IntelliCenter. The band is rusted and the filter cartridges are fully discolored due to rust.

I use Pentair automation equipment and I thought it should maintain things by itself. ORP set to 760 (FC of 0.5 to 1, not using CYA since it's indoor and we don't really need it), pH set to 7.6. FC never gets too high and pH never gets too low, so those shouldn't contribute to rust. The worst that can happen is the opposite - when we don't add extra salt when water is topped up or when the acid tank is empty. Very disappointed with C&C rust - since I'm automating chemistry with Pentair IntelliCenter and one couldn't say there was user error in maintaining chlorine and pH levels.

C&C pressure gauge thread broke too - it's made of flimsy plastic. It flooded my entire equipment room and put the pool out of service. That's yet another disappointment with Clean and Clear.

Is anyone else facing rust or pressure gauge breaking issues with C&C?

PS. I originally posted this in this old thread. but starting new thread for better visibility.

 

[mknauss]

I have an 8 year old C&C Plus 240. No issues. Minor rust spots on the internal metal band at the weld points. As we have Colorado River water there is some iron in it, so get some iron discoloration over time. The pressure gauge is on the air relief valve. It is best to take that valve apart and lube the orings so it smoothly turns when needed. The pressure gauge on mine is still good and no issues. Equipment is in shade nearly all the time which is very important in this climate.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

One problem you might have is that you don’t use CYA. CYA is important in an indoor pool too, just not in the way you think. CYA serves as both a stabilizer to chlorine by reducing UV light photolysis but it also serves another purpose - it buffers chlorine by holding most of it in reserve. This means that the levels of hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite anion (both potent oxidizers) are low in concentration. As long as you maintain an appropriate FC/CYA ratio, then there is adequate sanitizer levels in the pool. If you do the math and chemistry, water with an FC of 3 and a CYA of 30ppm has 5X less free hypochlorous acid in the water than water with an FC of 1 and a CYA of zero.

Oxidizers can enhance the rate at which iron based materials rust and polymer materials breakdown. It doesn’t surprise me that you’re seeing more rust in your filter and that the plastic has degraded faster - your water is technically way more harsh than a standard outdoor pool that uses CYA.

I don’t recommend the IntelliChem systems because they force you to use low CYA in order to get the ORP control to work properly. ORP is not a direct measure of FC but a proxy for FC. Also, the IntelliChem systems do not allow SWG to operate at a fixed percentage, they completely override the output control so that if the IntelliChem calls for chlorine production, it runs the SWG at 100% output until the appropriate ORP output is reached. That can be very hard on an SWG cell and, of course, cause the FC to spike up. pH control is ok most of the time except for some of the weird dosing quirks that Pentair hard codes into their systems (hard limits on dosed amounts).

Either way, my guess is your water is getting too harsh and exposed materials are taking the brunt of that harshness.