Trouble with salt chlorinator

[Yogignome]

Hi all, here’s the issue (I’ve attached pictures for reference):

1) Pentair iChlor is blinking red and green on the salt indicator
2) Flow indicator is solid red; no light for “cell.”
3) Panel diagnostics show 0ppm for salt

Pool info:
It’s a cartridge filter system
~11,000 gallons
Cell is about 3 years old and shows 5289 when I press the “More” button.

Our pool cleaning company has been adding chlorine tabs for the past couple of weeks and didn’t tell me about this issue until I went out and discovered it. The salt cell was supposedly cleaned about a month ago and the filters were cleaned about 4-5 months ago. I’m hoping all I need to do is add salt??

Thoughts?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Y,

Without a good flow light nothing else matters as it just will not work.

In order to get a good salt light, there has to be good flow first.

Do you have a VS pump? If so, what speed is it running? Is it running at all?

When you stick you hand in front of a pool return do you have good flow or not?

What color is you water? Is if cloudy? If your filter was cleaned 4 or 5 months ago, it could certainly be clogged now.

Show us several pics of your equipment pad and a couple of your pool>

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Hi Yogi Welcome

One TFP reference here--> www.troublefreepool.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pentair_iChlor_SWG

Maddie

 

[Yogignome]

Y,

Without a good flow light nothing else matters as it just will not work.

In order to get a good salt light, there has to be good flow first.

Do you have a VS pump? If so, what speed is it running? Is it running at all?

When you stick you hand in front of a pool return do you have good flow or not?

What color is you water? Is if cloudy? If your filter was cleaned 4 or 5 months ago, it could certainly be clogged now.

Show us several pics of your equipment pad and a couple of your pool>

Thanks,

Jim R.

Attached pics as requested.

It’s an in-floor cleaning system so forgive my ignorance but how do you check the return?

Yes on the variable speed pump. It runs on low for about 10 hours daily, high for about 4 hours daily. It is running.

Water is clear.

 

[Yogignome]

Attached pics as requested.

It’s an in-floor cleaning system so forgive my ignorance but how do you check the return?

Yes on the variable speed pump. It runs on low for about 10 hours daily, high for about 4 hours daily. It is running.

Water is clear.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Y,

If you have an IFCS then you might not have a good place to check the flow.

How about your waterfalls, do they look ok when you turn then on?

Has your cell always been in the same orientation? I ask because it appears that the flow switch shows an arrow pointing UP and the plumbing pics show the water is flowing DOWN. This means one of two things. When initially installed, someone turned the flow switch 180 degrees to make it work.. Or, they installed the cell upside down after it was cleaned.

Another thing you can do is to use your EasyTouch and crank up the pump speed and see if the SWCG gets a good flow light. If you can increase the speed and make the flow light come on, it means more than likely, your filter is dirty.

Nice looking pool BTW..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[an1vrsy]

Is it just me or is your iChor upside down? Image of the iChlor in post #1 shows the flow arrow pointing up. The image of the outlet from your filter in post #4 shows the flow going down into the iChlor

 

[Yogignome]

Is it just me or is your iChor upside down? Image of the iChlor in post #1 shows the flow arrow pointing up. The image of the outlet from your filter in post #4 shows the flow going down into the iChlor

I believe it’s upside down now that someone mentioned it!! It was just cleaned not too long ago so that could be the problem??

 

[Yogignome]

Y,

If you have an IFCS then you might not have a good place to check the flow.

How about your waterfalls, do they look ok when you turn then on?

Has your cell always been in the same orientation? I ask because it appears that the flow switch shows an arrow pointing UP and the plumbing pics show the water is flowing DOWN. This means one of two things. When initially installed, someone turned the flow switch 180 degrees to make it work.. Or, they installed the cell upside down after it was cleaned.

Another thing you can do is to use your EasyTouch and crank up the pump speed and see if the SWCG gets a good flow light. If you can increase the speed and make the flow light come on, it means more than likely, your filter is dirty.

Nice looking pool BTW..

Thanks,

Jim R.

I believe the cell is upside down now that you mention it! I’ll have to turn it around this weekend.

I’ll crank up the speed and see what happens. Thank you!!

 

[Yogignome]

We flipped the cell and the flow light is now green!! Yay!!

The salt light is still blinking green and red though. The readings are now 3950ppm.

 

[mknauss]

What does your testing show the salinity level to be?

 

[Yogignome]

What does your testing show the salinity level to be?

3950ppm now that we flipped the cell over.

 

[mknauss]

Your testing, not the cell. Do you have a salinity test kit, the K1766?

 

[Yogignome]

Your testing, not the cell. Do you have a salinity test kit, the K1766?

No, I don’t.

 

[mknauss]

The only way to properly manage a pool is with proper and accurate testing.
Read Pool Test Kits - Further Reading

 

[Jimrahbe]

Y,

I have an IntelliChlor SWCG. When it initially starts up, it will flash the red and green salt lights like a railroad crossing, for about 2 to 5 minutes while it tests for salt. Once it is done testing, it will either show a good salt level (Solid green) or a Bad salt level (Solid Red).

I suspect that your iChlor does the same thing.

Thanks,

Jim R.