Salt cell prices gone through the roof

[jan verbeem]

I think it's genuine.
With the cell was the wrong warranty card included, hence the serial didn't match with anything on the box or the cell.
I sent back the cell, and they fixed the rattling, and included the correct warranty card.
This is the reply from the seller.

Our engineer team have asked the supplier to inspect and found that the cell sheet is in normal condition no need to replacement the cell. Which this case, the supplier advise the engineer to adjust the cell sheet placement in the slot to be aligned with the upper lock for better density.
*Since the Tri-large 35g/h cell is longer than the Tri-Compact 25g/h cell and the 18g/h cell, and also has a locking point on the top, there is a chance that the cell sheet may move slightly.

Fluidra, which is the official Zodiac distributor worldwide, already confirmed that the cell was genuine.

Contact Us Pool Professionals | Zodiac Australia

Contact us if you have a query or comment regarding Zodiac products or this website. We endeavour to respond to all requests within 48 hours of receiving them.

www.zodiac.com.au

About Fluidra

We are a leading company in the global pool & wellness industry. Fluidra, a Spanish multinational listed group, is a leading global company dedicated to the pool and wellness sector.

www.fluidra.com

 

[jan verbeem]

But now back to a previous question, to which nobody replied.
All cells I have had so far fail when the middle plate stent at the back oxidizes, as in the picture attached, and finally breaks.
Is this normal, or does it indicate an issue with my setup or power ?

 

[jan verbeem]

Another question.
I haven't installed the new cell yet, because the other one is still performing.
Can I just install the cell for a few days to test if it performs well, then remove again and store until the other one dies?

 

[Mdragger88]

Another question.
I haven't installed the new cell yet, because the other one is still performing.
Can I just install the cell for a few days to test if it performs well, then remove again and store until the other one dies?

I don’t see why not. Or just keep the new one in & save the old for backup? Since the warranty will be ticking on the new one whether you use it or not.

 

[jan verbeem]

I don’t see why not. Or just keep the new one in & save the old for backup? Since the warranty will be ticking on the new one whether you use it or not.

Thanks for the advice of keeping the old one as backup, I hadn't thought of that.
My main concern was that once the plates had been in salt water, it would stick to them and deteriorate while stored.

 

[PoolStored]

My main concern was that once the plates had been in salt water, it would stick to them and deteriorate while stored.

The salt level is very low and wouldn't really be an issue. Just rinse the cell before storing.

 

[chlorinatorpro]

I can only speak for generic Hayward cells but I have noticed since the beginning of summer that a flood of really inexpensive Chinese cells have hit the USA market (some would call it dumping). Prices of $150 below normal for t-15 equivalent. Common denominator is that a dozen online auto parts sellers who also have set up some private swimming pool brands (thru eBay and Amazon) are the vendor. Quick research shows that one company owns all those "online stores". Most certainly all the cells are 3000 hour cells (under optimum conditions) designed to fail at 14-15 months. if you are ok with that. I think the overall strategy here is these new sellers all sell the same products and the owners try to sell the online stores as a FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) business because that is what is super hot right now. You may get covered under the one year warranty if the cell fails in first 60-90 days but chances rapidly decline the closer you get to one year. Folks are falling for the cheap prices just like they did for the saltpoolstore.com scam . There are only a few suppliers in China that manufacture salt cells. Many claim to but they are only distributors who lie about their mfg capabilities. They also supply the Australian market.

A further update has revealed that this is one Chinese seller who is operating an umbrella of online generic auto part stores selling in the USA. They have now added swimming pool salt cells. The company ships to their own warehouses around the country but as far as i can tell do not have support personnel here to answer questions or do troubleshooting in case something goes wrong with the product other than a shipping issue. One of the cell manufacturers in China has cut a deal with this reseller which allows them to essentially cut out American resellers. Warranty is handled out of China even though you think you are speaking to someone in the USA. Strangely (or maybe not so strangely) some of the distribution centers mirror the locations of saltpoolstore.com . Not saying it's the same guy but just coincidental imo. I have a feeling this is going to put a lot of USA based resellers of generic salt cells out of business because the prices are too low to compete with. My guess is that they are 3000 hour cells. (essentially warranty cells). Won't know until summer/fall of 2025 if that is the case and if so, I'd expect this seller to quietly stop selling salt cells and the customer is left holding the bag.

 

[chlorinatorpro]

A further update has revealed that this is one Chinese seller who is operating an umbrella of online generic auto part stores selling in the USA. They have now added swimming pool salt cells. The company ships to their own warehouses around the country but as far as i can tell do not have support personnel here to answer questions or do troubleshooting in case something goes wrong with the product other than a shipping issue. One of the cell manufacturers in China has cut a deal with this reseller which allows them to essentially cut out American resellers. Warranty is handled out of China even though you think you are speaking to someone in the USA. Strangely (or maybe not so strangely) some of the distribution centers mirror the locations of saltpoolstore.com . Not saying it's the same guy but just coincidental imo. I have a feeling this is going to put a lot of USA based resellers of generic salt cells out of business because the prices are too low to compete with. My guess is that they are 3000 hour cells. (essentially warranty cells). Won't know until summer/fall of 2025 if that is the case and if so, I'd expect this seller to quietly stop selling salt cells and the customer is left holding the bag.

Asked the eBay seller, who I think answers with a combination of AI and their own Pidgeon English, about the rated hours of their T-15 cell. The response was "Friend, this product has no battery. The service life is more than 5000 hours. Please rest assured that our products have a one-year warranty, you can rest assured that you can use! They were willing to go as low as $319 (originally $359) although I really didn't push them hard. Something in my gut tells me to stay away but thought i would pass on this information to anyone who may be interested or apprehensive about these sellers.

 

[Mdragger88]

Asked the eBay seller, who I think answers with a combination of AI and their own Pidgeon English, about the rated hours of their T-15 cell. The response was "Friend, this product has no battery. The service life is more than 5000 hours. Please rest assured that our products have a one-year warranty, you can rest assured that you can use! They were willing to go as low as $319 (originally $359) although I really didn't push them hard. Something in my gut tells me to stay away but thought i would pass on this information to anyone who may be interested or apprehensive about these sellers.

 

[tcat]

Agreed, even a Circupool at $600 seems high, since mine only lasted 3 years. I never spent $200 per year on LC, although at today's prices it's probably break even. It's still well worth SWG for convenience alone.

 

[Mdragger88]

Agreed, even a Circupool at $600 seems high, since mine only lasted 3 years. I never spent $200 per year on LC, although at today's prices it's probably break even. It's still well worth SWG for convenience alone.

The bigger the pool the faster the roi with a swcg. In the peak of summer (mid may -mid sept) my 25k gal pool can drink 1 gallon of 10% liquid gold a day.
That’s roughly $600 ($5/day) & thats only 4 months out of my 7 month season. My $450 pureline 40k cell paid for itself before its 1st season ended. This double priced liquid chlorine doesn’t seem to be going away. Yes, The cells went up in price but they didn’t double like lc. I really miss $1.98/gal 10%

 

[tcat]

The bigger the pool the faster the roi with a swcg. In the peak of summer (mid may -mid sept) my 25k gal pool can drink 1 gallon of 10% liquid gold a day.
That’s roughly $600 ($5/day) & thats only 4 months out of my 7 month season. My $450 pureline 40k cell paid for itself before its 1st season ended. This double priced liquid chlorine doesn’t seem to be going away. Yes, The cells went up in price but they didn’t double like lc. I really miss $1.98/gal 10%

Agreed. My pool was only taking about 24oz LC per day. 17k gallons mostly in the shade. Pretty sure dropping from a 1.7# cell to 1.2# will be more than enough.

 

[chlorinatorpro]

They were willing to go as low as $319 (originally $359) although I really didn't push them hard. Something in my gut tells me to stay away but thought i would pass on this information to anyone who may be interested or apprehensive about these sellers.

It's only been two weeks and the prices have dropped to the $260 area for some eBay and Amazon sellers of generic t-15 cells (all auto parts stores). I contacted one of the sellers again, figuring that their record keeping is shoddy, and told them I had a problem with a cell purchased from them a few months ago. They could only answer the most basic of questions and instead passed me on to an email address that I recognized immediately was one of a Chinese supplier that I had dealt with in the past. They had a hard time answering the question and their solution was for me to ship the cell back to China so they could inspect and diagnose. When asked what do I do in the meantime with a missing cell, they suggested buying another one from the original seller. Yea right, I see the scam in progress. IMO buyer beware (as the saltpoolstore.com scam make have popped up again in a different form).

 

[Mdragger88]

@chlorinatorpro I think there should be like a 60 minutes piece on this subject and you should be the star !
Your investigative journalist skills are top notch

 

[revitup]

Fwiw, I watched prices of replacements for my cell for months. When I saw a one somewhat below the still high average, I went ahead and bought an extra. It's nice to have the spare just in case. And, it's effectively an investment making the pool industry inflation rate - which seems to be about 20% since 2020 - in interest .

The problem is your warranty began the day you bought it and so it could be out of warranty by the time it’s installed.

 

[generessler]

The problem is your warranty began the day you bought it and so it could be out of warranty by the time it’s installed.

It's a pretty small risk in my case. The warranty is only a year. That's why the price was so good. My current cell is already 3 years in and going strong. The rest of the unit is 2006 vintage.

 

[jan verbeem]

eBay and Amazon sellers of generic t-15 cells (all auto parts stores).

This may sound off topic, but thought leave it here anyway.
My business involves selling Android TV boxes, and lately there are quite a new Chinese sellers on Ebay and Lazada etc who offer the latest boxes at dump prices.
Coincidental, they also are all registered as auto part stores

 

[Mdragger88]

This may sound off topic, but thought leave it here anyway.
My business involves selling Android TV boxes, and lately there are quite a new Chinese sellers on Ebay and Lazada etc who offer the latest boxes at dump prices.
Coincidental, they also are all registered as auto part stores

There’s an apple repair guy I follow on YouTube and he did a whole video on some of these types of mass sellers - many with good ratings. Touting warranties etc.
There’s some explanation on Reddit about it as well but the jest is that they list things and sell them, get the ratings then change the description to a different product (often something totally different) instead of making a new listing.
in the case of many of the refurbished apple products the various sellers are actually only a few different ones as may sometimes be revealed by their address.
I have found this to often be true with other electronic sellers as well.
eBay and other marketplaces are the wild west for sure. This doesn’t mean everything on eBay/ similar marketplaces is bad but it does mean the consumer must protect themselves. I’ve found some very reputable merchants and repair shops for niche stuff through ebay that I wouldn’t have found otherwise.

 

[tcat]

Now I can't decide between getting a new cell or the whole system. Discount Salt Pool has Edge-40 system for $895! So for the extra $300 over cell cost, you get a spare control, flow valve, and new "warranty".

 

[chlorinatorpro]

Took another month but I've seen prices as low as $219 for some of these generic t-15 cells from online auto parts stores. I think most buyers are realizing the "too good to be true" pricing and are not purchasing in volume. However enough people will buy and then eventually complain, which will put another stain on the rest of the honest generic resellers.

Merry Christmas everyone!