Pentair IC40 thinks it has 0 salt, level actually 3600 with drop test

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D

diy_darryl

Well-known member
Jul 20, 2014
52
St. Louis, Missouri
If it matters, recently did an Ascorbic Acid treatment.

Water got cloudy on us in the first 2 days and Easytouch panel suddenly thought salt was really high. As water cleared up salt level came down to ‘normal’. Still adding bleach and PH is 6.8 (do we need to start raising this?)

Suddenly our LOW SALT light is RED and the easytouch panel says SALT IS 0 ppm. Did a drop test and salt is 3600ppm. Flow light is green, Salt Level LOW light is red.

How to troubleshoot?

Is this a flow switch problem (thermistor)?

Have not disassembled to inspect. Cycled power, same indication. Water temp 74
 
Always good to keep pH in the 7’s.

Likely a flow switch.

See the Wiki for trouble shooting steps.
 
mknauss said:
That is odd. How old is the cell?
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6 to 7 years at the most. Never had any trouble.

Must be a coincidence that we had cloudy water, then it said salt was high, then as water cleared, salt reading went normal, then zero.

We are still adding bleach daily from Ascorbic Acid Treatment but that isn’t going to change obviously as the SWG isn’t producing.

Before Ascorbic Acid Treatment all was fine??? Not our first time though, we treat for iron staining at least once a year.
 
Darryl,

Usually, when the EasyTouch reads zero salt, it is just a communication issue between the cell and the EasyTouch. The cell normally does not have a low salt light, and the cell still knows the actual salt level and continues to work.

Your situation is odd. The cell does not actually measure the salt level, it measures the conductivity of water, and guesses what the salt level is. The thermistor inside the flow switch just tells the cell what the water temperature is.

For now, I would not worry at all that the EasyTouch reads zero salt, I think that is just a red herring.

I suspect that your cell is old and that AA treatment may have caused the problem, by doing something to the very old plates.

That said, I don't understand the chemical side of how that could happen. Let's see if @JamesW has any ideas.

My guess is that you need a new cell.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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Date on cell is 4/25/2014, never been replaced, a little scaling on the cell and bridged between plates in 2 spots.
If this is a comm issue what about the circuit card in the easytouch panel? (Pictured). P/N does not come up in search? Note: Power OFF when pic was taken. LED on card is green when powered up.
 

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diy_darryl said:
Guess we will order a SWG. $1000 shot in the dark. I suppose if that’s a no fix we have a spare.
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It's 8 years old, so probably dead or very close to being dead.

It's very rare to go more than 8 years.

95% die at 8 years or less.

The median or mean is about 5 to 6 years.

Various factors affect cell life like total chlorine production, scaling and acid washing.

Assuming a normal distribution, you would be in the green section to the right.



1656867489502.png
 
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