Well, that's unfortunate ...

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JoyfulNoise

JoyfulNoise

TFP Expert
Platinum Supporter
May 23, 2015
25,693
Tucson, AZ
Pool Size
16000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Today was a case of the sadz for me ... my IC60 appears to have moisture escaping from the seem under the top cap that holds the membrane pad. The electronics and membrane pad are potted into the top of the PVC body and thermally sealed. It’s not a great design. I was out there a week ago and noticed a salt crust around the edge of the plastic sun shield. I wiped it clean but it came back. On top of that, one of the union nuts is cracked. I have spare unions, but that means PVC work to fix the cracked nuts. Some pics -

IMG_3669.jpeg
IMG_3668.jpeg
IMG_3666.jpeg
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The bummer is the unit is only 4 years old and I paid just around $990 for it back in the day. A new IC60 so far is $1800. Gotta love COVID-flation ...

So far nothing is dripping or spraying water. The nut is holding for now. I plan to get a replacement split-nut for the coupler to avoid PVC pipe reworking. As for the cell, the option is either do nothing until it springs a solid leak OR clean up that entire edge and seal it with RTV or Epoxy. Sealing it might drive whatever water is weeping there somewhere else and considering the electronics under there that will probably result in a short or some other electrical catastrophe.

The sad part is the cell is generating perfectly fine, lots of life left on those plates. So when it does finally let go, it'll be a premature death.

More info to follow ...
 
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Pentair Intellchlor Leaking from the top control panel.

Please help! We had the pool company disconnect the salt cell when we bought the home ( 1 year ago) because he said it wasn’t working. We just noticed that there is a slow leak under the top panel when the pool is on. I had just put a new filter in and cleaned out the filter basket. I called...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

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Picture of IC40 circuit board

For those of us who just need to know ?? Attached is a photo of a IC40 circuit board after removing most of the black epoxy circuit board potting. Appears to have had a circuit board overload resulting in a hole burnt in the board. This is called "Beyond economical repair". Full size...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

JamesW said:
Sometimes water will get into the interstitial layer and short out the electronics
Click to expand...
 
I would let the natural draining from the top happen and not seal it up. Run it for as long as it lasts.

Have some liquid chlorine on hand for when it dies while you wait for the replacement cell unless you want to get one and inventory it.
 
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What if you rotated it upside down ----- would that help keep the water from the electronics, or make it worse?
 
Perhaps if enough of the electronics are potted with the black epoxy, the water that is weeping may never cause a problem electrically. It will just be a long, slow death until something gives way and water is spraying out.

My front up approach is to simply replace the union nut and keep an eye on things. I plan to take the cell inside this winter as I have a winterizing tube that fits in that space. I’ll just manually chlorinate starting in December some time (cold water cut off rarely kicks in before Thanksgiving). My pool loses very little FC over the winter. Then we’ll see how spring startup goes.

I’ll park my browser on a few websites and keep an eye on ICXX prices. There may be a late or early season deal. If I like the price then I’ll inventory a cell and keep it on the shelf until I absolutely need it.

One lesson here for anyone reading this is - equipment pads are critical parts of the overall pool design and I absolutely hate mine! The pool builder just slapped all the equipment on the west facing side of my casita with no enclosure wall at all. So my equipment is basically cooked and baked by the hot desert sun 24/7/365. My equipment is only technically 12 years old but it all looks like it’s 30 years old. If I had the disposable income to deal with it, I would honestly dig up everything and reroute all the plumbing, electrical and gas into a new space that is north facing and out of the direct sunlight. At the time I was very busy and I left a lot these details up to the PB to decide … clearly he did the absolutely minimum on his part and left me with the results.
 
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Got my new split couplers from Mikey’s -

IMG_3688.jpeg

I’ll head out there tomorrow and replace the old couplers with these.

Pretty nice design and looks like they’ll do the trick. The website has couplers for lots of different applications - SWGs, pumps, etc.. As long as they hold and create enough closing force, it’s a nice way to not have to mess with the plumbing.

Warning - they’re NOT cheap so if you’re budget conscious, buying PVC pipe glue and doing the plumbing work is probably cheaper. Then again, they would not be any more expensive than buying new OEM IntelliChlor fittings from Pentair so … 💁‍♂️
 
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JamesW said:
8 oz. Purple Primer and Rain-R-Shine Medium Blue PVC Cement Combo Pack. $13.23

www.homedepot.com

Oatey 8 oz. Purple Primer and Rain-R-Shine Medium Blue PVC Cement Combo Pack 302312 - The Home Depot

Tilt your living space with the selection of Oatey Purple CPVC and PVC Primer and RainRShine Medium Blue PVC Pipe Cement Combo Pack.
www.homedepot.com
Click to expand...

I actually have the OEM black Pantair fittings for the IC from the last time I bought one. So I could have done the repair and used those fittings. I have some 2” pipe on hand but I would have needed a 2” coupler. All in, I could do the job for about $20 and maybe 30mins of labor with a few hours of waiting for glue to dry … OR … spend $40 on new couplers and get the job done in about 15sec … laziness for the WIN 🙌🙌

(In reality I only needed one of the Mikey’s couplers since the other one has shown no signs of cracking or distortion. I bought two and plan to replace both just to avoid the reality that the other coupler will eventually fail as well. Might as well only pay for shipping once …)
 
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JoyfulNoise said:
Got my new split couplers from Mikey’s -

View attachment 609721

I’ll head out there tomorrow and replace the old couplers with these.

Pretty nice design and looks like they’ll do the trick. The website has couplers for lots of different applications - SWGs, pumps, etc.. As long as they hold and create enough closing force, it’s a nice way to not have to mess with the plumbing.

Warning - they’re NOT cheap so if you’re budget conscious, buying PVC pipe glue and doing the plumbing work is probably cheaper. Then again, they would not be any more expensive than buying new OEM IntelliChlor fittings from Pentair so … 💁‍♂️
Click to expand...

Would you share the link?

I didn’t know such a thing existed. This past spring one of the union nuts cracked on my Tcell. I ended up having a pool company replace the unions.
 
mknauss said:
Check Marina on the IC if you buy one. $1300 right now.
Margaret gave me the TFP support discount on the one I bought a couple years ago.
Click to expand...

JoyfulNoise said:
I’ll park my browser on a few websites and keep an eye on ICXX prices. There may be a late or early season deal. If I like the price then I’ll inventory a cell and keep it on the shelf until I absolutely need it.
Click to expand...
The price Marty gave is a solid deal. I’m paying $1,500 through my distributor for IC60’s at the moment.
 
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jeffchap said:
I just finished my 2nd season with a generic replacement for my IC40 and it's still going strong. It's a straight drop in, no plumbing or wiring changes required.

Here's the IC60 version for $850: APEX P60 Aftermarket Replacement Salt Cell fits Pentair IC60
Click to expand...

Interesting.

I assume it just grabs power from an EasyTouch but no remote control over output settings or data back for salinity? Everything is done at the SWG controls?
 
jeffchap said:
Correct, everything is done on the built in control panel.
Click to expand...

Definitely tempting. At half the price of the OEM replacement, and given how aged my equipment is, I feel like if I got 2 or 3 years out of it, that’s probably a good run.
 
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