SWG Wear & Tear? Cell question...

[biz_kid1]

So, the numbers are good in the pool, but the water is still a bit cloudy and the SWG keeps throwing a "low salt" error, despite having added 30 lbs. in the past 3 days. So, I looked a little closer at the SWG and ran across the cell...is this normal???

 

[DaninFLA]

I know low salt reading happens a lot when the cells starts going bad and also when it hasn't been cleaned. have you cleaned it? are those calcium build ups? diluted muratic acid soak is how you clean it. keep it in there until it stops fizzing, rinse it out and plug it back in. if you are still getting low salt, the cell is probably going bad. what is your actual salt reading??

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Looks like calcium scale. How long has it been since your cell was cleaned?

You say "the numbers look good" but what are your actual test values for your water?


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[mike_s]

Whoa! That's a lot of scale alright.....I would say to break it down, soak it in a diltued muratic acid, wash it off, and put it back together. Would also check to see if the flow and nacl sensors are caked up as well.

 

[biz_kid1]

"Numbers":
FC: by color, I would say a 2, even though it's not listed for comparison on the strip results chart, but it's between 1 and 3
TA: 120
pH: 7.8 (and I would lean more towards 7.6 by color on it, too)

My other post suggested holding off on the SWG until these got straightened out...

I took a sample to the local pool supply place and found the salt is 5200, which should be 3000...so, my next step is to clean the cell, make sure the pump gives back a "high salt" code then drain and re-fill a bit. Sound like a plan???

On a side note, pool guy said I knew what I was talking about, at least, so that's encouraging...I've learned some stuff since joining!

 

[DaninFLA]

you are on the right path, first step to clean and see if that works. You might not get a high salt warning with 5000ppm salt, every system is different. but only way to know is to clean it, plug it back in, and go from there. you should be inspecting the cell every 3 months or so, and if you see any scale/building up you need to clean. scale on the plates will shorten the lifespan. you don't want it to get to this point. regular cleaning will extend its life too

 

[JoyfulNoise]

"Numbers":
FC: by color, I would say a 2, even though it's not listed for comparison on the strip results chart, but it's between 1 and 3
TA: 120
pH: 7.8

My other post suggested holding off on the SWG until these got straightened out...

I took a sample to the local pool supply place and found the salt is 5200, which should be 3000...so, my next step is to clean the cell, make sure the pump gives back a "high salt" code then drain and re-fill a bit. Sound like a plan???

On a side note, pool guy said I knew what I was talking about, at least, so that's encouraging...I've learned some stuff since joining!

What test kit are your using? Do you have access to a calcium hardness test?

Honestly, unless you doing it for giggles, just stay out of the pool store. Their testing is typically very suspect aside from the basics (FC and pH). I would not trust their salt testing at all.

If can post calcium hardness numbers, then we can see the state of your waters calcium carbonate saturation which is going to have a huge impact on your SWG. If the CSI is too high, scaling will come back. But we won't know without that calcium number.

 

[biz_kid1]

Re: SWG Wear & Tear? Cell question...

OMG! The pool's only been running 4-5 WEEKS!

- - - Updated - - -

Not immediately, but it can be arranged!

What test kit are your using? Do you have access to a calcium hardness test?

Honestly, unless you doing it for giggles, just stay out of the pool store. Their testing is typically very suspect aside from the basics (FC and pH). I would not trust their salt testing at all.

If can post calcium hardness numbers, then we can see the state of your waters calcium carbonate saturation which is going to have a huge impact on your SWG. If the CSI is too high, scaling will come back. But we won't know without that calcium number.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Re: SWG Wear & Tear? Cell question...

OMG! The pool's only been running 4-5 WEEKS!

- - - Updated - - -

Not immediately, but it can be arranged!

OK, report back all the numbers you can. It would be nice if you did the tests yourself on a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006, but it appears that you are running a seasonal pool and I understand that spending $70-$100 on a fancy test kit can be a little daunting. Get the best numbers you can and let us know.

 

[biz_kid1]

Re: SWG Wear & Tear? Cell question...

OK, report back all the numbers you can. It would be nice if you did the tests yourself on a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006, but it appears that you are running a seasonal pool and I understand that spending $70-$100 on a fancy test kit can be a little daunting. Get the best numbers you can and let us know.

Ewww!

CYA strips should be here tomorrow and pool guy gave me salt strips.

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[biz_kid1]

OK...so I got it all pieced back together after cleaning but is there some trick for the copper piece? I've un-screwed it and screwed it back in again twice and it's now steady dripping.

 

[biz_kid1]

Nevermind...hubs took the copper piece out, failed to mention the tiny little seal so I missed that when I put it back together. Got it all put back together again, no flow...filter is nasty again already! Changed filters again, started SWG, got a high salt warning, so at least it's what I expected. Told hubby it's his job to drain and refill - I'll balance the chemicals out! Seems fair enough, right?

 

[biz_kid1]

Yay! We drained some water, added fresh...I re-added some bleach and MA and started the SWG...so far, no ERRORS! And, hubby and I both smelled chlorine, as if we could smell what the SWG was making??? I think a promising sign so far...I'll go check on it later to be sure it's not throwing any errors, but I guess I might anticipate a possible "low salt" error since we drained some water.

Numbers at the moment are:

FC: 0
TA: 120
pH: 7.6
CH: 100 (just got test strips for that - going to have to work on bringing that up)
NaCl: unsure, but strip said 1680 - not sure if it is working right, since SWG manual says 3000 but it isn't yet throwing an error/alarm code - gonna wait it out for now
CYA: somewhere between 0 and 50 - going to wait on that one until everything is back in the system good