SuperN00b--I need to replace my salt cell. Taking over for failed pool man.

[Stepsaltydog]

I'm so glad to have found this website and forum!

I am the owner of a 20' x 10' pool. It starts at about 4 feet deep and goes down to about 8 feet deep. I have installed a Goldline system with a turbo cell T9. When my electronic chlorine generator started flashing the check salt/inspect so lights, my pool guy just turn the system off. he said to us, "The generator isn't making enough chlorine, I'm just going to turn it off until September." ???
Without warning, he just told us that he put a super chlorinate shock on the pool.
Anyhow, from a very brief visit to Leslie's pool supply, I learned that it will be easy to rectify the situation.

A little bit of background. We have lived in this house for four years now and have never changed the pool cell. When I removed this so myself to inspect for calcification build up, the sale actually looked pretty clean, so I'm just guessing it's time to replace it. Remember, I'm very unknowledgeable about any of this because I was paying the pool man to take care of these problems for us.

here are my questions:

1) By my description of the pool, do you think I should switch to a T – 15 cell? We just switched to a variable pool pump, and I'd like to run the pump as little as possible, like 4 to 6 hours if possible.

2) how long do salt cells last? Should I try soaking my cell in muriatic acid just to see if it somehow shakes something loose that causes the cell to generate chlorine again?

I appreciate any of your responses.

Thank you!

Steph

 

[tim5055]

Steph,

Welcome to TFP!
Some of our salt experts will be by soon, but here is my take....

Salt cells do have a finite lifespan, generally 4 or 5 years.

Keep chlorine in the pool using regular laundry bleach. We would need test results to tell you how much.

Try to compute the gallons of your pool. Salt cells are sold in sizes related to gallons. Double your pool for the correct size. If your pool is 20,000 gallons, get a 40K cell.

Fire,the pool guy, he is doing you no favors

Buy a quality test kit and take control of your pool.

Did I say add bleach to the pool to keep algae away?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Steph,

Based on the age, it is quite possible that your cell is bad, but based upon the info you provided, it could be as simple as not having enough salt in your pool. I'd take the cell to your local pool store and have it checked. Might want to call first and confirm that they can test it. The next thing I'd do is get a Taylor K-1766 salt test kit. Whether you install the same cell, or a new one, you'll want to be able to determine the amount of salt in your pool.

I see you just switched to a VS speed pump. Keep in mind that you have to have a minimum amount of flow through the cell or it will not function.

And finally, it you are going to maintain the pool yourself, you will need one of the recommended test kits from this site. Not having the proper test kit is like driving in the dark with no lights. You know your driving, but you can't be sure where you are going.

Jim R.

 

[JamesW]

Try this

Move the switch to off
scroll through the diagnostics and record
wait five minutes
move the switch to auto
wait for a click
go to instant salt
watch the instant salt until it stabilizes (it should start high and go to the actual instant salt measurement)
Scroll through the diagnostics and record

Do the above procedure twice. That will give you four sets of readings. If you post those, we can help some more.

Also, have the salt tested and report that result.

 

[boyetteoaks06]

It could be the cell, and I replaced mine with a generic T-15 cell I found on line for much cheaper. The cell came with a 3 year warranty and it died within about 2 years. The company honored the warranty and I got a brand new at no cost.

I then thought that it too died, because it stopped generating chlorine again. Instead of going through them again, I ran across a youtube video that said that a capacitor on the motherboard could have burned out and it showed how to replace it. Sure enough burned out and was visible immediately upon open the control panel. I have no prior knowledge on how to fix anything related to a motherboard, however the cost to attempt to fix it was about $5 instead of several hundred to replace the motherboard. I gave it it try and it worked perfectly and with very little work.

Hope this helps.