Pentair IC40 Issue

[yblaser]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I think I know the answer to my questions, but thought I would post here as a last resort.

Some background first, I have a 14 kgal inground plaster salt water pool. I had a Zodiac LM2 SWCG that finally gave up after 6 years. My salt levels were very high, close to 5000 ppm, mostly due to my inexperience when I took over the pool 6 years ago (I added salt when the low salt light was on, but it was really just a bad cell). The Zodiac actually was able to operate fairly well at that high salt level. Before replacing my SWCG, I had RO service done to my pool to both bring down my salt level as well as reduce my calcium which was approaching 700 ppm.

Since I already had a Pentair Intelliflo pump, I decided to go with a Easy Touch + IC40 system. I purchased the system on Amazon in the end of July and then installed it myself in August after the RO service was completed in early August. I added salt until the system was happy with the salt level. It was slightly over the recommended 3400 ppm, but only by a couple of hundred ppm. I am using the Taylor drop-based test to measure salt content. I added the salt in stages and the measured increase in salt concentration jived with what was expected based on the kg of salt and the pool volume.

Once I got the salt concentration correct, everything was working well for 2-3 months, but then noticed my chlorine start to drop and the IC40 was reporting low salt and as a result was not generating chlorine. Test of the salt level with the same Taylor kit showed a salt level of 3800 ppm while the Easy Touch reported very low salt at 2300 ppm. The water temperature is cool, but not cold at 63F.

I checked the cell, it looked fine, but acid cleaned it nonetheless. I contacted Pentair, but apparently self installed units have only a 60 day (I bought in July and now its December) warranty which is completely ridiculous in my opinion, but that is probably a complaint for another thread. I really am just shaking my head at the 60 day "warranty."

Any suggestions on other things to troubleshoot? My TA is 100-120 (a little high for SWCG but I expect to come down as I maintain my pH), my calcium is ~350, and my pH is 7.4, but I don't think these levels are relevant to my issue at this point. I guess I am just a little p***d that Pentair says that I am SOL at this point.

Thanks,
Peter

 

[ping]

The pool temperature is approaching the limit of the IC40's operating range and I suspect that is causing your problems. The SWG doesn't measure the actual salinity of the water and when the water is cold the IC40 will report the actual salinity level as being low. If you have a spa that can be heated, try heating the spa and see if the SWG will work with a higher water temp.

At this time of year you need to switch over to using bleach. My pool is only using at most .2ppm of chlorine a day right now and yours should be similar.
With that much chlorine usage you will not have to add bleach very often.

It seems to be hit or miss as far as Pentair following their 60 day warranty for self-installed SWG's. The 60 day warranty is the main reason I would never buy a Pentair SWG for a self-install. Stick with Hayward next time and you will get a full three year warranty.

 

[yblaser]

Hi ping, a fellow LBC resident! I really appreciate the response. Since the specs said that the IC40 works down to at least 55F (52+/-3F), I was really hoping that would be the case. My previous SWCG would work throughout the whole year, so I have gotten somewhat spoiled. There is a "cold water" light on this version of the IC40 and it is not currently illuminated.

I am somewhat skeptical that the temperature alone is enough to cause the 1500 ppm delta between the actual salinity and what the IC40 is measuring, but unfortunately I do not have a spa to test this with. I do have a heater, but I would guess that is only going to raise the temperature a couple of degrees over the inlet temperature unless I want to heat my whole pool up.

I decided to go with Pentair since I already had an Intelliflo pump, and it seemed that keeping everything from a common supplier would be the path of least resistance. I am going to look to see if my credit card has any warranty extension provisions.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[ping]

You might want to wait until the water warms up a bit before saying that there is something wrong with the cell. It should be working with your numbers, but it is getting close to the low end of its limits so it might be one that quits working a little before it should.

I found a solution that might work for your cell, see this thread, Pentair IC-40 IC40 Low Salt Readings. He was able to buy a part that fixed the low salt reading that the cell was reporting.

 

[pooldv]

+1 with Ping. The IC40 starts reporting low salt much warmer than the claimed 55 degrees. I don't rely on mine below 65 or 70, can't remember for sure. Mine has been off for a month or longer and switched to bleach. It reported low salt in October and I added a bag, temp dropped a little more and reported low salt again and I shut it off. The first fall I got my salt above 5000ppm chasing the false low salt error. The good news is that it still makes chlorine above 5000 ppm. :-D

 

[yblaser]

Thanks guys for the input. That is really disappointing that it does not seem to meet their temperature specifications. I was really expecting to get through most of the winter except for maybe a couple of weeks in January with the SWCG running.

The problem right now is it could or could not be non-functional and I won't know until the weather warms up. My credit card will extend the warranty, but I have to report it within 90 days of it failing to file a claim.

 

[ping]

You can always file a claim and I'm assuming they will test the cell and if their test shows that it works then you should be good to go when the water warms up. If the cell fails then you should get a new one.

You might want to try it with the heater on, it should only take a few degrees to get the cell working and the water going through the cell should be a bit warmer than the bulk pool water since the cell is right after the heater.

 

[peterl1365]

I had a very similar problem earlier this year. It turned out to be a bad flow sensor.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/88473-IC40-s-CAN-NOT-be-recalibrated?p=762742&viewfull=1#post762742

The sensor is not cheap, but it's a lot cheaper than replacing the whole cell. Unfortunately, it's hard to know for certain if the sensor is the root cause of the problem.

Pentair's part number is 520736, but you have to be careful to buy the correct version. I see them on ebay currently selling for about $70 to $80 shipped.

 

[bk406]

Probably nothing wrong with it except the water is too cold. That brand usually stops working below about 65 degrees

 

[prs]

My water temp is currently 52°F and my IC40 is working fine.

Last year I found it wouldn't run in the morning on cold days but would run in the afternoon, so during the winter I just run everything in the afternoon and early evening.

 

[yblaser]

Thanks again for all the help everybody has provided. My pool temperature is back up to 72°F, and the SWCG is still saying the salt is too low (~2400 ppm). I think I'll try to replace the flow sensor assembly as Peter suggested above, as I will probably spend more than $100 of my time trying to submit a claim through my credit card company. I'll let you know how it goes.

-Peter

 

[yblaser]

So just to close out this thread.... I replaced the flow/temperature sensor this afternoon and it seems to have fixed the issue. The salt level is now measuring much closer to the actual level and the SWCG is generating chlorine. Thanks again for all the help.