Problems with my chlorine generating system.

Jump to latest Follow Reply
D

dollard

0
Aug 5, 2012
53
San Juan Cosala, Jalisco
I live in Mexico and have a salt water pool. I have a Hayward Aqua Rite Electronic chlorine generator that I have used for 6 years. The control panel is GL 235 and a GL Turbo cell T9. It was working fine until a few days ago. .

When I first turn it on now the red light on the control panel says check salt and to inspect the cell. It will not generate chlorine for the pool when the check salt light is on. On the control panel when I move the switch from auto to off or superchlorinate and then back to auto the check salt light will go out for a few minutes and it will generate chlorine. It shows the salt level at 1,700 but I am sure it must be around 3,000. Around 3,000 is where is should be. I have always checked the salt level several times a day and it is always around 3,000. There is no reason (like a lot of water added to the pool) for the level to be as low as 1,700. Sometimes the display screen on the control panel is blank. Sometimes when you push the diagnostic button on the control panel the display will not change. I inspected the Turbo cell about 4 months ago and as usual it was clean.
I live in Mexico south of Guadalajara. It is a series of small towns here. There are about 6 pool supply places locally but none of them seem to be trained or educated about slat water pools. I went to two local pool supply places. One said the control panel has to be sent to Guadalajara to be checked. The other pool place said I need a new Goldline Turbo cell (he said this without even checking-I think he just wants to sell some equipment). It is so frustrating living Lakeside where there are no experts on this type of problem. Some of them at least think since you are a foreigner they can rip you off. I contacted a pool place in Guadalajara but they are trying to find some one who is knowledgeable about this.
I hope someone here has some experience with this type of setup.
 
A six year old salt cell is getting close to the end of its useful life. A T-9 isn't a very big cell and it could easily be going out. The low salt indication you describe above is a common sign the cell is going bad. I would get a new cell. This does not sound like a controller problem.

You have been smart not to add salt. Often when this occurs people start adding salt which creates new problems. Check the salt level with a chemical test independent of what the unit shows. Since chlorine is not being generated you will also need to manually add chlorine (plain bleach) to sanitize the water.

You can get another T-9 if you've been happy with it. However, for a little bit more, you could also get a T-15. It would require less run time or a lower percentage and would last longer. If you install a T-15 then you need to change the settings on the unit to reflect the t-15 instead of the t-9. Six years, however, is doing fairly well.
 
Thanks robdac. So maybe the pool guy who said I needed a new Turbo cell was correct. I had no idea they had such a short life. I only run my system about 3 hours a day. I assumed there was something in the control panel. I'm still not adding salt but I am thinking about adding chlorine. I have been happy with my T9. My pool isn't very large~10,000 gallons so a T 9 was supposedly sufficient.
I have finally found a technician who is familiar with these systems. He works out of Guadalajara but he is in Puerto Vallarta until next week. So I could limp along and wait for him or just get the local guy to put in a new turbo cell. It seems odd that an aging turbo cell would result in these strange readings but what do I know.
 
Blank screen on occasion concerns me. Not sure bad/dead cell would cause that. Also would consider water temp, (but) you would know better than us if it shuts off in the winter due to low temps.
Manufacturer gives average life equivalent to about 5 years. I would at least pull the cell and look at it, if it has been 4 months since you last looked at it. Otherwise, yea, the cell is close to done.
 
The display issue is probably due to the display not making good contact with the pins from the main board. There are about 5 or 6 pins going from the main board and through holes on the display board. Sometimes removing and reinstalling the display board will solve the problem. Make sure power is off before getting inside the box.

Also, check the thermistor to see if it looks ok.

The low salt is probably a failed cell. The T-15 would be a good replacement.

Can you post all of the diagnostic readings?
 
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Checking the pins and thermistor might be too much for me.
These all the reading;
1700
75
31.3
0.00
62P
-0
RL -1
c 1.50 I'm not sure if that is a c but some small mark
E -15 the top leg on the E is missing

If I replaced the T 9 with a T15 is the length the same or would I need to change the space between the pipe ends?
 
Your system is set for the wrong T-cell type. That will cause the salt reading to be too low. The "E-15" is actually T-15. You have to change it to T-9.
To reset the T-cell type
Slide the Main Switch to the “Auto” position.
Push the diagnostic button until “t-9” appears on the display.
To switch Cell Type, cycle Main Switch from AUTO to Super Chlorinate and then back to AUTO until T-9 appears.

The off voltage is good, so the thermistor is probably ok.

The reason the settings are off is probably due to a bad connection on the display board. It's easy to reset.
Turn off power to the box.
Remove the front cover.
The display board just pulls off and snaps back on. When reinstalling the board, make sure that a pin goes through each hole with a connection point. There are four holes in the corners of the baoard that snap onto plastic stands.

Here's a video.

How To: Replace an AquaRite Display PCB - YouTube
 
Thanks JamesW.
From reading the manual I thought it might be set to the wrong T cell type. So I tried setting it to T 9 but... I should have realized that the E 15 was the cell type. I get confused sometimes-maybe I am too old to be doing this but I have to.
I just reset if to T9 and it looks okay for a few seconds. Then the salt reading goes to 1700 and check salt and inspect cell lights go on.
I haven't tried resetting the display board yet like you suggest as it is too early in the morning for me yet.
 
The 1700 is the average salt reading. You have to reset that to the instantaneous value. The instantaneous value has a minus sign in front of it to differentiate it from the average salt reading. Turn the switch to off and then to auto, then scroll through diagnostics until you get to the instantaneous salt reading. Then move the switch from auto to superchlorinate and back to auto.

When the unit first turns on, it takes a few seconds for the instantaneous salt to stabilize. It will start high and go down until it gets to the final value. Wait for it to stabilize before resetting the value.
 
Thanks again James. How do you know all of this? What you suggested seems to have worked. Going through the diagnostics -3100 cam about on the 5th push. Now it has gone down to 3000 with no minus in front. I hope ie stays like that.
Do I still have to go in and reinstall the display board?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I suspect that the intermittent display and settings issues are due to weak contacts between the pins from the main board and the display board. It might be ok, but it's likely to have further issues. Resetting the board is not difficult as shown in the video. If you don't reset, keep checking the t-cell type to make sure that it doesn't change.
 
My control panel was acting up so I reset the board as per the video above. It seems to be working fine but the sequence that the panel displays is now different. Before the salt reading was first, then the temperature, voltage, etc. Now the output is first, followed by the instant salinity, the name, etc. The average salt is 6th. Does it matter?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply