Continuous Red Cell Light

[susie]

I am still new to pools but have learned so much thanks to this forum over the last year. I've run into an issue with our SWG and am hopeful that someone can give me some direction. Last year (a brand new pool) - we had intermittent problems with the SWG going to red despite having enough salt. The pool company replaced the SWG - it stayed green for a week and then went to red right before we closed the pool. After having opened the pool about three weeks ago, I've been waiting for the water temp to get high enough to see if the SWG might go green.
Here are my test results as of this morning:
Water temp: 69 F
Salt (via strips): 3320
CYA: 50
FC: 3.0
CC: 0
TA: 70
Ph:7.5
Calcium: 180
The blades of the SWG look very clean - no scaling (new last fall). Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Susie

[frustratedpoolmom]

Your CYA is low for an SWG pool but I don't know if that would make a difference. Hopefully the SWG guru's will be along shortly.

(I know this is unrelated to your problem, but for future reference, your CH is low, you should have it above 250 for a plaster pool. )

Good luck with the SWG.

[susie]

thank you - will address CH today
Susie

[spishex]

Are these new strips?

First clean the cell if you haven't done so since last season. Just in case.

If that doesn't do the trick, and you're sure about the salt level, try recalibrating the unit. Here are the instructions.

[patf11]

Could you please clarify what LED is red? The title of your post indicated cell LED.

The manual states the cell LED is red if water temp is too low, yours is not too low.

spishex advice is good not matter what. The calibration would apply if the salt LED is red.

Here is excerpt from owners manual that explains the LEDs:
Salt Level Status LEDs
The IECG salt level checks the pool water daily and displays the levels as follows:
• Green LED: Good salt. The pool water salt level is between 3000
ppm and 4200, and the IECG is producing chlorine.
Flashing green LED: Salt level is above 4200 ppm. Chlorine is being
produced but the salt level is too high which increases the risk of
corrosion and deterioration of pool equipment and surfaces in and
around the pool. Pool water needs to be drained and refilled one (1)
foot at a time until the salt level is lowered to 3000-4200 ppm.
• Yellow LED: Check salt. The pool water salt level is between 2500
ppm and 2950 ppm. The salt level should be independently checked
and salt added to the pool water if necessary to obtain a salt level of
3000 - 3500 ppm. The cell will continue to produce chlorine but will
be at a reduced level. If this Check Salt LED is flashing with the Cell
LED, it indicates both that the pool water salt level needs to be
checked, adding salt if necessary, and if necessary the IECG needs
to be inspected and cleaned.
• Red: Very low salt. The water salt level has fallen below 2500 ppm.
The IECG will not produce chlorine until additional salt is added. The
IECG is OFF.

Status LEDs
Pwr: Shows the IntelliChlor Electronic Chlorine Generator power status:
• Red: The IECG is OFF and an error is occurring in the IECG. Service
is needed.
• Green: The IECG is operational and ready.

Cell: Shows the status of the IECG.
• Red: Water temperature is below 52° F, ±3° F (11° C, ±1.67° C), the
IECG is shut off to extend blade life. Chlorine is not being produced.
• Green (flashing): The IECG needs to be inspected. The blades may
have calcium buildup. The IECG is not producing chlorine. If the Cell
green LED is flashing with the Check Salt LED, it indicates the salt
level in the pool needs to be checked, adding if necessary, and the
IECG needs to be inspected and cleaned if necessary.
• Green: IECG is good and producing chlorine
• No Light: IECG is off and not producing chlorine. It may be in an
off-period of the sanitizing cycle and will return on shortly.
Note: If the Cell green LED is flashing with the Check Salt LED, it indicates
the salt level in the pool needs to be checked, adding if necessary, and the cell needs to be inspected and
cleaned if necessary.

Life: The IECG is designed to produce chlorine for approximately 10,000 hours of proper use (approximately five
(5) years of average use) before replacement is needed.
• Green (flash): The IECG has over 8,000 hours of use, replace soon.
• Green: The IECG is under 8,000 hours of use. The IECG is good.

Flow: This light indicates the status of water flowing through the IECG.
• Red: Insufficient water flow through the IECG, no chlorine is being produced.
• Green: Sufficient water flow to produce chlorine.

[susie]

Thanks so much for the very quick response and advice. I did the salt strip test again with a brand new set of strips and received the same result. I have added 280 lbs of salt this spring so I feel pretty confident in the salt level as measured by the strips. It is the salt level light that is red.
I tried to recalibrate as suggested but in step 5 of the instructions I only get the sanitizer output light at 60% to light up (instead of the 100% light). The directions at step 6 indicated that it may take up to one minute for the salt to be read - mine took 6.5 minutes (scrolling through the good, add, and low) and the sanitizer output at 20% light at step 7 never happened. I tried the calibration process again a little later with first powering everything off (flipping the breakers) waiting a while and then powering everything up and got the same result. Maybe it's time to go the warranty route with Pentair and the pool company?
Susie

[Pisces]

We're having the same issue with the cell reading the salt as "low" when I know it's not, and getting a red LED indicating low salt. This is a brand new never-used Intellichlor cell. Our PB has several more clients with the same thing so far this spring, so we're waiting for Pentair to come and inspect the unit. *sigh* I'm really really ready to use it (although I'm keeping all the numbers good with MA, bleach, etc.). Hope this gets resolved quickly. Yes, it may be time for you to use your warranty on this one...it's common from what I'm reading.

[patf11]

If you are sure of your salt level in the pool and the SWG is reading incorrectly then the SWG indeed must be calibrated.

This is common for all SWG installs no matter the make/model.

spishex posted instructions for Intellichlor SWG above.

Pisces, do you know if your PB has tried to calibrate the unit? Interesting that "PB has several more clients with the same thing". Seems he should be motivated to resolve issue.

[Pisces]

Yes, I've checked salt levels multiple times with AquaChek strips, and readjusted because of recent heavy rains and the pool builder is addressing it by sending Pentair out to look at it...since it's new, I'm not calibrating it myself because of the warranty...I'll let Pentair have that little duty. 8) I feel like it's just that it needs calibrating. Thank you patf11 for all your info!

[grumpy]

Pisces,

I'll be interested to know what Pentair does for you. I've just had my IC-40 replaced under warranty and now the new one is acting oddly.

When it was installed, it read 3000 ppm which I knew was lower than the strip tests but only about 500 ppm lower so I didn't worry. Like you, I don't want to mess with a unit under warranty.

Nothing has changed in my pool. No big rain storms to overflow it, It's in a screened enclosure so filter backwash is infrequent. But today I wake up and the IC-40 says my salt is 2700 ppm. I don't think that I lost 300 ppm overnight. Last salt check was Sunday evening at 3500 ppm.

As you can see, these things do seem to give inconsistent readings.

Please let us know how your meeting with the Pentair representative turns out.

[Pisces]

Grumpy, I'll let you know. I'm hoping they'll be out this week. I have the IC-40 also, and it read 2400 to 2500 when the salt levels were over 3300 and 3500 . Seems like a lot of us are in the same boat with the Intellichlor.

[Pisces]

Susie, we just recalibrated our IC-40 (long story and I'll do a separate post about our Pentair experience a little later...I'm mentally exhausted from dealing with it the past 4 hours.

I found that in Step 5 of the Intellichlor Salt Field-Calibrate from above (thank you so much Spishex for posting the link), we had to press the LESS button instead of the MORE button to get the Sanitizer Output 100%, then we could proceed on and successfully recalibrated.

Also thank you to patf11 for encouraging us to do this!! I waited until Pentair did their thing. Just learned one more VERY VALUABLE lesson in controlling our pool!!

[cobra46]

Pisces,

I too have the same exact problem as you with my IC40. I'm glad to hear that a recal did the trick.

Thanks

[susie]

A big thank you to the TFT forum - I now have a green light!!! I had called the pool service company affiliated with my builder and they required a water sample to confirm my results - after driving 45 minutes, they determined my salt level at 2900-3000ppm (I had measured 3320). They said that I needed to add another 60lbs of to get over the 3000 threshold. I put in 40lbs and thought that should tip it over to at least an orange light. That was Thursday of last week and still no change from the red light over the weekend. This morning I saw Pisces post on pressing "less" on the field calibration instructions instead of "more" so I gave the field calibration another try. I now have a green light!! I suspect that the unit installed last fall wasn't "new" or correctly calibrated in the first place.
By the way, I had asked the pool service company when they were testing my water about field calibrating this unit and they told me it couldn't be done.
Susie

[Pisces]

Awesome, Susie!! Well, that makes me feel better that it's not just my Intellichlor that needed the "Less" button in step 5. I'm so glad it worked for you, too! Mine is happily making chorine now. We discovered (duh..live and learn) that we're calibrating to a "range" instead of a specific number on the Intellichlor, such as *3000 to 4200* instead of having the Intellichlor read the exact amount of salt in the pool, say 3310 or 3590, like on a salt strip or test. I use the AquaChek strips, but I just ordered the Taylor salt test kit to reconfirm my amount of salt, just to be a little more accurate when I adjust. I'll make a separate post about Pentair coming out last week.