Aquarite salt reading not matching salt in water

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tmiller85

Member
Jun 6, 2016
5
Folsom/PA
Hello. Hopefully someone can assist. I have a Viking fiberglass in-ground pool with an Aquarite Salt Chlorine Generator (T-9 cell). This is my 3rd Summer with the pool so I'm still learning how to take care of it.

Anyway, the box has been reading approximately 600-700 higher than the actual salt reading in the water. At the moment, the box is at 3500 but the water test and my test strips only shows 2800. This has been causing us some issues with chlorine being generated. I tried re-calibrating by selecting Off, then Auto, but the salt number does not get below 3500 during the countdown. When the pool was opened in April, the difference was still 700 (1900/2600). I've since added several bags of salt. The system is recognizing the new salt being added, but both numbers are increasing by the same amount which isn't solving my problem. I had the T-9 cell tested this past weekend at Leslie's Pool Supply and it came back "OK." They told me to re-calibrate the system, which didn't work.

Any suggestions? I sent a support message to Hayward but wanted to try here as well. Thank you in advance!
 
Yeah, the answer is fairly simple....make your SWG happy. If it wants salt, you will need to add salt regardless of what your tests say.

If your SWG is happy and producing chlorine, leave the salt content alone.
 
The aquarite almost never reads higher than actual if the correct cell is selected. If you have a t9 cell (see label on cell), then the 3500 is probably correct. Get a Taylor k-1766 salt test kit for accurate salt testing.

3500 is ok. All your readings look good. Everything is working properly.
 
JamesW said:
The aquarite almost never reads higher than actual if the correct cell is selected. If you have a t9 cell (see label on cell), then the 3500 is probably correct. Get a Taylor k-1766 salt test kit for accurate salt testing.

3500 is ok. All your readings look good. Everything is working properly.
Click to expand...

Thanks James. What concerns me is the test strips (two different types) and the test at Leslie's all show the same result of 2800. So that's a difference of 700 from what the Aquarite is reporting. When the system showed 3000 last month, my chlorine level was very low and I assume that's because the actual salt level in the pool was only 2300. So I actually had to add chlorine at that time. Again, I'm far from an expert, but I think that difference of 700 is causing some problems.
 
Trust me, get the K-1766 salt test kit. Your system is working properly. The salt reading from the AquaRite is almost definitely not too high (as long as the correct cell is selected).

Also, note that salt readings can be +/- 400 ppm. Therefore, two different tests can be up to 800 ppm apart and still be considered to be in agreement.

How many gallons is your pool?
 
The only other thing that I can think of that could cause the salt to read higher than actual would be if the temperature sensor in the cell was reading the water temperature as too low.

If the cell selection is correct and the water temperature is accurate, the AquaRite is almost definitely not reading the salt as too high.
 
My t-15 always reads 400 over what I get on the k-1766 (after I let the water stabilize for a couple of days after salt addition). We have had so much rain I have added stabilizer and salt twice already this year.

I just mentally note that my actual salt value is 400 less than the aqua rite reading.


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400 ppm is within the margin of error. The readings should not be considered to be in disagreement.

The key is to watch trends and averages and to watch for divergence from the trends.

It could be that the actual salt level is halfway between the k-1766 and the AquaRite.
 
I agree James. Maybe a question I have will also help the OP. If my SWG will produce chlorine between 2500 and 3700, does it actually produce more chlorine at the higher reading? I do not recall anyone asking this in threads I have read. I have been at both readings. At the low I cannot taste the salt but I can at the high end


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Thank you for all the responses. I have been in contact with Hayward as well. They suggested my T-9 cell could have been mis-labeled and may actually be a T-15. That seems like a real long shot. I will try the other suggestions from this thread. Thanks again.
 
The only difference is the titanium plate length, which is hard to measure inside the cell. The t-15 plates are 2.5" x 5-15/16".

I would suggest getting the k-1766. If the k-1766 is way lower than the AquaRite, switch the cell type to t-15 and see if the salt reading on the AquaRite matches the k-1766.

It's possible that the cell could be mislabeled but I think that it's very unlikely.
 
Thanks all. It wasn't the cell type as I suspected. That dropped the salt reading to 2200, which was still off by 600 (in the opposite direction). James, I'm going to order the k-1766 kit to see what type of results I get with that. While my AquaChek strips and Leslie's both showed 2700, I suppose there's a chance they could both be wrong. As of last night, my box reads 3500.

I'm not expecting an exact match, but I'd like to be within the margin of error. Right now, 600-700 is outside of that margin. Thanks again for all the advice. It's appreciated.
 
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