Non functioning auto pilot nano

[Billschultes]

Ok, I posted awhile back about my salt system not producing enough chlorine to keep the level that I need to keep the pool from being cloudy.
I have gone through the slam, I eliminated the phosphates as required by the service company and now they say I need to treat the pool for enzymes before they will consider looking at the system for warranty.
The system is 6 months old and worked great for the first 3 months then just stopped the day we heated the pool up to use.
I have been treating the pool with liquid chlorine to keep the pool Crystal clear. I use about 48 oz every other day to maintain a 6.0 fc level. I have the salt system set at 50% and I use the same amount of liquid if the system is set at 50 or 0. I have not had to add any acid since the problem started.
Am I correct that the clear sign that the system does not work is the lack of acid needed to maintain the right PH level?
If I test the water at the union just below the cell the FTC level is only about .02 different than the water before the cell also a clear sign that the cell is not working or is producing a very low level of chlorine.
My stabilizer level is 80 my ph is 7.6 alk is 100 hardness is 220 salt is 3200
amps and volts are right where they should be
i cant tell you how frustrating this has been, I am about ready to toss this thing in the trash

 

[GaryT58]

First off. sorry you are having issues.

A quick way to tell if the SWG is really working or not is to take a normal water sample elbow deep away from any returns. Then compare it to a sample taken, while SWG is running, directly in front of a return. If the SWG is producing chlorine you should see a very elevated chlorine level.

As water temperature increases, so does the rate of chlorine loss. So you may need to increase output as the water temperature increases. I have the Autopilot total control controller (like the digital) and it will automatically adjust the level up/down as water temperature increases/decreases.

So test to see if it is producing chlorine at all, as I mentioned above (can temporarily set to 100% during test).

If it is indeed producing chlorine, then question is "is it able to keep up".

So if chlorine is being produced, please post full test results - FC and TC so we can see if there is something else going on.

Gary

 

[Billschultes]

Ok, so here are my test results done at home will colorQ and at the pool store

fc2.65
tc2.65
cc.0
Ph 7.5
ch 227
alk 108
cyn 78
copper .01
iron .01
nitrates 10
phosphates 0
salt level 3200
water temp 89
solar cover is on
we are using on average 36 to 48 oz of 10% chlorine a day
we have not added acid for almost 3 month no change in ph week to week since nano has been acting up

when I test the water for fc at the deep end I get 2.65
when I test the water for fc at a return I get 2.90 when the nano is set on boost
when doing a bucket test chlorine gas does come off the cell so it does work but is it putting out enough to maintain a fc level?
the amps and volts are exactly where they should be

Auto pilot is hesitant to replace unit under warranty pool builder says they will start replacing parts to see if something helps. My though is the cell what would you do
nano is only 6 months old

 

[ping]

I would run an OCLT, search on how to do this test. Many SWG pools look nice and clear but sometimes there's enough nascent algae that consumes the chlorine as it is generated.

I'm not sure how accurate the color q test is for FC, but I would shoot for adding enough chlorine tonight to raise the level to 10ppm. Make sure to turn off the SWG during this test.

Usually, 9 out of 10 times, if a SWG reports good amps and volts it is working how it should be and something like nascent algae is the reason for the chlorine demand.

 

[Billschultes]

We did the oclt a little over a week ago without much loss but did the slam regardless but it made no changes
the pool does not use a unusual amount of liquid chlorine but nano can not produce enough to keep a level over .5
pool builder has been here and agrees with me that something is wrong but service company just keeps selling me phosphate treatment more stabilizer and now enzyme treatment.
i have yet to see the advantages of a salt system but still hopefull

 

[Philo]

I don't see where you say how long the SWG is set for?
My neighborhood pools are mostly set at 100% for 6-8 hours. In summer up to 20 hours @ 100%.

Have you tried:
Take a FC reading at sunset
Run the SWG all night at 100%
Take a FC reading first thing in the morning.

There should be an increase of maybe 2-3ppm?

 

[GaryT58]

The ColorQ is +- 0.6ppm in that range. If in boost mode and at the return, you should see a lot higher value than +0.25 increase. So it would definitely appear that it is not producing chlorine at the expected level. So it would "seem" there is something wrong. At 89 degrees, it would not be limited by temperature. So you should share this test result with them as it would again appear that something is wrong.

 

[ping]

If you do a 10 hour run overnight at 100% you should get a 5.5ppm increase of FC for your pool size.

I believe the autopilots have 3 level settings, double check to see which one the unit is set to.