My Hayward T-CELL-15 is going on 8 years! Where is the cheapest place to buy a repla

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R

Rockstead

Well-known member
Sep 2, 2010
476
Montreal, QC, Canada
Pool Size
100000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
I think I must hold a record, but my pool season is only 4-5 months, I keep my pool well balanced and the chlorinated typically isn't higher than 20-25% in hotter months and even less in colder periods and using 100% for 24 hours after parties and rain, along with a yearly cleaning at the start of the season with an acid mix.

I have a feeling it won't last much longer, where is the cheapest place to buy one? I'm not sure I would consider a generic seeing as how well the original performed but maybe they have a better reputation now.

Thanks!
 
Best to buy it only when the one you have dies, that way you wont lose out on the warranty time. There are some on the forum reporting over 7 years of use in warm year- round climates. You can always add bleach for a week if needed while shopping for a new cell.

You might be able to tell if the cell is wearing out by the volts and amp readouts. Post those readings while the cell is generating and we can see if it is drawing more amps than it should.

You can buy local or shop the net. Most net places are close in price but you might find one that has free ship/no taxes for your location that makes it a better deal. Make sure the replacement comes with a 3 year warranty as some only have a one year warranty.
 
Some good general tips to extend the life of a cell for anyone with a SWCG :)

1. Don't acid wash it unless necessary (i.e. Lots of scaling on plates). And if you're getting lots of scaling, then water balance may be an issue that needs addressing.

2. Don't use the SWCG to boost FC level, use bleach instead. Only use the SWCG to maintain proper FC level.

3. Maintain proper chem levels.

Personally I'd stick with a genuine Hayward T-15 cell. From what I've read experience with generics seems mixed. If you buy online (I got my last one from Amazon) the price difference isn't that big, especially considering how many years you're likely to get from a cell based on your past experience.

:)
 
Agree on the OEM. With that experience no way I'd stray.
 
Volts and amps won't tell you much. The best way to evaluate a Hayward AquaRite cell is to compare the salinity reading on the display to the actual salinity reading.

As the cell ages, it will begin to underperform causing the box to underestimate the actual salinity.

Once the box reads more than 800 to 1,000 ppm too low, it's time for a new cell.
 
JamesW said:
Volts and amps won't tell you much. The best way to evaluate a Hayward AquaRite cell is to compare the salinity reading on the display to the actual salinity reading.

As the cell ages, it will begin to underperform causing the box to underestimate the actual salinity.

Once the box reads more than 800 to 1,000 ppm too low, it's time for a new cell.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

in the past a made that newbie mistake of adding slag while the chlorinater was on and I had to get the back of the Aqualogic motherboard resoldered like most have had to do, since then I always unplug the TCELL from the Aqualogic, is that necessary? Or could I simply switch the chlorinater to off instead?
 
No need to unplug, but do turn the chlorinator off until the salt is thoroughly mixed.

You should get a k-1766 salt test kit.

What is your actual salinity and what does the box say?
 
So with all the constant talk about upsizing, this owner got 8 years out of a cell that is rated for 7,000 gallons LESS then his/her pool and only runs it at 20-25%???? I have a 38,000 gallon pool and have been told millions of times to not go with hayward because it cant make enough Chl in the 12 hr period I want to run it. I really am scared of circupool as an option because I consider the whole website "comparison" at "Discount Salt Pool" by the people that sell the Circupool somewhat sleazy.....any one else out there getting this kind of performance form Hayward?

Thanks!
 

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JoeRJGR said:
So with all the constant talk about upsizing, this owner got 8 years out of a cell that is rated for 7,000 gallons LESS then his/her pool and only runs it at 20-25%???? I have a 38,000 gallon pool and have been told millions of times to not go with hayward because it cant make enough Chl in the 12 hr period I want to run it. I really am scared of circupool as an option because I consider the whole website "comparison" at "Discount Salt Pool" by the people that sell the Circupool somewhat sleazy.....any one else out there getting this kind of performance form Hayward?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'm a little confused, T-Cell-15 is rated for 40,000 gallons, my pool is approximately 100,000 litres, which is about 26,400 gallons, I'm well within the range.
 
JoeRJGR said:
So with all the constant talk about upsizing, this owner got 8 years out of a cell that is rated for 7,000 gallons LESS then his/her pool and only runs it at 20-25%???? I have a 38,000 gallon pool and have been told millions of times to not go with hayward because it cant make enough Chl in the 12 hr period I want to run it. I really am scared of circupool as an option because I consider the whole website "comparison" at "Discount Salt Pool" by the people that sell the Circupool somewhat sleazy.....any one else out there getting this kind of performance form Hayward?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
A T-15 Hayward cell can produce 11.6 ounces of chlorine gas in a 12 hour run set at 100%. If you plug this in to effects of adding chemicals in PoolMath you will get a rise of 2.3ppm of FC for your pool size. A few pools can get away with this amount of chlorine use during the summer, but not many.

A T-15 cell produces 1.45lbs of chlorine in 24 hours which equals 23.2 ounces of equivalent chlorine gas.

I find the most useful information with the Discount Salt Pool comparison is the amount of chlorine produced by each unit. If you understand some of the other parameters then that could be useful also such as the controls. If the control is stated as "Digital, Screen", then that unit can be fined tuned and displays actual numbers that the system is reading. I completely ignore The "Value Score" because I think it is very biased.
 
Rockstead,

My mistake, I got T-15 confused with the rating of the cell...(15,000), not knowing you had a 40k unit..........so you really upsized and I suppose thats how you got that life span from your cell.

Ping, I understand the chart on the "DSP" is handy. But since they sort of pretend to be a unbiased site, where clearly they are not. can you really believe the information they provide for the Circupool production? Has nayone ever tried to measure the production of a circupool system? I could never find an objective comparison
 
Ping,

Thanks for the calculations....much appreciated.

I kept a record of my FC levels last year and levels dropped by about 1.5 ppm per day even on 100 degree days here on the East Coast. I kept my FC levels between 6 - 8 ppm because my CYA levels were a little high (50 - 60 ppm). Based upon this, I would think the Hayward 40K cell would work, but would have to work about 100% all the time.

Also, I would think my FC drops per day would decrease when maintaining a level of 3 - 5 ppm as suggested by pool math as opposed to last year where I kept it at 6 – 8 ppm…no?
 
I would expect a lower amount of FC loss when running it at 3-5 as compared to 6-8.

I have no reason to not believe the production rate as no one here at TFP has ever stated their system will not produce as it should when everything is working as it should. It is pretty simple for them to figure out, the larger amount of surface area for the water to pass over the plates will allow for more chlorine generation.
 
So I spoke to soon. While it was colder when I opened my pool, the salt level read 2900PPM, it warmed up and the reading is now 2400PPM, but it still read 2900PPM when it was warm the other day. The diagnostic shows +25.80V, +4.61A. Do those readings indicate an issue?

I don't have a salt tester but if I get the correct salt level from the pool store, can I just adjust it to what it should be and live with it or is it time to to replace, not sure how to proceed.
 
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