Salt reading on SWG (Pentair IC40) off by >1000ppm according to Taylor test

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J

johnny2678

0
Nov 16, 2015
43
Lakewood Ranch, FL
Can the salt sensor go bad on these things? This was installed less than six months ago. He has been reading consistently in the 3300 to 3400 range all year. Last recorded reading was 3300 on 4/28.

This morning it read 2750:
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So I did a manual test using the Taylor kit and got 3800! How can it be off by so much?

I added a bag of salt because I travel during the week and this red LED was concerning:

70efb2b5ae41059a3060776623d39129.jpg


Is my SWG defective?




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What are you other water test parameters? Have you checked the cell for scaling?

Typically, when the salt cell reports a salinity level lower than actual, you either have a lot of calcium scale on the plates OR the plates are starting to lose their specialized metal coatings. Since this cell is brand new, I'm going to bet you have scale.
 
Hey Matt, I did the acid bath 1-2 months ago and it was clean then. My acid injector inserts right before the SWG so it should stay pretty clean.

As for my other stats...
(Shout out to the PoolMath beta app!!)

f341134e7f945916e52f829407e0653a.jpg


JoyfulNoise said:
What are you other water test parameters? Have you checked the cell for scaling?

Typically, when the salt cell reports a salinity level lower than actual, you either have a lot of calcium scale on the plates OR the plates are starting to lose their specialized metal coatings. Since this cell is brand new, I'm going to bet you have scale.
Click to expand...



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Johnny,

The temperature sensor can go bad, mine just did, and it was replaced under warranty. If the temp sensor is bad it will make the salt sensing circuit produce the wrong results..

JamesW, provide the following test.. When I did it, all the lights flashed indicating a bad temperature sensor...


Pressing and holding the “More” button launches the System Status Mode. When the lights finish scrolling, the percent lights indicate hours of usage in 1,000s. For example, if the 40% light lights, that indicates 4,000 hours.

Version 3.1 on adds the ability to determine system temperature. Pressing the “More” button after the display shows 1,000s of hours of usage, will show temperature as follows:

Lights…………….....………Temperature
No LEDs………….…..………Below 30F
40%..........................36 to 45F
40% and 60%............46 to 55F
60%..........................56 to 65F
60% and 80%............66 to 75F
80%.........................76 to 85F
80 and 100%............86 to 95F
100%.......................96 to 99F
100% blinking……..….over 99F
All LEDs blinking……...Sensor bad

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Re: Salt reading on SWG (Pentair IC40) off by >1000ppm according to Taylor test

I'm not a huge fan of those acid injectors mainly for the fact that they are often installed before the cell, which I know is what Pentair and others recommend. BUT, the metal oxide coatings on the plates inside the cell are sensitive to pH. Very low pH can slowly remove the metal oxide coating nd, over time, cause cumulative damage to the plate coating. I would move the saddle clamp injector to a point in front of the SWG just to be safe and make sure that you regularly inspect the injection/check-valve so that there is no acid leaking into the return stream when the IntelliPH is not calling for it. Also, unless the cell has visible scale on it, it is not good procedure to acid clean it; some PBs will tell you to do it on a regular basis but that is just a recipe for reducing the cell life.

I would do as Jim suggests and run the diagnostic procedure. Then pull the cell and visually inspect the blades. If the coating is damaged, you will see the grayish-white titanium plate as the metal oxide coating is a dark grey to black color.

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johnny2678 said:
Well, the Temp sensor seems to be working... the 80% and 100% lights were lit (I'm at 88).

At this point would you guys attempt a Salt calibration or would you call Pentair?

System is still reading 2750 after adding a bag of salt 2 hours ago.
Click to expand...

It takes a lot longer for the salt water to mix and homogenize. Salt saturated water is quit a bit heavier than pool water and you'll need at least 24 hours of mixing to get it to homogenize.

Typically Pentair cells can not be field calibrated. It used to be an option in the older generation of cells but it caused too much trouble; in fact, yours is an example of the trouble it would cause. A person would get low salt, add more, chase salinity around and then just recalibrate the unit to "make it happy". That would throw off the true reading from what the unit was sensing and the conductivity of the solution would go out of spec causing burden on the power supply. SO, Pentair took the option away to keep a pool owner form really damaging things.

If your K-1766 values do not match what the cell is telling you, then I would call Pentair and try to get a warranty replacement.
 

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Update: pulling the cell obviously forced me to turn the system off - when it came back up it's now reading 4050 ppm!! All lights are green too.

My biggest concern is that on days like today it will read low - even though it's not low - and won't produce Cl. Shouldn't have to trip the power to get a good reading....
 
Johnny,

The cell only tests salt twice a day, unless you turn it off and then back on.. It does not test every time you look at ScreenLogic... although that is what it would do if I were king... :cool:

Jim R.
 
That's not a problem if readings are consistent, but it is a problem when it was reading 3300 yesterday and 2750 today and the red light is on - meaning it's not producing.

Anyways, I would like to thank everyone for the support. I'll post back if anything changes for the worse.
 
Re: Salt reading on SWG (Pentair IC40) off by >1000ppm according to Taylor test

The dog said:
JR. When does it do that? I mean does it do it at start up or is just random? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I have never timed it, but it seems like every 12 hours or so. I know when you turn it on it goes through a cycle where the lights flash for about 5 minutes.. I "assume" it tests again in 12 hour increments from start up...

Jim R.

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johnny2678 said:
That's not a problem if readings are consistent, but it is a problem when it was reading 3300 yesterday and 2750 today and the red light is on - meaning it's not producing.

Anyways, I would like to thank everyone for the support. I'll post back if anything changes for the worse.
Click to expand...

Johnny,

You have ScreenLogic.. so look in the chlorinator section... The red light comes on when "low" on salt, but it still generates chlorine.. The red light is also on when "very low" on salt, in this case it does not generate chlorine.

ScreenLogic shows the two different levels, while the red light does not..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Re: Salt reading on SWG (Pentair IC40) off by >1000ppm according to Taylor test

Jimrahbe said:
I have never timed it, but it seems like every 12 hours or so. I know when you turn it on it goes through a cycle where the lights flash for about 5 minutes.. I "assume" it tests again in 12 hour increments from start up...

Jim R.

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Johnny,

You have ScreenLogic.. so look in the chlorinator section... The red light comes on when "low" on salt, but it still generates chlorine.. The red light is also on when "very low" on salt, in this case it does not generate chlorine.

ScreenLogic shows the two different levels, while the red light does not..

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...

You're correct Jim. The red light on the unit was making me nervous but ScreenLogic still reported 'low'




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Just to add to temp sensory complaints, I just replaced my FLOW sensor to get my SALT level to read correctly, apparently a bad integrated TEMP sensor. FLOW was reading correct. My Pentair ic40 was new last june, it ran about 9hr/day x 5 months at 40%. I drained water out and let it winter inline. Relatively mild winter but temp below freezing a handful of times if that matters. Anyway, I could not get salt level to read above 2600 after adding what i estimated to be the right amount. I just skipped the warranty process and bought a sensor on Amazon and got it reading 3350ppm immediately. Working great now. Seems like they really need to work on these temp sensor failure issues.
 

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