Burned salt cell

[mlallen]

I have a pool pilot digitl 220 with a sc-48 cell. I have been having trouble all summer keeping my fc level up. I been having to supplement my santizer for a couple of months now. I've added probably close to 14lbs of stabilier/conditioner and still can't keep my fc up. I opened up my cell today to check for scaling (first time since May) and there were brown marks on the inside of the cell wall and a small amount of scailing. this is my second season with the pool and salt system. If anyone can tell me what this is I would really appreciate it. My current readings are

Fc=.6
Tc=.6
Ph=7.7
Hardness=200ppm
Alk=123
CYA=25ppm
Copper=.1
Iron=0

Salt 2900pm

I have a 20,000 free form Plaster pool. A little over 1.5 years old.

thanks
Mike

 

[dravenone]

How are you testing your water? If the CYA test is accurate, then it is too low. I'm sure an expert will chime in about the marks on your cell.

don't depend on pool store results.

 

[mlallen]

My test strips are coming out with the same cya level as the two pool stores I've used to test.

 

[JohnT]

Autopilot recommends CYA at 60-80ppm. Running at a lower level consumes the cell life more quickly, but I doubt you'd see the problem you are having.

 

[Strannik]

any burning is usually a sign of bad contact (dirty or loose contacts) or cell operating with little water

if that's really burning and not some metal stains i'd say your water flow was partly blocked so the plates overheated and melted plastic.

although if this was a permanent problem i would expect your cell to be melted long time ago

 

[mlallen]

Thanks- Any idea what type of stains they might be and would they be affecting my cell? I have a Rayovac heater which the water goes through before flowing through the cell.

 

[Strannik]

iron seems to be the obvious one, but you say there is none in the water
so might be an old stain

 

[Pool Clown]

If you have an older heater (cast iron headers) the porcelain coating fails, and you start to get rust. Sometimes, even pieces come off and go into the water stream. You may have had a piece wind up in your cell for a while. It rusted away there, and left no evidence of being there. Except for the stain. I dunno. It could happen...

 

[Westovers]

I've been having the same problem, and my cell is also coated brown--I can scratch it off with my fingernail near where I can reach. Is this affecting it's ability to produce chlorine? How do I clean it??