Is my cell dying?

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ash803

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Aug 15, 2018
3
Chapin, SC
Hello, this is my first post to the forum. I have a 13,000 gallon vinyl liner salt water pool built in 2014. The cholorinator is the Pentair Intellichlor IC15. We live in mid South Carolina and the pool gets the sun all day long, very little shade. So I'm used to having to run the system longer and at higher %s. This summer I've been running it at 14hrs and 100% to keep FC at 3-4 and sometimes higher when we expect higher bathing loads. Two of my neighbors talked about how their systems couldn't keep up with the heat and have had some algae problems. I haven't had any problems with the water at all running my system this way. A couple weeks ago I dropped the chlorinator to 80% when we had a lot of cloudy days and more rain. FC was at 2. I bumped it up last week back to 100%/14hrs when the heat/sun went back up. However, the FC hasn't budged. I checked the cell yesterday and there was no buildup. I ran the system overnight and tested again this morning both at returns and away, and FC is still at or slightly under 2. I would have expected it to increase especially running overnight. Do you think my cell is starting to die? 4 years old.

Water readings using Taylor K2006 & Aquachek salt test strips:
Alkalinity 90
PH 7.4
Salt 3500
CYA 60-70
FC 2.0
CC 0

If you think the cell is dying, would you recommend me upgrading the SWG to the IC20 to keep up with our hot summers?

Thanks
 
Welcome to the forum! :handshake:

I suggest you do a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. I suspect you have organics/algae consuming your chlorine and the SWCG is just barely keeping them at bay. You most likely will need to SLAM Process.

When you get a new SWCG I would suggest getting an IC40. We recommend getting a SWCG rated for 2X your pool volume.

I suggest you read Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Trouble Free Pool School book.

You may also want to get the Pool Math app.
 
803,

Welcome to TFP... a great place to find the answers to all of your saltwater pool questions... :shark:

That cell is way, way too small for your pool. While it is rated for a 15K pool, that is when the cell is running 24/7 at 100% output. Our recommendation is to always use a cell that is at least 2 x the volume of your pool.. So even an IC20 is on the small side. When the time comes I would go with a 40K cell.

Your cell may be on its way out because you have had to run it hard to keep your FC up. What I would do is add Liquid Chlorine to get your FC up to where you want it, and then see if the cell running at 100% can maintain that level.

If it still can't maintain the FC level, then for the rest of this year, I would keep dosing with a little Liquid Chlorine everyday and then think about getting a replacement early next year.

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
 
Okay thanks. Wouldn't I have CC reading of over 0 if I had organics/algae? Thanks for info on SWCG. Will definitely look for IC40 when it's time. Thanks!

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Thanks for the info Jim!

- - - Updated - - -

JamesW, the status lights for salt, cell, and flow, are all good with solid green. I'll use the suggestions above to troubleshoot. Thanks!
 
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