SWG scale build up after 1 week

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D

dhulls

0
Sep 13, 2010
33
Lesotho, Africa
I have a new SWG and have been running it for only 1 week. I haven't taken any pictures but the electrodes are completely coated with calcium scale (probably greater that 1/16th of an inch). Unfortunately there are no pool stores to get test results and the only available pool test kits are a HTH 4-way test kit and a strip test for CYA. Next time someone visits us this way I hope to get a proper test kit, but in the meantime this is all I have.

PH - 7.6
FC - 1.5
TA - 100
CH - no way to test
Salt - Aprox 6000 PPM based on salt added (no way to test here)

According to the manufacturer of my SWG I should clean my electrodes so I did that today. But I dont want to do that weekly.
Any ideas? Thanks again for all the help..
Danny
 
It is a local unit made in South Africa. Justchlor brand. It is not a self cleaning unit. From talking with them it sounded like something I would have to to do once every four to six weeks, and that is why I was really surprised after one week.
Thanks for the help.
 
Danny

Here is a link to the manufacturers website
It has information on the correct water chemistry to use with this system as well as proper use and service information.

http://www.justchlor.co.za/images/stori ... Manual.pdf

Lower your PH to 7.2 and your TA to slow the calcium scaling on your equipment.

You can lower PH and TA with muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid). You can get an estimate of the amount of acid to use with The Pool Calculator. Let the pump run for about 30 minutes after adding acid before testing the PH and TA again.

Are you able to purchase Muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) in your area?

To remove severe scale:

Turn off the Pump power supply which feeds the chlorinator.
• Unscrew the electrode from the housing - cables intact.
• Place the electrode in a pool acid/Water solution of 1:10, this being 1 part Acid and
10 parts Water. Do not submerse the entire electrode with electrical wire connections
into the solution, as this will damage the connections and void the Warranty. Only the
electrode plates containing the calcium deposits must be submersed.
• Any stronger solution will damage the coating on the electrode and void the Warranty.
• Do not leave the electrode in the acid solution for prolonged period of time as the
same effect will be realized.
• Once this process is completed re-install the element assembly into the housing,
ensuring the lid seal is in place and the lid is tightened but not over tightened
• Restart the pump.
• Check the Output meter reading for needle position.
• Remember to test the salt content of the water as described earlier

You can store and reuse the acid wash several times. Just store it in a tightly closed, well marked container safe from children.
 
Thanks for the help. Hydrochloric is one of the things we can get locally so that works well. I cleaned it last weekend and it is ready to clean again. Just wish there was a way to check CH locally. Will have to see about buying a good test kit next time somebody comes this way from the States.
Thanks
 
I just installed a small 1000GPH 24hr. circulation pump in addition to my main 1 HP pump ala some new Spa's have these for 24hr filtering. Well Iv'e been running an Inte3x SWG for months no prob. Now with the low speed pump the cell got tons of deposits in ONE week. I had not needed to ever clean the cell before this running with a 1hp and 2 HP pump. I believe ble is caused by the lower flow. You may be a victim of the same thing. Try a faster pump if you can and see if the cell stays cleaner in a weeks period.
I'm going to start a new thread about this. FWIW the 24hr pump job is done by a Intex 1000GPH pump, one listed for my very SWG.
 

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Yes, a lower flow rate will create less dilution of the very high pH water near the hydrogen gas generation plate. If there were a way to turn down the output rate of the SWG, that would help, but it doesn't work that way -- one can only turn down the percentage on-time, not the generation rate.

The use of 50 ppm Borates would likely help to additionally buffer the pH, especially against the rise in pH that is what you are trying to avoid. Having the saturation index slightly negative (say, -0.2 or so) would also help a little.
 
Chem Geek, thanks for responding, I didn't mention that there is alot of bubbling gas/air? coming from the pool return closest to the equip slab, It's an inground pool so i can only make the assumtion that that return is fed first. The flow is quite low with the 1000GPH pump at its feeding 5 returns, some don't feel like anything is coming out even.
Using the 1hp or 2hp pump I never notices any bubbles from any return but i was not looking for any.
 
As mentioned before, the SWG will produce hydrogen gas, which will bubble out from the returns. If it is the SWG, the bubbles should go away when the SWG is off. If you are getting bubbles when the SWG is off, something else is going on.
 
The SWG will generate roughly the same amount of chlorine and hydrogen gasses per unit time, but with a lower flow rate that means those concentrations will be higher when coming out of the returns. So the chlorine concentration will be higher and the amount of hydrogen gas bubbles will be greater as a proportion of water volume. Though the total amount of gas flowing out of the returns is the same, it will seem like more since the bubbles will likely be larger so be more visible.
 
I gave up on running the small pump and now just run my 1 HP pump, it's gotten warmer here, now the scale is terrible, I get fault lights and have to clean the cell every 4-5 days. I'll start a new thread and post pics and numbers on it. I've search alot here on the board in the last few days and can't find anyone else with scale on their cell problems, I tried seversl differt words for searches, no luck
EDIT: with the temp rise in water, a TA of 160, a ph of 7.6, and a ch of 250 it was my csi that was the problem , droped the TA to 70 and even with 82 deg water I have no buildup anymore!
 
chem geek said:
Yes, a lower flow rate will create less dilution of the very high pH water near the hydrogen gas generation plate. If there were a way to turn down the output rate of the SWG, that would help, but it doesn't work that way -- one can only turn down the percentage on-time, not the generation rate.
Click to expand...

depends on the unit

Autochlor AC/RP/Commercial range actually controls the output, not the percentage on-time
 
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