Do I need to replace my cell?

[timkelco]

Hello all,
First time pool owner so very green to the whole thing.

I purchased a BioGuard Mineral Springs, Goldline MS-20 or AQ-TROL-X282 or HP it has been a challenge to figure all this out. I guess it is now Hayward off of Craigs List from a Navy man so I believe it was working to the best of his knowledge 3 months ago. It is possible if I jack the salt way up it may work. Start to generate for 1 minute then shut off and Low Mineral and Inspect Cell LED lights up.

Here is what the display says after soaking it in a 4-1 muratic acid bath.

Temp 0.90 thermometer says 82*(this jumps all over, sometimes it is 0.00
Cell Volt 29
Cell Current 28.7 (this is high compared to manual)
Output 53P
Instant Mineral 0.00 cell off 2.7-2.9 cell on (test strip says 3684)
Model AL-6
Software R1.4

Pool is 2 days old in North Florida
13,500 gallon AGP
I am using a TF-100 test kit

FC 3 (I have been using 10.4% chlorine to hold this up)
PH 7.5
TA 250
CH 240
CYA 0 (I know this is wrong I added 3lb of stabilizer yesterday so it will be a week before I re-test, the calculator said 6lb 12oz but I cut it in half because I am not sure If I am testing right. I filled the vial and could still see the black dot.)
Salt 3684

My thought is that the cell is either dead or going to be dead.

Thanks in advance, this forum is a great wealth of knowledge.

Robert

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

If the SWG is new then by far the most likely problem is simply that your CYA is too low. If the SWG is several years old there is some chance that it is starting to fail, but really the CYA being way too low makes that impossible to determine just yet.

With CYA near zero you are losing chlorine to sunlight more quickly than the SWG can possibly replace it. That is the main thing happening. Some of your other symptoms are suggestive of other problems, but might simply be misleading indications that will go away when things settle down.

Unless the SWG is several years old the odds are excellent that the SWG is correct about the salt level, and the test strips are wrong. You appear to have the SWG setup in metric units, so it is actually reporting a salt level of 2700 to 2900.

 

[timkelco]

The person I purchased it from said he replaced it a little over a year ago and the entire unit is about 4 years I think. The cell is a GLX-Cell-5W I forgot to put that on the initial post.

As far as the Metric units part I have been trying to figure out how to change that and so far the info I found does not work.

The unit will only stay on for one minute and shut off and illuminate the LED's so will just start working when the CYA goes up?

I am also up to 11 40lb bags of Morton Solar Crystals in a 13.5K pool. The Pool Calculator figures match the test strips.

 

[JasonLion]

It is always more complex figuring out what is going wrong when there is more than one problem at the same time. Your CYA is low, and that is one clear problem, but several things you are saying do hint at the SWG being broken is one or more different ways. Older cells (3+ years old) will read salt rather lower than it actually is when they are starting to fail. Some of the things you are saying are also suggestive of a loose connection either inside the SWG control box or between the control box and the cell.

 

[bostonbruins59]

The person I purchased it from said he replaced it a little over a year ago and the entire unit is about 4 years I think. The cell is a GLX-Cell-5W I forgot to put that on the initial post.

As far as the Metric units part I have been trying to figure out how to change that and so far the info I found does not work.

The unit will only stay on for one minute and shut off and illuminate the LED's so will just start working when the CYA goes up?

I am also up to 11 40lb bags of Morton Solar Crystals in a 13.5K pool. The Pool Calculator figures match the test strips.

I just figured out the metric setting on my Aqua Rite the other day since I accidentally put mine into that mode. For that system anyway, hit the diagnostic button once to display temperature which'll be in celsius. Now move the generation switch to "super chlorinate". Once your display changes to show the temp in farenheit move your switch back to "auto".

I'm a little concerned that my system might be wearing out too which seems pretty fast. The pool store test always shows a higher salt content than what my system reads and recently they differed by 400 ppm. Does this mean my cell is on its last legs? The pool and SWG were installed in late June of 2009 so this seems quick if, in fact, the unit on its way out.