4th replacement of my intex SWG titanium plate

Jonacani

Gold Supporter
Bronze Supporter
Jul 19, 2021
20
Moses Lake, Washington
Pool Size
8403
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Intex Krystal Clear
This is my fourth season with my Intex 12x24 pool the the kyrstal clear combination pump and SWG.
The plate worked fine in 2021 but when I opened in 2022, it worked for about a month and then the '91' low salt light. Chemistry was good, salt was 3100, cleaned the plate, etc and was told by Intex that I needed a new titanium plate. Purchased one in July 2022 it worked great the remainder to that season. 2023 was a warm Spring in the PNW (Washington) and I opened my pool in April 2023 and everything was great, chemistry, salt level, etc, then the '91'code again in June. I did everything again, cleaned the cell, used cleaning vinegar, chemistry was perfect. Called intex and again, bad titanium plate (now under waranty) and they replaced it (we are now on number 3). Again, generator worked fine the rest of 2023, closed the pool, cleaned the titanium plates, stored in a dry place, all good. This year, 2024, opened in May and chemistry was excellent and salt level was fine and and SWG working well..... for about a month. I did all the maintenance and checks and double checks, swiched the polarity of the SWG plugs (nope), cleaned them again (nope), repeatedly checked my salt with a salinity monitor, test strips, and our local pool company, all good. So I called intex again to get a new cell under waranty and they would not cover it as it was not purchased the year before, it was a waranty replacement. BS but whatever, I have a new titanium plate coming (number 4)
Sorry so long winded, here is my questions: Is there anything I can do to elongate the life of these titanium plates or simply get a whole new system. And if that is the case, how do I disconnect, cut the wires, of the existing SWG off my pump (that works fine). And last question, I had seen some say they sanded the titanium plate and it worked, have you heard of that and would it work?
 
Wow, that makes total sense! Fixing the real problem of corrosion and not a band aid. I will return a comment when I check all the connections.
One more question, makes sense the connections may be corroded, should I sand the actual titanium plate and other electrode?
 
Well, I'll be......
It worked!!
I rolled up some 220 sandpaper, really small and tightly to fit in all the post hole in the titanium generator and electrode. I sanded them as best I could and then blew them out with canned air. I checked the lead connections inside the cover and they was no noticeable corrosion. It has been running with no warning light for the last 3+ hours.
Yeah!!!
 
That's great! I think we had our wires crossed on terminology. If connectors are corroded, then sanding is appropriate, we would not recommend sanding the cell generation plates.
 
Crud, that didn't last very long. Dang 91 alarm came back on. Salt level is good and the plate is clean. I am getting a new titanium plate and if it does it again, then I know it is the connections and the SWG itself and not the plate.
 
I have two of these units running. I found one unit was giving at 91 error low salt more often. No corrosion internally. I noticed this unit had slightly looser fit into the female plug. So I used shim (stranded copper wire) to make it tighter on insertion. One copper wire stranded one each area marked in red. Problem solved.

FYI, been running these units for 8 years now documented over here. Lasted way longer that I expected with plate replacement every few years. I replaced one one unit recently and this one had the low salt water issue that was fixed this way. Unfortunately I had ordered a "real" unit for inground pool and have yet to install it. You can see my setup here.
Intex Salt Water Generator (SWG) for in ground pool (IGP) Model ECO 8110 28669EG

Screenshot 2024-07-25 085944.png
 
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