Little background: Over the past few months, I've noticed my chlorine levels not as high as they should be. I've had to manually add chlorine at times. My SWG salt level got to about 3100 then started dropping about 2-3 weeks ago and now won't give me a reading at all other than "Chlorinator off - Test salt level." I bought some test strips and it's actually just over 4,200 which really surprised me. I took the cell off and noticed some buildup. The manual says to soak in a 2:1 ratio of water-salt, but I was closer to 4:1. I soaked two separate time for about 15 minutes each time and then rinsed in between. It seems pretty clear so I put it back on and no change after about 90 minutes of operation. Still says "Check System" and "Chlorinator off - test salt level." The pool will be 3 years old in August. Not sure where to go from here--hire someone to inspect the system, replace the cell? I even thought about just going back to adding chlorine like I used to in my old pools before I had a SWG. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Think My SWG is Dying
- Thread starter jason92s
- Start date
Could the salt level be too high? I know my SWG has an indicator for salt too low and one for salt too high. 4200 seems awfully high.
I was just out there replacing the GFI on my panel and right before I turned it all off I saw the salt level at 2300. So, in about 2 hours, it has went up from 2100 to 2300. Maybe there's still hope? It did say that chlorine generation is off though.
I had a similar problem a couple of years back and had an Aquacal tech out. It turned out to be the lead (and / or) probe that went into the system. The lead was replaced and the probe just cleaned and I've never had a problem since.
Hope this helps.
Jon
Hope this helps.
Jon
Is the cell 3 years old? It could have just died.
You can tell when the cell is creating chlorine. When the system is on, and the cell is clean, you will see what looks like clouds or water vapor in the cell housing. If you're not seeing that, I'd replace the cell to start.
You can tell when the cell is creating chlorine. When the system is on, and the cell is clean, you will see what looks like clouds or water vapor in the cell housing. If you're not seeing that, I'd replace the cell to start.
A little more info is needed. What brand and size of SWG do you have and how many gallons is the pool?
When cells start failing they tend to read the salinity low like you have seen. To clean the cell, it should have been soaked in a water-acid solution, not water-salt solution. Normal life spans should be 3-5 years so it might have worked as it should have, just a little on the low side. This might be due to the cell size and the amount of gallons the pool is.
When cells start failing they tend to read the salinity low like you have seen. To clean the cell, it should have been soaked in a water-acid solution, not water-salt solution. Normal life spans should be 3-5 years so it might have worked as it should have, just a little on the low side. This might be due to the cell size and the amount of gallons the pool is.
Quick update...I took the cell off and cleaned it 2 times. It's now reading 2500 as of this morning, so it's starting to climb back up, just going about 100 a day. I took a water sample in a pool store and they said my salt level is actually 4600.
I think I spoke too soon. Salt readings started slowly declining again and it now says the reading is too low and to check the system. I'll check all the contacts on the board again, but looks like it may be time to bite the bullet and purchase a new SWG.
I am clearly not an expert, but we have a haywood SWG t-cell-15 and what you are describing is exactly what ours does when it is about to die. Our system is aqualogic and so I can manually switch polarities to see if both sides of cell are bad or if it is just one side. When you say that after 2hrs it went up..that sounds about the right timing that the polarity changes (every 2 hours) and so it sounds like one side is barely working and the other side is not working. Just replaced our 2nd t-cell (and just posted in this section about the runaround with the warranty--but successful) and in our case, I was able to keep changing the polarity to the side that was barely working to keep the ppm around 2800 (just enough to keep the SWG generating chrlorine). The pool place said our ppm was 4700. I think your cell needs to be replaced. You can take it to a pool store and they will test it for you. If it is under 3yrs and it is a haywood..then read my post about "pay attention to your warranty". Hope this helps
also, one other thing. Depending upon what system you have, with mine, when i go to "diagnostics" and change the polarity, it turns the cell off and counts down and then restarts the cell. At the precise moment it starts back up, you can see the ppms are either very high or it starts at 3000ppm or some similar amount. "Immediately" press the "next" arrow and then "immediately" press the "+" button to save the setting. This will keep it at that level (and start producing chlorine again) until the next polarity change. Just keep repeating this after each polarity change and that should keep the pool from going green!! It is a pain but it will definitely keep the pool right--while you figure out what you are going to do.
Out of curiosity, i tried the same technique in the negative polarity and the ppms would not even get to 300ppm...thats when i knew that one side was bad.
Out of curiosity, i tried the same technique in the negative polarity and the ppms would not even get to 300ppm...thats when i knew that one side was bad.
Great post Midsouth. I was able to change the polarity and get the salt level at 3800. When I changed it back, I also was unable to get anything above 300ppm. My new cell should be here tomorrow according to UPS, so I'm anxious to get it installed. I'm also wondering if it's just a matter of replacing the unit and turning things back on or if I have to do anything special to get it calibrated/functioning. Thanks again, really appreciate your help.
Very low salt level
I had 0000 PPM reading for the Salt level and had a Volt and Amp reading at the same time in the Diagnose menu.
Went to my pool service to get a reading on my salt level.... it was 3600 PPM after I had dumped another 50 lbs bag of salt in the pool !
My system is an Aqua Logic PS 4 , or 8 .
I thought of re-sodering the board again (K1) but.... I had a reading.... so I wasn't sure it was the thing to do...
so I cleaned my Turbo cell T15 and again no reading of my Salt level....0000 PPM.
I went to the Configuration Menu which was locked ...so I held the < & > buttons for 5 seconds to unlock it.
I read every line and enabled the items I thought I needed to do and at the end of that menu cycle it ask to re-config to the Default ...setting so I did.
are you sure ? + to proceed
Config reset ... confirmed....
the config menu will lock by itself after a few minutes.
It worked, now I have a 2800 PPM reading and the SWG is now working and doesn't shut down.
By the way , you will have to go back to config menu and add the filter name, gas heater, etc
then the setting menu for the gas Heater required (85 degrees) chlorinator setting (65%)
then the timer setting ( 8:15 am to 7:15pm) (if you use it to turn off during the night).
Don't know how long it will work but you can't go wrong by trying.
I had 0000 PPM reading for the Salt level and had a Volt and Amp reading at the same time in the Diagnose menu.
Went to my pool service to get a reading on my salt level.... it was 3600 PPM after I had dumped another 50 lbs bag of salt in the pool !
My system is an Aqua Logic PS 4 , or 8 .
I thought of re-sodering the board again (K1) but.... I had a reading.... so I wasn't sure it was the thing to do...
so I cleaned my Turbo cell T15 and again no reading of my Salt level....0000 PPM.
I went to the Configuration Menu which was locked ...so I held the < & > buttons for 5 seconds to unlock it.
I read every line and enabled the items I thought I needed to do and at the end of that menu cycle it ask to re-config to the Default ...setting so I did.
are you sure ? + to proceed
Config reset ... confirmed....
the config menu will lock by itself after a few minutes.
It worked, now I have a 2800 PPM reading and the SWG is now working and doesn't shut down.
By the way , you will have to go back to config menu and add the filter name, gas heater, etc
then the setting menu for the gas Heater required (85 degrees) chlorinator setting (65%)
then the timer setting ( 8:15 am to 7:15pm) (if you use it to turn off during the night).
Don't know how long it will work but you can't go wrong by trying.
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