Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset!

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T

Tinaja

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2013
55
Hi, I have the Swimpure system and the t-cell-15. Back in April I cleaned the cell (and I probably did something stupid like adding acid first, don't remember) and I blew a fuse, and the board lost power. I replaced the fuse and had power back but ever since then the check salt and check cell lights have been coming on.

I checked repeatedly and many ways and at different places and my salt level is actually about 3500. I have to go out every day and manually reset the box so the lights will go off and it will get good readings and produce chlorine.

Some time over night the display comes to a ridiculous level (like 900) and the lights come on.

I replaced the t-cell, no change. ($$$!)

I replaced the whole board last week. ($$$!) It worked that day, but the next morning the lights were on.

I just called Hayward/Goldline and they said all is well! I said, "Why do I have to do this every day?" "I don't know." Suggested calling tomorrow before I reset it.

On this forum I have noticed other people had the same problem, but few return to say the fix, other than those who replaced the thermistor. I replaced the whole board and I still have trouble!

I also looked at the flow switch, and it has some muddy brown stuff on it and in the pvc pipe, and it comes off when rubbed. I don't know what that is. Also, my cya level was 30 and yesterday I added a gallon to raise it, but I doubt these have anything to do with it.

Does any one else have any ideas? I can call Hayward again tomorrow but I have a feeling they will just have me do the manual reset that I have been doing every day!

This is what the diagnostics say today after the daily reset:

3500 salinity
87 temp
25.5 volts
6.15 amps
90 %output
3500 instant salinity
al-0 swimpure
1.58 software
t-15 cell

I didn't record the "crazy" values today before the reset, but I will do that tomorrow.

I found a great trouble shooting document:
http://www.nuccibros.com/sec_0934drRb_d ... -Guide.pdf
But I don't find it helpful since I have already replaced the board and the t-cell. It doesn't say what to do after that.

And this is how I reset it every day:

Push switch to off. Push switch to auto. Listen for relay click. push diagnostic button 5 times until I get to instant salinity. When it gets close to 3500 I push the switch to superchlorinate and then back to auto. It stabilizes around 3400.

The salinity values in the morning can be anywhere from 900 - 2100

If anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it!
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

Another thing, the trouble shooting document says to test the amps and voltage in both polarities. I tried to follow the instructions but I am not sure about it because it seems to go back to the default polarity. This model doesn't tell you what polarity you are looking at...That may be part of the problem, if someone could maybe point me to a video of how to do it...
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

No one? Well, I thought of another thing that may or may not be relevant...My pump motor went out and the tech from Lxx's looked at it and said it was discontinued (not true) and they did not have any but if I found one online they would make an exception and install it for me. So I found one on Amazon (Hayward was the vendor). A different tech came out, told me that was not correct that it was discontinued. He said he could not install it because it was 120 and my system was 220. He left then came back and said he had an idea. He did some re-wiring of some sort and then it worked. Could it be that he changed my system from 220 to 120? The salt generator feeds off the same box...Is there any way I can check to see if this is what happened?
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

That could be a problem. Your unit can be wired for 110 or 220, diagrams are in this manual, so if you're reasonably confident you can open up the box and see if it's wired correctly.
http://www.hayward-pool.com/pdf/manuals ... lation.pdf

Sorry you haven't gotten more help...this is the first time I've heard of something like this.
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

Well it is fixed now. There are only two things I did and I don't know which fixed it. 1. I added cya. 2. I unplugged the flow switch on both ends, looked at it, and put it back in the exact same way I found it. When I put it back and turned on the pump the "No flow" light illuminated as it normally should, except it was then I realized that I had not seen that light in a long time! Like months! I had pretty much forgotten its purpose. Even when the pump was not running, that light was not on as it should have been. So I am not sure what fixed it - reseating the flow switch or raising the the cya. I know the cya for swimpure should be 60-80 to work right, and mine was 30. I don't know if that causes lights, though. I wish I could isolate which of these it was. If I had looked at the box at night when the pump was off after the cya was reached I would have a better idea because I would have seen if the no flow light was off or on. Well now everything seems to be working, and the cell is producing more chlorine than before. Well, thanks anyone who looked at my post.
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

My guess is that the flow switch was not properly connected, as SWG's do not detect how much CYA is in the water. It seems like the SWG is producing more FC than before because the CYA is now at the recommended level and it is protecting the FC from the sun.
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

As ping said, adding cya has nothing to do with your low salt reading issue.

Are you certain that your pump was running when the low salt was showing previously?
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

So it would be reading 900 ppm with no flow and when flow first started up? If you let it run for awhile, would the reading go back to normal?
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

No, the values would stay low even with the pump running. This went on for a long time before I learned how to reset it. Every day.
 

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Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

Well, it starts in prime mode which is a high flow, and I think it burps a couple of times when it starts. I know I have an air leak somewhere so I have to work on that next. I often have to purge air out of the valve on top of the cartridge filter holder. As for those little bubbles which are the chlorine gas, I just learned about that. When I saw small bubbles I thought I had a problem. As for a lot of bubbles, can't say for sure. Why?
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

I was just wondering if the swg was running without flow...it would deplete the salt level in the cell and then read low salt. The flow switch should not have allowed that, but that seemed to fix your problem so I am suspicious that you have (or had) an electrical short somewhere in the switch.
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

That may have been the case, because I recently saw a post on another forum saying the same thing and had my symptoms also, but there was never any resolution given. Anyway, yeah, I agree it must have been the switch. I may have shorted it when I cleaned the cell because I also blew a fuse. I didn't know you could unplug it from the box! Oh well, what a learning process. Everyone else got by with soldering...So everyone out there, before you buy something, try the switch too...
 
Re: Every night salt level display drops and I have to reset

This is great...I had the exact same issue and it is the flow sensor switch. Mine now defaults to "Flow" where the light does not come on and so the saltwater generator keeps working. I agree with the logic that the water in the cell loses the salt level so the reading on the box goes way down over night. Then, when you turn it on, it takes all day to get the average salt level reading back up. I have to replace my flow sensor and I'm sure that's it because if I leave the pump on all night, all is well with the level. It only goes down when you turn the pump off. Time to get a new flow sensor.
 
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