First major problem with SWG

[sduphily]

Well, my wife looked out of the window this morning and noticed the pool seemed cloudy. Sure enough...it's still blue, but definitely cloudy looking.

This morning the water test was as follows:
pH - 7.2
FC - 0.5
CC - 0
TA - 90
CH - 120
CYA - 70
Bor - 30
Salt - (from test) 3200


I believe my SWG PCB is on the fritz, but I also believe that my T-Cell-9 is undersized for the pool and I'm not sure if that would cause premature death of the PCB. The installer swore that it would be more than big enough for my pool even after questioning them during the first year of operation after researching this site.

The pool has just started it's third year in operation, with only a slight hiccup late last season. At one point, it seemed as if the SWG unit wasn't producing chlorine (green light not lit) and I tapped on the box and then it lit up. I would keep tabs on it the rest of the season and I never ran into any problems since.

Now this year, everything has seemed fine up until the past few days. First, the check cell light was blinking a few days ago. I did the routine check on it and it seemed fine...there looked like possibly two deposits on it, the first I 've ever seen on it, but I put it back on and reset the diagnostic button. Well, it would turn off, and the within a second later start flashing again. This went on for half a dozen times until it finally stayed off. Then yesterday I checked the water and the FC was down to 2 but everything else seemed fine...PH was around 7.4 so not horrible.

I've uploaded a video of the issues with the generating light turning off and the tapping to get it back on:
http://youtu.be/fY9akqK9nAs

It's at least a nice overcast today, so not worried about the sun beating up on the pool today. I'll be shocking it in about an hour during lunch...

 

[JasonLion]

A T-9 cell is undersized for that pool. Still it should be able to keep up as long as your pump runtime is reasonably long. At worst you might need to add a little extra chlorine on the very hottest days of the year. Still, running at the fairly high percentages required due to being undersized does mean that it won't last nearly as long as a larger cell would.

Your levels look reasonable, except for FC of course. With those levels you should not see any calcium scaling, or anything like that. And nothing in your description reminds me of any of the common problems.

The tapping and it starts working things suggests that something is lose. I would definitely check the cell cord connection to the control box. There could also be a problem with an internal relay sticking. But neither of those seems especially likely.

 

[sduphily]

Well, I had taken the cover off and didn't see anything obviously wrong. Cleaned up some webs...tapped on the relays a few times...jiggled the upper board a bit. Everything seemed to be stable. Took pictures so now I know circuit board numbers and such.
Put the cover back on and it seems to not be finicky anymore. Here are the numbers on the readout:

3400
76
26.2
4.18
100
-3200
AL-0
r 1.58
t-9

When I came back for lunch the other day, it still was at 0.5 FC so I've been sorta lucky for the overcast we've had here recently. I hit it with a few jugs of bleach and a pack of 73% cal-hypo just to boost it. I've been running the system 24-7 at 100% and right now my pH is 7.5 with an FC of 4.5. The CC came up as 0.5 this morning, but it rained pretty good last night and I have the worms in the pool at the moment.

Just wanted to make sure those readings on the main unit were typical or not with the t-9 cell or not. Just playing the waiting game at this point to make sure my FC doesn't drop any lower.

 

[p_mori7]

Just in case your "generating" light stops completely, see this link: https://www.facebook.com/HaywardAquariteRepair?ref=hl&ref_type=bookmark#!/HaywardAquariteRepair

It is a common problem with the Hayward system.

 

[JasonLion]

Your diagnostic reading is normal, strongly suggests the unit is working, at least it was when you got that readout.

I suggest doing an overnight FC loss test to see if you have a low level algae problem.

 

[sduphily]

OK...that's a good sign.

It might have to wait a few days for a clear night (no rain) before I can do the overnight FC loss test. I'll just have to keep "hands on deck" until I can do that...thundershowers forecasted for the next couple of nights.

I'm hoping it was just the relay(s) being "stuck". Wiring looked solid otherwise.