Need help with new Pentair IntelliChem system please

[macdee]

Hi- we filled our pool last month and finally got the salt added. But according to the pool start up guy no one told him not to put in so much cyanuric acid since this is his first intellichem pool -he put in 100ppm. so now the Pentair rep said he can't start up the automated intellichem system until that acid reading is down to 30ppm. Pool guy put in something to try to bring down the acid readings a week ago but so far the level is still too high. OK, I don't really understand all the details but I told my husband I'm posting on my board for help!
Can anybody with this automated system please help with any info/advice?! Thank you!!

Mary

 

[jamcha02]

Hi- we filled our pool last month and finally got the salt added. But according to the pool start up guy no one told him not to put in so much cyanuric acid since this is his first intellichem pool -he put in 100ppm. so now the Pentair rep said he can't start up the automated intellichem system until that acid reading is down to 30ppm. Pool guy put in something to try to bring down the acid readings a week ago but so far the level is still too high. OK, I don't really understand all the details but I told my husband I'm posting on my board for help!
Can anybody with this automated system please help with any info/advice?! Thank you!!

Mary

Dont bother - my recommendation is to keep the CYA at 80 and run the salt cell independently of the intellichem. The intellichem should only control acid injection.

Here's why. The use of a salt cell creates hydrogen gas, which does funny things to the ORP sensor the intellichem uses to determine when to dose chlorine. The hydrogen gas produced by the salt cell will actually drive down the ORP as more chlorine is produced and introduced into the pool by the salt cell. The net result of this is that ORP will continue to fall and the intellichem will continuously dose the pool with chlorine until your chlorine level is out of control. There is absolutely no way to get ORP on the intellichem to play nice with a salt cell...period.

It still works very well as an acid doser and salt cells are easy enough to dial in the chlorine where you want it.

 

[macdee]

Thanks for the input jamcha- I'm sure hubby will understand what all that means

 

[motorsport17]

Thanks for the input jamcha- I'm sure hubby will understand what all that means

While I agree Salt Cells pose an issue for Intellichem and the ORP will drop if the system is not setup correctly, there is a work around.
I pulled my hair out with this situation until I started playing with on and mix times.
From my experience and my functioning pool with Intellichem the following will work.
Program Intellichem to dispense by time NOT set point. Dispense to a maximum of 20 minutes with a minimum of 90 minutes of mix time. Depending on how many hours and cycles you run your pool you can control the ORP and PH using this method.
You will need to keep the Cya below 50 so the ORP will drop like a rock when the Sun shines but it will recover nicely at night. Don't be afraid to let ORP drop to low 600 during exposure to Sunlight.
Hope this helps!
Where there is a will there is a way!!!

 

[jamcha02]

While I agree Salt Cells pose an issue for Intellichem and the ORP will drop if the system is not setup correctly, there is a work around.
I pulled my hair out with this situation until I started playing with on and mix times.
From my experience and my functioning pool with Intellichem the following will work.
Program Intellichem to dispense by time NOT set point. Dispense to a maximum of 20 minutes with a minimum of 90 minutes of mix time. Depending on how many hours and cycles you run your pool you can control the ORP and PH using this method.
You will need to keep the Cya below 50 so the ORP will drop like a rock when the Sun shines but it will recover nicely at night. Don't be afraid to let ORP drop to low 600 during exposure to Sunlight.
Hope this helps!
Where there is a will there is a way!!!

This could work - but its much much easier to just set the salt cell to a fixed percentage with CYA at 80. With this setup, the salt cell will run less and thus, last longer.

 

[motorsport17]

My salt cell only runs an hour a day and when the sun is down the ORP level is in the low 700's.
This pool is at my winter home in California so I can't babysit it everyday. I have never found a pool service guy that will take the time to properly maintain my desired Chemical balance so Intellichem is a no brainer. My pool is serviced, cleaned twice a week but other than cleaning all he needs to do is boost TA occasionally due to acid injection for PH balance.
My PH sits at 7.3 +/- .03 and ORP runs 680 to 720 with the sun down (720 set point).
Can't see it getting any easier or better than that?

 

[jamcha02]

You are missing the point - the initial setup of the intellichem is more difficult then just setting the cell at fixed output. Further, there is more strain on the cell with cya at 50, and finally, a cya of 50 will start to make the orp readings wonky. I'm not saying your solution doesn't work or is difficult, just saying the fixed percentage on the cell and a cya of 80 is going to be the better route for most folks

 

[motorsport17]

The point is there are automation systems that when properley set up work very well It's unfair to knock a system as not working if it is not properly installed and programmed. I can sit 2000 miles away from my pool and it will maintain itself with far greater accuracy than one being manually controlled from a far. In any given month you will spend more time than me adjusting your cell as I spend "0".
The system is not perfect but it's pretty darn good. Again with any system the results are only as good as the input and Intellichem has gotten a bad rap on this forum in my opinion.
And that is my point!

 

[jamcha02]

The point is there are automation systems that when properley set up work very well It's unfair to knock a system as not working if it is not properly installed and programmed. I can sit 2000 miles away from my pool and it will maintain itself with far greater accuracy than one being manually controlled from a far. In any given month you will spend more time than me adjusting your cell as I spend "0".
The system is not perfect but it's pretty darn good. Again with any system the results are only as good as the input and Intellichem has gotten a bad rap on this forum in my opinion.
And that is my point!

You clearly aren't listening. I never knocked the product as I use it myself and love it. Running a salt cell with CYA at 50 puts WAY more stress on the cell then running the cell with CYA of 80. I spend no time adjusting my cell - I keep it at 40% and my FC is always between 3 and 5. That being said, we'll both spend minimal time maintaining our pools, but your salt cell will go bad long before mine

 

[Olga]

The point is there are automation systems that when properley set up work very well It's unfair to knock a system as not working if it is not properly installed and programmed. I can sit 2000 miles away from my pool and it will maintain itself with far greater accuracy than one being manually controlled from a far. In any given month you will spend more time than me adjusting your cell as I spend "0".
The system is not perfect but it's pretty darn good. Again with any system the results are only as good as the input and Intellichem has gotten a bad rap on this forum in my opinion.
And that is my point!

Thank you for posting about your Intellichem working so well. It does take quite a bashing on this forum, so I'm glad to know it CAN work well when set up properly.

Our new pool was chemically out of control because it was NOT set up properly. The tech was coming by daily dumping jugs of acid into it manually because the acid pump was locked out every day, and every day the pH shot through the roof despite all the acid addition. What was going on? As the literature tells you, with that high a CYA the salt cell generates chlorine non-stop trying to achieve an unattainable ORP.

I finally decided I needed to get educated. I learned pool chemistry and the Intellichem system. The settings in our Intellichem system were INCORRECT, in so many ways. Furthermore, our CYA is at 80, so nothing will work properly till we get it to the 30-50 ppm recommended in the Intellichem manual. The cover on the box recommends CYA under 30. Based on my research, I think 30 is optimal. I won't bore you with the rest of the mistakes in the setup but I sit here now with a chlorine level that was over 40 ppm when I got involved and is now still at 20 ppm. We're going to have to drain a bunch of water to get the CYA to required levels and start the balancing process over.

So, if you want Intellichem, either find someone with expertise in it, or get educated yourself. Don't assume that because Pentair will sell a pool company an Intellichem system that the pool company is competent to set it up.