Aquarite cell not generating

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D

dosmom

Active member
May 23, 2022
26
Florida
Hi, I appreciate all who are reading this and offering their assistance. I have an Aqua Rite T-9 cell, about 6 years old so maybe near the end of its life. The main board is much older. My display board has been a bit wonky for a while so here is what is happening.

Recently, the generating light comes on solid upon startup and then about 30 seconds later the inspect cell and check salt light flash. The generating light would stay on. this happened for a few days
Now, the generating light comes on and the inspect cell and salt light stay on and the generating light goes off. The power light is also on.

I replaced the thermistor and no luck. Actually, shortly after replacing it is when the lights went from flashing to staying on.

I tested the cell using the 5 gallon bucket test and I am seeing a lot of bubbles and chlorine, so seems like the cell is good. see attached picture.

One odd thing, when I turn the pump on the salt panel does not come on. I have to take the display board off and then reseat it back and then the salt power comes on. This seems to be routine now as it has happened several times in a row.

here are my readings. It is reading very low salt but I believe it is much higher. I am going to have it tested again today but last week it was 2500 and I have since put in two bags. Not sure if the low salt is why the lights stay on but I thought they would flash. I understand I need to get a correct reading of the salt before maybe being able to determine what is going on but no power upon startup seems to be something else.

2200
81
32.4
0
70
0
al 0
15.5
t9

Does it seem like maybe a bad board and display? As I was messing with it yesterday I did accidentally change it to a T15 which I read would cause this probably but I changed it back and The T9 reading is what matches my cell.

Thank you
 

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I'm only going to point out a couple of things here. If the board can power up there is nothing wrong with the thermistor. They either work or they don't. If you're pulling the display of and reconnecting while the unit has power you could damage the main board or the display. Being in Florida you use the SWG a lot like we do here. At 6 years it's probably at the end of life. I do hope your bucket didn't have any acid in it because that's how you can finish a cell off or shorten it's life. Put your pool and equipment info into your signature so we know how your pool runs. It sounds like you may be on a timer for the cell? Make sure it's turning on after the pump starts and off before the pump stops. You could have a wonky main board or a worn out cell or both.
 
Thanks for the reply. My bucket of water was straight from the pool, I sent the test video to someone I know who works on pools and he said the cell is producing plenty of chlorine. Yes, the pump and cell are tied together on the timer so they turn on and off together. I have read where a bad thermistor causes the lights to go crazy, even the power light, but I am not an electrical person so not sure exactly how it works.

I think my salt level is probably around 3000 at least based on where it was last week and since adding almost 2 bags since. really seems like something going on with the board, is there a way to test?
 
also, if I turn the salt cell off the power light stays on. it is only when the timer goes off and the entire system shuts down and when it starts up the salt panel does not power up, that is when i have to jiggle or reseat the display board
 
Then I would say it's a bad main board. You can take your cell to Leslies and they can put it on their test jig but I don't know if the jig reports life left in the cell. It may just say good or no good. This might rule the cell out and leave the board to replace. I only took cells to them to confirm they were dead.
 
Thanks. I heard from others that leslies isn’t very accurate. Question. What determines the salt value on the display? Does the cell send the value? It only shows 2000 which is why it isn’t generating. But if my cell is producing chlorine, is it possible that it would still send the wrong salt value? My bucket test clearly showed that chlorine is being produced. So just trying to determine why the wrong salt value is being displayed.
 
The cell calculates the salt reading electronically but you should be testing it yourself. What test kit do you have? You should have one of our recommended kits with the salt add-on. Then you will KNOW your salt content. Leslies testing and selling techniques are suspect but the SWG testing jig is not theirs and so it's supposed to accurately diagnose the cell. Yours should come back as good but I would want to verify that since it's 6 years old. That is at the end of life for most cells, especially a T9 that is too small for your pool. Your cell should always be sized twice the pool gallonage so you should actually have a T15 that is for up to 40K gallons.
Test Kits Compared
 
To care for your pool and properly diagnose the cell, you need to do your own salt test.

To estimate the performance of the Aquarite cell, divide the instant salinity reading by the actual salinity. If the performance is less than 75%, the cell is failing and it's time to consider replacing the cell. You need to be sure about the actual salinity by using a salt test like the Taylor K-1766.

Your instant salinity 0, so your performance is 0.

More on diagnostics here:

Hayward Aquarite SWG - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 

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