I have an AquaRite salt water generating system installed in March of 2009 for a 19,500 gallon pool. Since install, I've replaced the original Hayward T-cell-15 cell a couple of times, about when these things are supposed to wear out (living in Palm Springs where the temps can exceed 120 degrees in the summer, I probably push mine harder than most folks). Swapped in a Calimar T-15 replacement cell last August and all has been fine since.
Today I noticed that the average salt display was reading 0 ppm. I'm used to very low values when salt levels are low, the cell is full of deposits, or the cell is on its last legs, but never full blown zero. That's a new one for me. Power light was solid green, but Inspect Cell and Low Salt were solid red as well (Generating light was off). I pulled the cell and took a look, but to my surprise the deposits on the vanes (or whatever they call the cathodes\anodes inside the cell) could be considered "light-moderate" at best (worst?), about the level you'd expect to cause a salt display of 3200 drop to 2300. Nothing major and certainly nothing I would expect to cause a zero reading.
I cleaned the cell anyway. No difference. Powering up the system resulted in solid green Power and Generating lights once the Low Flow light went out. But at that point average salt continued to show 0, cell voltage read 31.3 volts, cell current read 0 amps, and instant salt was 0 as well. Forcing the cell to actually create chlorine by flipping the switch to off momentarily resulted in the usual internal click, but the readings just described never changed. After about a minute or so, the Generating light went out and the Inspect Cell and Low Salt were back to solid red.
My guess is that the main PCB is fried in some way and the solution is to simply swap in a new one. But before I drop $160 plus tax for the replacement board, I'd love to have someone either tell me "I've seen this many times and a new PCB is the easy and obvious fix" or "I had this happen once but after soaking the board in a solution of equal parts Simple Green, extra virgin olive oil, and WD-40, it's working better than ever."
Any advice?
Nick in Palm Springs
Today I noticed that the average salt display was reading 0 ppm. I'm used to very low values when salt levels are low, the cell is full of deposits, or the cell is on its last legs, but never full blown zero. That's a new one for me. Power light was solid green, but Inspect Cell and Low Salt were solid red as well (Generating light was off). I pulled the cell and took a look, but to my surprise the deposits on the vanes (or whatever they call the cathodes\anodes inside the cell) could be considered "light-moderate" at best (worst?), about the level you'd expect to cause a salt display of 3200 drop to 2300. Nothing major and certainly nothing I would expect to cause a zero reading.
I cleaned the cell anyway. No difference. Powering up the system resulted in solid green Power and Generating lights once the Low Flow light went out. But at that point average salt continued to show 0, cell voltage read 31.3 volts, cell current read 0 amps, and instant salt was 0 as well. Forcing the cell to actually create chlorine by flipping the switch to off momentarily resulted in the usual internal click, but the readings just described never changed. After about a minute or so, the Generating light went out and the Inspect Cell and Low Salt were back to solid red.
My guess is that the main PCB is fried in some way and the solution is to simply swap in a new one. But before I drop $160 plus tax for the replacement board, I'd love to have someone either tell me "I've seen this many times and a new PCB is the easy and obvious fix" or "I had this happen once but after soaking the board in a solution of equal parts Simple Green, extra virgin olive oil, and WD-40, it's working better than ever."
Any advice?
Nick in Palm Springs
