Bad salt cell?

[tjt040774]

Is it possible to have a bad cell without getting any error messages? I am rapidly losing chlorine while running 100% 12 hours/day. I have also been adding bleach, but still losing chlorine at a rapid pace. I am currently shocking. If that doesn't work, Jandy guy wants me to take water sample at salt cell (after the pool loses all of it's chlorine) to help determine if the cell is producing or not. I will post a complete set of #'s tomorrow.

 

[judy_schuster]

Last summer which was the 6th season of the pool, my salt pool which previously was relativly problem free, was repeatedly turning green and developing algae. I would take a water sample to pool stores and was given various treatments which worked only temporarily. It wasn't until the end of the season that the salt generator popped an error code and it was then determined that the salt cell was bad. I am certain that the cell was not functioning at the beginning of the season which explains why the pool was repeatedly turning green. I therefore do believe that a cell can be bad and go undected by the equipment that generates error codes

 

[bobodaclown]

Are you doing your own test measurements? You can take a measurement of water right from the jet, it should be higher than the pool overall. If not, your cell isn't producing. Have you inspected/cleaned it? Can you provide a full set of test results including the salt level. We can provide better info with the numbers from the test results.

 

[ge2655]

Here’s a simple trick I use to verify purifier production from my SWG. After dark, I turn on my filter and pool light. Standing poolside, near the return jet closest to the equipment pad (which just happens to be close to the light), I can see the fine bubbles the cell is generating. If the cell is not producing chlorine, it will not be generating bubbles.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
-Gary

 

[tjt040774]

I am at a loss right now. I added a lot of bleach yesterday in my first attempt at shocking. I measured the fc about an hour before sunset at 27 ppm, tested before sunrise at 25 ppm, went to work, came back 8 hours later and was at 4 ppm. Isn't that excessive? CC's vary from 0 - .5 ppm. Water looks pretty good. I have had my test kit for a few seasons now...does that have an expiration (got the one recommended here)?

 

[tjt040774]

I will get a complete set of #'s shortly...

 

[JasonLion]

Your results are consistent if your CYA level is fairly low.

If stored carefully the test kit should be good for two or three years, but getting hot or freezing can shorten that.

 

[tjt040774]

Honestly, I have not checked the cya in quite a while because I was never confident in the results i was getting. I always felt like i could see the black dot! My water still looks good as far as I can see. In 3 years, this is the first real issue i think i've had with my water. #frustrating

 

[tjt040774]

Oh and yes, I feel pretty dumb right about now. I bet this stems from me forgetting to turn off my fill line a couple of weeks back. I bet i lost quite a bit of cya due to overflow (yes, i have added cya in the past...based upon my perceived measurements).

 

[ping]

It seems that your CYA is too low since you can see the dot with the tube full. Your CYA needs to be 70-80 range and if it were you definitely wouldn't be seeing the black dot in the tube when full. I believe your problems will go away as the cell can not keep up with the chlorine loss due to sunlight. Make sure you follow the CYA/FC guide in Pool School.

I keep my pool open year round and the last two winters I lost 30 ppm of CYA but retained all my salt or borate levels. You could be losing CYA and not even know it without being able to measure it accurately.

I suggest you get the calibrated CYA test from TFT and get used to the test. The solution is calibrated for 50 ppm CYA and you will develop the confidence needed for the CYA test.

Just saw your fill line post, but kept what I typed for others to read just incase they have a similar issue.

 

[tjt040774]

CYA appears to be the culprit...

FC 3.5
CC .5
PH 7.2
TA 70
CH 210
CYA....0 as far as i can tell.

Adding cya via sock in front of jet now. May take me a while to get to where i need to be...