Do I need to clean my cell?

[Brad_C]

I bought a self cleaning Chloromatic back in 2009. I replaced the cell in 2016. I've never actually had to clean the cell. I can see straight through the plates and they always look clean, so I've never bothered. I was reading a manual somewhere which said "if your pool chemistry is ok you'll probably only have to clean the cell once a year". Made sense, but I haven't *had* to clean the cell. I tried cleaning the old cell before I replaced it, but it was already pretty shagged out after a hard 7 years work. I replaced it with a bigger cell and run the chlorinator for fewer hours at a lower percentage now.

Should I be "cleaning" the cell once a year? Certainly in the 30 years prior (before the self cleaning unit) my job was to regularly clean the cells in the family pools, but I have low calcium fill water (I add calcium twice a year) and run the TA nice and low. It just never seems to get any notable (or visible) buildup. Nice problem to have.

The commercial cell cleaning solutuions on offer here are all phosphoric acid, so I thought if it needed a bath I could use a dilute phosphoric acid mix to see if anything bubbles (I have 85% in the shed), but if there's no reason to then I won't bother.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

No no no! If the plates are clean and free of calcium- DO NOT BOTHER THEM! My first cell lasted 9 years and never needed me to clean them.

Each time cell plates are cleaned you lose some of the "magic* expensive metals that make the device work so you shorten its lifespan.

One time there *was* calcium on the plates but that came off when the device reversed polarity and I discovered Trouble Free Pools, but never again.

Maddie