Gutting IC40 to use as dummy cell?

[Killer95Stang]

After 6 full swim seasons with our salt pool, our Pentair IC40 has finally bit the dust. It operated 365 days a year for 8-10 hours a day at probably 45 -50% duty cycle for most of that time. That puts me close to the 10000 hour limit in my opnion, but i could be wrong. Only cleaned it 3-4 times during that time frame, but i always made sure to keep my ph between 7.2 -7.6. So, now that I am geting the green flashing status led of death, i went ahead and ordered up a new cell. Since the water is getting colder, i figure ill just chlorinate with liquid chlorine during the winter months and then install the new cell in April.

While shopping for my new cell, i noticed the dummy cells cost around $40 for a basic plastic tube. I cant bring myself to spend that for $0.10 piece of plastic. So, anyone have any luck gutting the old cell to use as a dummy cell? Are the plates screwed in or molded intk the plastic?

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I'd just leave the existing cell in and turned off.

Maddie

 

[Dirk]

Me too.

Is the current cell completely dead? Or dying? Producing any chlorine? You might consider not using it all up. Use if off, as a dummy. Put in the new one and save what's left of the old one as a spare. If your new one poops out (and they do), you'll have your backup ready to go, with maybe enough life in it to get you by until the replacement shows up.

 

[Killer95Stang]

The led that is flashing is the "status" led. When I run the diagnostics on the cell through my easytouch i am getting a "clean cell" error. All that i can get from reading older posts says that it will not produce chlorine when this led is flashing green. When i inspected the cell, it is completely free of buildup. My guess is the cell is dead....

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Can you just turn the device off? The water will still go thru the cell but the electricity making the magic won't be.

Maddie

 

[Killer95Stang]

Sounds like a plan.... Right now i need to run 1500-1600 to make swg happy, but since ill be running without it, ill probably drop down to 1200 over the winter.

 

[mknauss]

Unless you have a need for daily skimming, you can run your pump every other day or so once your water temperature gets to 60F. Only need minor circulation during winter.

I set up a Feature circuit to do that. Turn off the Pool circuit.

 

[JamesW]

What is the salinity?

Have you checked the salinity with a K-1766 test kit?

 

[Killer95Stang]

What is the salinity?

Have you checked the salinity with a K-1766 test kit?

Yes... I'm testing at about 3400 - 3600 with the K-1766. My IC40 is reading 4450 with a water temp of 81 degrees . About two months ago I had an issue with the flow sensor not registering flow at my normal 1600 rpm, so I purchased a new flow sensor and everything was good again. At same time my IC40 was reading 4000ppm even though I hadn't added salt this entire year. When I used the K1766 I was actually at 2800ppm, so I added enough salt to theoretically get me to 3800 (tested at 3600), but now my Salt Cell was reading about 5000ppm. Over the next few days, it went down to 4500ppm and it worked as normal. Although, after 5 years of being able to maintain the pool with the IC40 set between 60-50%, I now had to bump it to 85% to maintain a proper chlorine level. I attributed this to age of the salt cell itself and a higher than normal hot summer.

One other note, when push the "More" button to get a hours of use reading, I get two LED's at 40%, which should mean I'm at 4000 hours (plenty of use left.. right), but If I do the math, that doesn't add up. I know for a fact that this cell was installed and running in April of 2013. It has been running 365 days a year, for an average of 8 hours per day. Most of that time, it has been at 40-50%, with sometimes at 20% during the winter and sometimes at 60% during the summer. But here in Los Angeles County, we don't get much of a break from warm weather.

 

[JamesW]

Press and hold the "More" button until the lights scroll, then note which percentage light lights up. Then, immediately press the "More" button again and note which percentage lights light up.

 

[Killer95Stang]

Press and hold the "More" button until the lights scroll, then note which percentage light lights up. Then, immediately press the "More" button again and note which percentage lights light up.

I get 40% for the first press and 60% for the second press... but not sure about the second press, because the cell is set at 60% at the moment.

Please read my edit above...

 

[JamesW]

Version 3.1 on adds the ability to determine system temperature. Pressing the “More” button after the display shows 1,000s of hours of usage, will show temperature as follows:

Lights…………….....………Temperature
No LEDs………….…..………Below 30F
40%..........................36 to 45F
40% and 60%............46 to 55F
60%..........................56 to 65F
60% and 80%............66 to 75F
80%.........................76 to 85F
80 and 100%............86 to 95F
100%.......................96 to 99F
100% blinking……..….over 99F
All LEDs blinking……...Sensor bad

So, it looks like the temperature reading is wrong, which will affect the salinity calculation. If you don't want to replace the flow switch (which contains the temperature sensor), you can disconnect the temperature sensor and it will use 77 degrees as the default temperature. That will help.

If that doesn't work, try increasing the salinity by 500 ppm.

If that doesn't work, the cell is probably bad.

Maybe set percentage to zero on the cell and redo the more test button.

 

[Killer95Stang]

Any idea what color wire needs to be cut to disconnect the temp sensor?

 

[JamesW]

Red and black are the flow switch. Green and white are the temperature sensor.

 

[Killer95Stang]

Thanks

 

[Killer95Stang]

Disconnected the green wire and turned it back on. Immediately, the high salt level LED started blinking. When I checked it on the easytouch diagnostic screen, it said my salt is now reading 4700ppm, with no errors. It usually does this for a 5 or so minutes, before it tells me to clean the cell, so we shall see.

 

[JamesW]

That's odd. Maybe the temperature sensor circuit is bad or the salinity/conductivity sensor.

If it doesn't work, it's probably time for a new cell.

 

[Killer95Stang]

That's odd. Maybe the temperature sensor circuit is bad or the salinity/conductivity sensor.

If it doesn't work, it's probably time for a new cell.

Clean Cell light came on about 30 minutes after I posted, so I'm pretty much going to concede that this thing is done. I'll pull the 2 month old flow sensor to keep as a spare, cut the fins/ wires off the original sensor and screw it back in. Then I'll figure out a way to cut the main plates from the flow path and cut the cord off the unit itself. Then this will be my dummy cell to use during the colder winter months. The new cell I ordered will come in on Tuesday and I'll keep that in the box until next March /april when I get the pool ready for the swim season.

The bright side, I got 6 full swim seasons out of the cell before it died. I'm not sure how much I would have spent during that time for Bleach / Chlorine jugs, but at least I didn't have to carry all that bottles from the car to the pool. If someone wants to let me know what they pay on average for chlorine per year, I can compare it to the $505 I paid for the new IC40 that I'll will get on Tuesday.

 

[Dirk]

Can you cancel the order or send it back, then buy it in the spring? Six months of warranty on an IC40 might be worth five more bills next year, ya never know (next week I'll be on my third one in a year and a half)...

 

[JamesW]

There's no reason to try to remove the cell plates. No debris should be getting in the cell. So, the plates won't make any difference.