Recently I noticed the Check Salt and Inspect Cell lights were on solidly lit on my Hayward Aqua Rite system. I didn't think too much about this as we've had a lot of rain recently (central Florida) which tends to result in the pool needing extra salt. I added an extra bag of salt and let the system run anticipating that it would level out, but that didn't happen. Upon closer inspection, I realized the salinity on the Aqua Rite showed 0 and the amperage also showed 0 when cycling through the diagnostic menu. Doing a bit of searching online led me to believe the issue may have been a salt cell (t-15) needing to be replaced and/or a bad PCB on the Aqua Rite itself. Additionally, I placed a call to Hayward and spoke with one of their techs. He had me run through a few diagnostic tests and suggested that the issue may be the flow switch (in addition to the salt cell) as the No Flow light never came on while going through his diagnostic tests. He didn't believe there was an issue with the PCB, despite the fact that the amperage reading was 0.
So I unplugged the flow switch and salt cell and took them down to my local pool supply center and had them test the salt cell and stated that the cell was bad. Unfortunately, I had no idea that the flow switch itself was about $100 and a replacement t-15 cell was about $600!
Being that I'm still relatively new to pool ownership and have only had to do basic maintenance, I wanted to do a double check to see if I am on the right page or if I may be missing something/failed to ask the right questions. I figured the peace of mind would be nice before I end up having to cough up several hundred in parts that may or may not resolve my issue. Also, given that the pool size is about 12,000 gallon, would stepping down to a t-9 cell result in any perceived performance degradation of the system? Finally, are there any reliable third party replacement switches/cells that are recommended or should I just bite the bullet and pay the premium for OEM parts?
Edit: To add that my Aqua Rite system is rev 1.59, which supports using a cell other than the t-15 originally installed
Most recent test results:
Total Chlorine = 0.0 ppm
Free Chlorine = 0.0 ppm
Combined Chlorine = 0.0 ppm
pH = 8.0
Total Alkalinity = 90 ppm
Calcuim Hardness = 300 ppm
Stabilizer = 60 ppm
Total Dissolved Solids = 5,000 ppm
Salt = 4,000 ppm
After the above test, I added 2 cups of muratic acid to bring the pH in line and a 16 oz bag of a powdered shock to the pool to get some chlorine in it today.
So I unplugged the flow switch and salt cell and took them down to my local pool supply center and had them test the salt cell and stated that the cell was bad. Unfortunately, I had no idea that the flow switch itself was about $100 and a replacement t-15 cell was about $600!
Being that I'm still relatively new to pool ownership and have only had to do basic maintenance, I wanted to do a double check to see if I am on the right page or if I may be missing something/failed to ask the right questions. I figured the peace of mind would be nice before I end up having to cough up several hundred in parts that may or may not resolve my issue. Also, given that the pool size is about 12,000 gallon, would stepping down to a t-9 cell result in any perceived performance degradation of the system? Finally, are there any reliable third party replacement switches/cells that are recommended or should I just bite the bullet and pay the premium for OEM parts?
Edit: To add that my Aqua Rite system is rev 1.59, which supports using a cell other than the t-15 originally installed
Most recent test results:
Total Chlorine = 0.0 ppm
Free Chlorine = 0.0 ppm
Combined Chlorine = 0.0 ppm
pH = 8.0
Total Alkalinity = 90 ppm
Calcuim Hardness = 300 ppm
Stabilizer = 60 ppm
Total Dissolved Solids = 5,000 ppm
Salt = 4,000 ppm
After the above test, I added 2 cups of muratic acid to bring the pH in line and a 16 oz bag of a powdered shock to the pool to get some chlorine in it today.
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