I think the cell might be bad 😆

[BPKlein]

Good Morning,

I have been trying to figure out why my FC numbers have been dropping. I did an OCLT....it equals zero. I checked the warning light on the unit....not on. Thought maybe all the rain we have been having was diluting the water. I turned up the CL output, but the FC continued to fall. I figured the cell was going bad, and so I ordered a new one. This is what the old one looked like this morning when it came of the housing. The housing is clear, but with the refraction of the curved plastic, I couldn’t see the amount of cell erosion.

The question.... does this amount of wear look normal? As you can tell in the pic, one plate is really worn away on the edges. The loose plate in the pic wasn’t even welded to its electrode anymore. This cell is 4 years old. It’s a large pool, in Texas, so the cell has to work pretty hard.

CSI normally between a -.20 in the winter and ever so slightly positive in the summer. PH is controlled with muriatic acid addition 2-3 times a week. I try to keep the PH up near 8 in the winter (difficult) and down around the mid 7’s in the summer. (easy with acid)

ThankYou,
Bryan

 

[cowboycasey]

At 4 years I am not sure... that plate came off, thats crazzzy.. My Circupool went 7 years and was still creating chlorine and nothing fell off and my CSI is way lower than yours...

 

[mknauss]

How often was the cell cleaned with acid?

 

[BPKlein]

mknauss,
Never. Actually the cell was never cleaned at all. That was the first time it ever came out of the housing. The housing being clear, I could see if it needed it. There was some build up on the electrodes, but never the plates.

Since I never had to clean it, I thought I was doing really well with the CSI. Now I don’t know.

 

[BPKlein]

Cowboycasey,

This thing was still producing some chlorine. And no fault light was on.

 

[cowboycasey]

with a plate missing the power level will go down and it will create less chlorine.. (at least I think so )

 

[mknauss]

I would suggest you take the pictures and email them to Circupool. Not sure of the warranty period for that cell, but it would be good for them to see the issues.

 

[BPKlein]

I would suggest you take the pictures and email them to Circupool. Not sure of the warranty period for that cell, but it would be good for them to see the issues.

I don’t want to sound like I’m bad mouthing Circupool, but I have been in contact with them 3 times now. They are not interested in honoring a warranty, or looking at pictures. All they do is blame “bad water chemistry“. Either my CSI is too low, my phosphates are too high, or my favorite....my LSI is too high.

I got 4 years out of a cell with a 5 year warranty.....in the grand scheme of things, it’s still a pretty cheap way to make chlorine.

 

[mknauss]

Interesting.
@circupool