Hi everyone! Water temps are finally warm enough here in NH to turn on our I-40 SWCG. Until today, I have been manually adding chlorine to pool based on pool math calculator & decided, with the warm weather coming, to start running the salt cell to get ready for swim season.
A little back story before my question on what to do... last year we purchased our home in August and quickly learned our I-40 cell was not working correctly. Brought it in for professional cleaning (since we were new to pools and didn't know how to do it properly) then reconnected it. After doing so we found out that we were still not generating chlorine. Had cell tested and was told it was shot. We didn't have money to replace the cell at that time (and really no point in buying one for it to sit idle over winter burning thru the warranty time for no reason), so for remainder of last season we maintained pool with manual chlorine.
Fast forward to this season, we purchased not just one, but 2, floor models of the IC-40 salt cells for $100 each. We were told they were in good functioning order with low usage prior. Grabbed them both so we had an extra handy to swap in and out. Also kept our "shot" cell for parts.
Hooked up one of the two new salt cells and checked usage hour meter to get a sense of how "used" it was. Looks like we are at 40% usage hours -- so, hopefully good long life left. Cell blades are pristine, so looked ready to use. Installed and turned on and immediately flow light turned red indicating NO FLOW. We decided to do a little trouble shooting and clean the DE filter (pool had been running, but not used, since mid-April so it was time to clean anyway). Checked for strong flow from return before attempting to turn IC-40 back on. Turned on and gave it some time to think -- FLOW LIGHT STILL RED.
After doing reading here, I know the flow switches on these things can be temperamental. Before we go ahead and replace or bypass the flow switch, we were going to swap in the second used salt cell we purchased to see if we get flow & function or not. If that fixes the issues and I can generate some chlorine for now, GREAT. I will be mad at the store that sold us a gently used store models under the premise that it was in good working order -- and one is already failing --- but that is a separate gripe. I will deal with them later.
So, here we are and would like to fix the problem with the first one that is showing no flow. Seems like most people here are able to bypass the flow switch by cutting some wires, but wanted some better instruction on how to do that -- and what kind of results we should expect. I run my own salt tests with the Taylor K-1766 (test results earlier today show 3800 ppm), so not concerned if bypassing flow switch will mess up with IC-40's ability to read level properly.
Please note that I am in NO WAY handy with electric kind of things, and we don't have an ohm meter, but I do follow directions well and can cut wires if told exactly what to do and what steps to take. Please help me learn! We want to have at least one of our IC-40s up and functional.
Sidenote: thanks to this forum I have learned that it is potentially BAD NEWS to have your salt cell receiving power when pump was off. Who knew?!? Certainly NOT the homeowner who sold us the house -- he has his timer set to control pump only and left his IC-40 powered on 24/7. That we are changing immediately. Going out to purchase a timer that can handle the load of both the pump and IC-40.
Thanks in advance to my forum friends who can hopefully help us fix this for the season!
- Newbie in NH
A little back story before my question on what to do... last year we purchased our home in August and quickly learned our I-40 cell was not working correctly. Brought it in for professional cleaning (since we were new to pools and didn't know how to do it properly) then reconnected it. After doing so we found out that we were still not generating chlorine. Had cell tested and was told it was shot. We didn't have money to replace the cell at that time (and really no point in buying one for it to sit idle over winter burning thru the warranty time for no reason), so for remainder of last season we maintained pool with manual chlorine.
Fast forward to this season, we purchased not just one, but 2, floor models of the IC-40 salt cells for $100 each. We were told they were in good functioning order with low usage prior. Grabbed them both so we had an extra handy to swap in and out. Also kept our "shot" cell for parts.
Hooked up one of the two new salt cells and checked usage hour meter to get a sense of how "used" it was. Looks like we are at 40% usage hours -- so, hopefully good long life left. Cell blades are pristine, so looked ready to use. Installed and turned on and immediately flow light turned red indicating NO FLOW. We decided to do a little trouble shooting and clean the DE filter (pool had been running, but not used, since mid-April so it was time to clean anyway). Checked for strong flow from return before attempting to turn IC-40 back on. Turned on and gave it some time to think -- FLOW LIGHT STILL RED.
After doing reading here, I know the flow switches on these things can be temperamental. Before we go ahead and replace or bypass the flow switch, we were going to swap in the second used salt cell we purchased to see if we get flow & function or not. If that fixes the issues and I can generate some chlorine for now, GREAT. I will be mad at the store that sold us a gently used store models under the premise that it was in good working order -- and one is already failing --- but that is a separate gripe. I will deal with them later.
So, here we are and would like to fix the problem with the first one that is showing no flow. Seems like most people here are able to bypass the flow switch by cutting some wires, but wanted some better instruction on how to do that -- and what kind of results we should expect. I run my own salt tests with the Taylor K-1766 (test results earlier today show 3800 ppm), so not concerned if bypassing flow switch will mess up with IC-40's ability to read level properly.
Please note that I am in NO WAY handy with electric kind of things, and we don't have an ohm meter, but I do follow directions well and can cut wires if told exactly what to do and what steps to take. Please help me learn! We want to have at least one of our IC-40s up and functional.
Sidenote: thanks to this forum I have learned that it is potentially BAD NEWS to have your salt cell receiving power when pump was off. Who knew?!? Certainly NOT the homeowner who sold us the house -- he has his timer set to control pump only and left his IC-40 powered on 24/7. That we are changing immediately. Going out to purchase a timer that can handle the load of both the pump and IC-40.
Thanks in advance to my forum friends who can hopefully help us fix this for the season!
- Newbie in NH