IC40 cooked?

[bbrads]

Hello, great site, thanks in advance to all! So..

..my IC40 SWG is installed upside down, since pipe system flow direction is down at cell location, not up. So flow switch is above cell. Seems not ideal, thoughts?

Anyway, no problem for our six months of ownership of the home & pool, but last week the flow sensor-switch failed in the On position, and the element looks like it cooked the flow switch, as the cell and pipe above were very hot to the touch, the little white plastic in-line grill was deformed from heat, and the flow sensor light was green even when pump isnt running.

Soon as I noticed this I turned off SWG circuit breaker. And when I turned on the pump to cool SWG down, it blew tiny bubbles in the pool for a few minutes, until it cleared the pipes. After that the SWG worked for about a week, operated manually via circuit breaker so pump was alway on before SWG was turned on.. then lights out - as in all SWG lights out.

Replaced fuse, immediately blew again.

Pulled & acid cleaned cell, and lights stayed on for about 5 seconds before fuse blew again.

Seems likely to be the cell? Or should I clean again since fuse took five seconds to blow vs instantly before? ..or also check the power center? After fuse was replaced, the tiny green LED in the power center box stayed on before the cell fired up and killed the fuse again.

Any learned advice greatly appreciated!


Bucky
Mesa, AZ

• 12,500 gallon IG mini pebble plaster pool
• cartridge type filter
• pentair pump, variable speed
• Intellichlor IC40 SWG, upside-down
• Leslie litmus test kit and store analysis to test water
• Recently drained and re fill the pool from city main, and took a month to get chemistry right.. new at this pool thang!

 

[Jimrahbe]

B,

You actually have two problems which compound each other..

The cell should NEVER have any lights when the pump is off.. And the Cell MUST be installed so that water flows up through the cell not down.

Cells have been know to explode if powered when the pump is off..

A cell must have two safety devices.. The primary device turns off the AC power to the Power Center when the cell is off. The Secondary devise is the flow switch.

My guess is that your cell is toast..

Sorry,

Jim R.

 

[bbrads]

B,

You actually have two problems which compound each other..

The cell should NEVER have any lights when the pump is off.. And the Cell MUST be installed so that water flows up through the cell not down.

Cells have been know to explode if powered when the pump is off..

A cell must have two safety devices.. The primary device turns off the AC power to the Power Center when the cell is off. The Secondary devise is the flow switch.

My guess is that your cell is toast..

Sorry,

Jim R.

OK that figures! ..may need to relo the cell per the attached, so its 45-degrees upward at least? dont see another option short of total replumb. thoughts?

Thanks much!

Bucky

 

[jmastron]

I believe most cells want to be installed either fully horizontal or fully vertical, so 45 degrees isn't desirable. I don't know why it would matter, but if you're fixing it might as well fix it right. I see a couple ways to do it:

1) Out of the filter turn to vertical (1 more 45 degree elbow), cell flow up, then since it will probably be higher than the horizontal pipe, use 3 90 degree elbows to come back down to that level and tie in with the horizontal pipe.

2) At the end of the horizontal run, install the IC horizontally (either before or after that coupler, depending on where there's enough pipe), then again 3 90s to bring it back to line up with the return pipe.

Installing SWCGs in a U-shaped loop is pretty common when needed for space; the extra bends won't matter much to overall flow.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Bucky,

I have no idea what the two pipes you labeled "Function" do... I assume some kind of water feature...

Do you have a heater or solar system??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[mknauss]

In Arizona many pools are plumbed with an aerator = that may be the 1" line. The other, old fountain, slide, etc?

 

[bbrads]

I believe most cells want to be installed either fully horizontal or fully vertical, so 45 degrees isn't desirable. I don't know why it would matter, but if you're fixing it might as well fix it right. I see a couple ways to do it:

1) Out of the filter turn to vertical (1 more 45 degree elbow), cell flow up, then since it will probably be higher than the horizontal pipe, use 3 90 degree elbows to come back down to that level and tie in with the horizontal pipe.

2) At the end of the horizontal run, install the IC horizontally (either before or after that coupler, depending on where there's enough pipe), then again 3 90s to bring it back to line up with the return pipe.

Installing SWCGs in a U-shaped loop is pretty common when needed for space; the extra bends won't matter much to overall flow.

So the large black valve diverts a variable % of the water away from the SWG, so having the SWG upstream of that valve would give me a higher chorination effectiveness since all water leaving the filter would go through the SWG. But it'd be easier to install horizontally across the top. Will experiment to see where it diverts to the water to. And the small pipe is an aerator to cool water at night here in the desert. Its such a low flow that I can't imagine it does any good except for a nice sound lolz.

So a new SWG cell is in the pool's future. DO you guys have an opinion on the generic cells? Should be equivalent quality, one would hope.

 

[bbrads]

Bucky,

I have no idea what the two pipes you labeled "Function" do... I assume some kind of water feature...

Do you have a heater or solar system??

Thanks,

Jim R.

No solar or heater. will review the piping as-builts and get back to you.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Bucky,

Since you have no automation, I would go with a CircuPool unit or a Hayward T-15 style unit...

Neither of the above can use your existing IC40 Power Center.. If you want to still use the Power Center, you will have to go with another IC40.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[jmastron]

So the large black valve diverts a variable % of the water away from the SWG, so having the SWG upstream of that valve would give me a higher chorination effectiveness since all water leaving the filter would go through the SWG. But it'd be easier to install horizontally across the top. Will experiment to see where it diverts to the water to. And the small pipe is an aerator to cool water at night here in the desert. Its such a low flow that I can't imagine it does any good except for a nice sound lolz.

So a new SWG cell is in the pool's future. DO you guys have an opinion on the generic cells? Should be equivalent quality, one would hope.

Assuming the diverted water ends up in the pool, total chlorine delivered to the pool is the same, with a big caveat -- if the large valve diverts enough water to reduce the flow rate below the SWCG's requirements then it wouldn't generate at all. For that reason I'd probably slightly prefer having it before. There may be some consideration if the diversion

As far as cells, there are generic IC-40 compatible cells that would use the same power center. I have no experience with them, and I wouldn't assume they necessarily have the same quality -- chlorine output probably, but longevity who knows.

Whether to look at new complete systems depends on how comfortable you are changing out the power center. I ended up installing a Calimar CMARSHA40-3Y for $625 (including the power center), yes it's ultra-generic and no idea how long it'll last, but it was a LOT cheaper, as are the replacement cells, so even if the cells or parts of the system last 4 years instead of 8 I'll be way ahead. If they last 1 year, not so much!

 

[bbrads]

Gents, thanks for all the above input. I'll replace the flow switch and cell with a generic and see how she goes. Duly noted on the cell blowing up when installed upside down and flow switch fails in the ON position like mind did. It was the perfect storm. When I found it, the SWG cell was hot to the touch and had created a lot of chlorine gas bubbles in the pipe above the cell. It took some minutes of flow to move them all to the pool inlet jets. Could have been much worse it seems!

I'm not happy that a prominent local [Phoenix/Mesa] pool co installed the SWG upside down in 2007, then a replacement cell in around 2017. But that was for the previous owner, so I have no recourse in going after them for this safety risk they seem to have created.

Best,
-bdb

 

[RJ-45]

We have installed a few hundred of the generic IC40 over the last year (mostly using existing Pentair power center), only a small amount is having issue, I would say the failure rate are a little bit higher than name brand, but only by a small margin. The only Con is they do not work with automation setup. The Pro is their cell can be replaced independently (you can reuse the electronics and flow switch to save some money).