iChlor 30 Red Salt Level LED

[Homebrewale]

I was on vacation the last two weeks. I did my latest tests today. Everything looked good except FC has dropped from 11 ppm to 5 ppm. A drop was expected since I lowered the output from 45% to 30%. I'm still trying to dial in the SWG for this time of year. When I checked the iChlor 30 display, I had a solid red LED for the salt level. In the manual, this indicates a low salt level between 2600 and 3000 ppm. On the status LEDs, the cell LED is solid green which means cell is operating normally. The flow LED is solid green which means the flow is sufficient. My salt test result using Taylor's K-1766 kit was 3400 ppm which is the same result since April 24. The LED was not red during my previous two results of 3400 ppm.

Is this an indication that something is wrong with the cell? Since the optimal salt concentration is 3600 ppm, should the first step be to add some salt to bump the level up to 3600 ppm to see if I can make the cell happy?

 

[ajw22]

You can try increasing the salt a bit to see if the iChlor starts generating. I would not go above 3800ppm.

 

[Jimrahbe]

HB,

The cell uses a thermistor inside the flow switch assembly to "adjust' the salinity test, based on water temp. It is not very accurate if the water temp is below 60.. And.. If the thermistor goes bad, it can often make the reported salinity a lot lower or higher than it actually is..

The IntelliChlor SWCG test is +/- 500 ppm... not sure what the iChlor is, but assume it would be similar.

The Flow Switch can be replaced. If under warranty I'd have Pentair come do it.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Homebrewale]

It's not under warranty. The water temperature is 86F. I'll do a salt increase to 3600 ppm to see what happens. If the internal reading is +/- 500 ppm, then that could put the 3400 ppm Taylor result below 3000 ppm, not considering the possible +/- 200 ppm of that test.

 

[Homebrewale]

You can try increasing the salt a bit to see if the iChlor starts generating. I would not go above 3800ppm.

The normal range is 3000 to 4500 ppm. I probably wouldn't exceed 3800 ppm but not because of the salt cell. I wouldn't because of the gas heater.

 

[Newdude]

With the IC20/40/60, (and possibly similar with yours) low salt at the 2800 triggers the red light but the cell continues to produce down to 2600. So it's like you get a warning before it's shut off.

 

[Homebrewale]

With the IC20/40/60, (and possibly similar with yours) low salt at the 2800 triggers the red light but the cell continues to produce down to 2600. So it's like you get a warning before it's shut off.

Yes, I saw that in the manual. When I test at 3400 ppm and get a warning which is triggered at 3000 ppm, the 400 ppm difference was something I was a bit concerned about. Less so now after Jim's post. It may not have been the best idea to make a large decrease in output before taking a vacation. I'll be happy as long as FC increases or at least holds while I slowly increase the output.

 

[Homebrewale]

The light is back to green.

 

[malu95]

The light is back to green.

Hi I am having the same problem. I am wondering if the problem corrected itself or if you changed the flow switch? Thanks!

 

[Homebrewale]

Hi I am having the same problem. I am wondering if the problem corrected itself or if you changed the flow switch? Thanks!

You can read my saga over on the thread linked below. To sum it up, a few weeks after the red salt like coming on and going back to green, I got a solid red Cell light on and green COLD on display. That indicates temperature sensor on flow switch is out. I replaced the flow switch. It didn't fix the problem. Then I recalled if the white wire for temperature isn't connected, the cell will default to 72F. So I disconnected it and the cell is now producing chlorine and there is a blinking red Cell light. I'm going to look into a permanent fix but I will limp this along until I decide to either replace the iChlor 30 with an identical unit or switch to different SWG.

Pentair iChlor 30 temperature error

 

[malu95]

You can read my saga over on the thread linked below. To sum it up, a few weeks after the red salt like coming on and going back to green, I got a solid red Cell light on and green COLD on display. That indicates temperature sensor on flow switch is out. I replaced the flow switch. It didn't fix the problem. Then I recalled if the white wire for temperature isn't connected, the cell will default to 72F. So I disconnected it and the cell is now producing chlorine and there is a blinking red Cell light. I'm going to look into a permanent fix but I will limp this along until I decide to either replace the iChlor 30 with an identical unit or switch to different SWG.

Pentair iChlor 30 temperature error

Thanks! Mine keeps switching temperature readings although the actual temperature seems fine. Will try to change the switch flow first and see is anything changes. Thanks!