Yesterday afternoon I manually turned on the SWG for a couple hours at the end of the day when it is usually off to get a little more chlorine in the pool. The pump goes off automatically at 7 PM and I didn't get out there to turn the SWG off untill around 11 PM. When I got out there I saw the light was on indicating it was still actively generating chlorine when the pump had been off for like 4 hours. Anyone know what the reason it wouldn't turn off is? Flow sensor is bad? Do you think this did any damage to the cell generating chlorine for that long with no flow? Thanks!
Issue with Hayward AquaRite SWG generating chlorine with no water flow
- Thread starter PhantomF
- Start date
Flying Tivo
TFP Guide
- Jan 24, 2017
- 2,931
- Pool Size
- 7500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
That is a very dangerous situation, and could be a bad flow sensor. Make sure you tie the SWG with the pump relay so they work together just as an extra failsafe. Are you sure it was generating? or was it just ON and not generating? That can cause a gas explosion.
Felipe
Felipe
Yeah I figured it's not a good situation. I'm pretty sure it was generating. There was a solid green light next to 'Generating' on the control panel just like in normal operation. I tested again this morning for a minute with no pump running and it stayed on so something is definitely not working. The SWG is on it's own relay/timer and set to run only when the pump is running. Yesterday was an exception with my turning it on manually but I wasn't worried about it because I've seen in the past where it stops generating when water flow stops. I will watch it a lot closer until this issue gets resolved.
Flying Tivo
TFP Guide
- Jan 24, 2017
- 2,931
- Pool Size
- 7500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Please use the same timer for both the Pump and SWG, its the only way to be safe, don't relay on the Flow sensor.
Felipe
This is how my PB setup my system. It's only a couple months old so I will talk to them about it.
Next time the pump is off and the SWG and the green generating light is on check the amps to see if they read 0. If the amps are 0 then the system is not trying to generate chlorine at that moment. If it does read 0, turn the output dial to 100% and see if the red no flow light comes on and check the amps again.
Ok so I went out and with the SWG generating chlorine and the pump running the AMPS are at 6.3. I switch the pump off and the SWG keeps generating but the AMPS slowly start decreasing. I waited maybe 3-4 mins and by that time they were down to around 3 AMPS. I imagine another 3-4 mins it would've went to 0 but I didn't want to risk it and wait any longer. Is this a built in safety to stop chlorine generation if the flow sensor goes out maybe?
The reason that the amps went down was because chlorine and hydrogen gas were being produced, which caused the water around the plates to decrease.
Also, as the chloride was used up, the plates would be less effective.
A mixture of chlorine gas and hydrogen gas is very volatile and can spontaneously explode, making the cell essentially a pipe bomb.
Definitely, keep the SWG off until the flow detector can be fixed.
Do you have any pictures?
Also, running with no flow should not have caused any harm to the cell. The only harm would be if the cell exploded.
Also, as the chloride was used up, the plates would be less effective.
A mixture of chlorine gas and hydrogen gas is very volatile and can spontaneously explode, making the cell essentially a pipe bomb.
Definitely, keep the SWG off until the flow detector can be fixed.
Do you have any pictures?
Also, running with no flow should not have caused any harm to the cell. The only harm would be if the cell exploded.
Thanks for the explanation, that's pretty crazy. Glad it didn't hurt the cell at least. Here's a few pics of the equipment:
With a VS pump and solar, I'm surprised that the builder didn't use Hayward ProLogic or AquaPlus.
Flying Tivo
TFP Guide
- Jan 24, 2017
- 2,931
- Pool Size
- 7500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Then it could be a stuck switch or debris clogging it. Try to disassemble the switch and clean it.
Felipe
Took it out, cleaned it off and everything looks fine but still not working. Switch must've just went out sending a false signal to the control panel.
Blinking happens when the Flow switch first closes and should go out in about 30 seconds. Something is definitely wrong with the system.
I suspect that it might be a bad circuit board.
In any case, it should be under warranty.
I suspect that it might be a bad circuit board.
In any case, it should be under warranty.
Sorry my bad it is solid red after unplugging the flow switch from the control box the starts blinking for a while after plugging back in before generating again.