Jandy Apure 35 Issues

[panamax53]

I have had problems with calcium buildup on the cell from nearly the beginning of this product being installed in 2015. It is now out of warranty. It is nearly 4 years old runs 12 to 15 hours per day and I have found that run time necessary to keep the pool clean and sanitary. I live in hot and sunny south Florida. I have replaced 4 cells. I know how to properly clean them when the buildup causes the SWCG to stop producing chlorine. I am a frequent tester and follower of TFP guidelines for a SWCG pool. I have drained large amounts of water to lower Calcium down to just below TFP recommendations to 325 ppm to see if that would make a difference. It does not. Jandy sent me the last cell for free in February. I installed it and it clogged up in 1 month. I acid washed it. It is now clogging up again with calcium buildup or what appears to be calcium buildup! Now for the first time I get a msg that says "TEST CELL". The cell is producing chlorine. I tested at the closest return and got a reading of 9ppm, away from any return I get 7 to 7.5 ppm.
For you Jandy experts I know about the secret button. That button does not function as it should. I get no digital readout. Perhaps the self cleaning feature is not functioning???

My FC is as stated 7 to 7.5., pH 7.7, TA 60, Salt 4200 (not high for this SWCG), CH 325. CYA 75-80.

How about a sequestering agent? If so which one? I am at wit's end.

I have called for an appointment from a "certified" Jandy repair tech for later next week.

Looking on-line at www.discountsaltpool.com those CircuPool RJ models might be a better bet.

 

[PoolGate]

Seems very odd. Calcium buildup is usually due to a positive CSI and too much calcium in the water. Mine has been running for 2 plus years and the plates look like new. Were all those replacement cells under warranty? 4200 seems really high I run mine at 3000 or so. What are you using to test the salt? The K-1766?

 

[panamax53]

The ideal level for the Jandy Apure 35, per the manual, is 4000 ppm. That is higher than other manufacturers. My CSI is -0.31 . I use the Taylor K 2006-Salt. I may just own the proverbial "lemon" or Edsel of SWCGs.

 

[PoolGate]

4 cells in 4 years my guess would be water issues. But, if that is not the issue, then perhaps there is something going on with the power supply. Over or under current might be contributing to the buildup but this is way out of my expertise area. My suggestion is call Jandy but they are probably just going to tell you your water is bad. If you are positive your water is good, a new SWG might be the solution since the old one is out of warranty.

 

[mijmic]

It appears I have a bad/defective AquaPure sensor. I purchased it new online (OEM Port Sensor Kit, 3 Port Cell, 16' Cable, #R0452500) last April from an online retailer and had it installed professionally. It was the latest version sensor to go with the Jandy AquaPure PLC 1400 SWG. In the fall, just prior to the water temp in the pool getting below 60 degrees (when the SWG will no longer produce) I noticed an occasional "No Flow" on my PDA and Control Panel, then it would go away, come back...and so forth. Fast forward to a few weeks back when the pool temp rose above 60 degrees, I turned it on. It now continuously reads "No Flow."

I had the pool service company that installed it come out, and after inspecting, the cell was clean with no build up whatsoever, which he showed me. The tech afterwards advised it was most likely a bad sensor, and that Jandy was still having an issue with these. The original SWG was installed in June of '14, which he said was fine.

After some additional conversation, he apprised that Jandy quit the internet! Stating that anything purchased online will no longer be warrantied by Jandy/Zodiac, even if installed professionally as this sensor was last spring. I did some research this afternoon, and he was correct...unreal! All my equipment that came with my pool build in 2014 is Jandy, and it came with the 3 year Pro Edge warranty. I have replaced a couple of minor things, a Jandy actuator valve, lid to the 2 HP Stealth pump and did so online due to the significant difference in pricing between online and the pool service provider. Last year when I had this sensor replaced, the pool service company quoted me a price that was literally twice as much as the online price. Their claim is that the internet kills them...and that the internet prices are cheaper than they get it from their distributor!?!? I find that hard to believe, but who knows, no doubt they're (the players) marking it up ridiculously, it's crazy.

My question is whether if I went with a different brand of SWG than Jandy, would it be compatible with the rest of my equipment, as again, everything installed at the time of build was Jandy. And, if I can, should I go with Pentair, Heyward, Jacuzzi or some other that haven't apparently quit the internet?

Thanks!

 

[setsailsoon]

After some additional conversation, he apprised that Jandy quit the internet! Stating that anything purchased online will no longer be warrantied by Jandy/Zodiac, even if installed professionally as this sensor was last spring. I did some research this afternoon, and he was correct...unreal! All my equipment that came with my pool build in 2014 is Jandy, and it came with the 3 year Pro Edge warranty. I have replaced a couple of minor things, a Jandy actuator valve, lid to the 2 HP Stealth pump and did so online due to the significant difference in pricing between online and the pool service provider. Last year when I had this sensor replaced, the pool service company quoted me a price that was literally twice as much as the online price. Their claim is that the internet kills them...and that the internet prices are cheaper than they get it from their distributor!?!? I find that hard to believe, but who knows, no doubt they're (the players) marking it up ridiculously, it's crazy.

Mij,
You are absolutely correct! I discovered this a few months ago when I began to search for SWG. Up till then I loved my Jandy automation and the rest of my equipment. I ended up going with Circupool. More lb/$ production, full warranty that is way better and great customer service. I can't imagine this is going to end well for Jandy. There is one exception to their new policy that is for valves and valve parts. No idea why. It's all clearly in print in Jandy's catalog. I'm a little surprised there isn't more outrage but could be not many have gotten word yet.

Panamax, getting back to your topic, sounds like there's something wrong with your controller. I recently went with Circupool RJ 30+. There are a lot of great SWGC's out there and they probably mostly work very well but Cl production does vary from a total production and $/# basis, and warranty. I've only had mine a month but it's done everything I hoped for so far.

Chris

 

[PoolGate]

I am not looking to bash Jandy I really love my setup .... but.... In addition to this new "we won't sell to consumers they are too stupid to do anything for themselves" attitude, I feel like the iAqualink is an extremely poorly designed product due to it requiring an active Internet connection and link to Jandy's systems. I mean how moronic is it to design a product that doesn't work unless you are linked to their home office? If I had to do it again, for this reason alone I would not get Jandy. Do other makers REQUIRE an Internet link back to them to be able to do anything with the system? Fortunately for me, my system started out as a PDA system, so when Jandy or my Internet link is down, I am able to start/stop things with the PDA. I still cannot program anything but I am not totally dead in the water like some others.

 

[mijmic]

Mij,
You are absolutely correct! I discovered this a few months ago when I began to search for SWG. Up till then I loved my Jandy automation and the rest of my equipment. I ended up going with Circupool. More lb/$ production, full warranty that is way better and great customer service. I can't imagine this is going to end well for Jandy. There is one exception to their new policy that is for valves and valve parts. No idea why. It's all clearly in print in Jandy's catalog. I'm a little surprised there isn't more outrage but could be not many have gotten word yet.

Panamax, getting back to your topic, sounds like there's something wrong with your controller. I recently went with Circupool RJ 30+. There are a lot of great SWGC's out there and they probably mostly work very well but Cl production does vary from a total production and $/# basis, and warranty. I've only had mine a month but it's done everything I hoped for so far.

Chris

Chris,

Thanks for your response. I'll have to check out Circupool, admittingly, I've never heard of that brand. I have a 32-33k gallon pool, so I'd need to size accordingly, and for a region, Charlotte, NC, that gets a lot of sun and typical temps June-August in the low to mid 90's. So, Circupool is compatible with Jandy's Pure Link Sub-Panel Power/Control Center I have? For the most part, I'm not very handy, so most likely I'll get a professional pool service company to install whichever replacement I end up going with.

I'll just keep dumping the liquid chlorine I've been using in the meantime. Wal-mart carries the 10% chlorine version here for around $3.65/gal.

Thanks!

 

[panamax53]

The certified Jandy tech came. Working from memory he found all the secret buttons. Owners should have a diagram with complete description. He had to completely reset my unit (which one is supposed to do after replacing a cell). That made the "Test Cell" code go away. Then and only then was he able to reset the cleaning mode from 5 hours down to 5. The manual instructions did not say the unit must be off in order to reset the cleaing hours from 5 to 2.5! So another $125.00 and off we go. The unit does seem to be producing chlorine more efficiently and the polarity reversal to clean the cells seems to be reducing the buildup. There is an old post that refers to the Apure 35 control unit secret buttons. It would be super duper if someone were kind enough to post some pages out of the tech manual that explains their operation.

 

[panamax53]

Important update!!!
The cell stopped producing chlorine around the 8th of May. I tried acid washing to see if that would work. It did not. Called Jandy, raised heck. They will replace it with their latest unit, a Jandy Trueclear, but I will not get a warranty and will have to pay for labor from an authorized installer. I was about ready to go for a Circupool and probably will when this Jandy product has no life left in it, but maybe I'll be lucky this time.
The newer unit works at 3000 ppm Salt instead of 4000 and has 10% increments of output which should help me zero in more easily than the old 20% increments.

Could the TFP SWCG recommendations be too high for this particular product?
Going forward I'll shoot for 300ppm CH instead of 350 - 450 and a pH of 7.4 to 7.6 instead of 7.6 - 7.8 . My water temp is mid to high 80s.
Any of you EXPERTS care to comment on that? Chem Geek??

 

[setsailsoon]

Pan,

Your CSI looks good. So no reason to run lower on pH or CH. Maybe you had excursions that you weren't aware of or maybe your controller is defective. Not all older units were self-reversing which could have made this problem worse. The new Circupool units have a great reputation and one of the best $/lb Cl on the market plus superb warranty. Almost all newer units have automatic reversing also. I switched about 2 months ago and I'm thrilled with the performance. I have Jandy automation and control from a spare relay. Works great! Maybe a consideration would be to apply the installation fee to a newer, better unit?

Chris