Need to replace zodiac clearwater LM2-40

[salinda]

My pool started looking cloudy over the last day or so and I discovered to my horror—no Chlorine. Good news is no Combined Chlorine (phew!)

I went back to check the saltwater chlorinator. The cell looks great. It’s practically brand new. The controller for the chlorinator however….is dead. The wall it is attached to has a sooty black pattern. It appears the circuit board blew. It was pretty old in the tooth. It had probably been installed in 2004 or 2005. It is a Zodiac Clearwater LM2-40. It is no longer being made.

I need this replaced. I’ll limp along with liquid chlorine in the meantime. The problem is that I balanced the salt for the LM2-40, which required a minimum of 4000 ppm. My salt is at about 4100 ppm at the moment. I don’t want to do another drain and refill this summer, so I need a system which has a max salt level above 4100 ppm.

I've read about Compupool a bit, but I will still have to do some plumbing to replace I think. Are there any direct replacements for the Zodiac system that don't require replumbing? Or maybe I should bite the bullet and let buy something compatible with my Aqualink controller.

Any thoughts?

 

[ajw22]

Get the Jandy Aquapure SWG and drain about 10% from your pool to get your salt around 3500 ppm. Then let it drop to 3000 ppm over time.

Salinity over 4000 ppm can damage the AquaPure power center.

 

[salinda]

Get the Jandy Aquapure SWG and drain about 10% from your pool to get your salt around 3500 ppm. Then let it drop to 3000 ppm over time.

Salinity over 4000 ppm can damage the AquaPure power center.

Thanks. Draining is not a great option right now during CA drought

 

[charbin]

I installed my Zodiac ClearWater LM2-40 back in 2001, then ten years later, I replaced the W222111 (obsolete) LM2 control board with an W082641 LM3 control board (this also allowed me to connect to my Jandy AquaLink RS controller and remotely control as though it were an AquaPure; I get an alert if the salt level falls below 2900ppm). My issue was that the sun had caused cracks within the LM2 top overlay W171911 - which allowed rainwater to seep onto the control board via its lights and switches. I also changed to the LM3 overlay W175981 and installed the LM2 to LM3 conversion kit (which gave me a fresh cell; I actually put unions on the LM3 shell so that I could also switch back to an LM2 cell, if later desired due to parts availability). Note that the control box is the same for either LM2 or LM3 (the aforementioned control board and the output cabling are the only differences); however, the -40 utilizes W130421 240VAC/24VAC 340VA transformer, whereas the -15 and -24 utilize W130591 240VAC/17.5VAC 250VA transformer. Now, after another ten years, I have just replaced my LM3-40 cell; I also found that my top overlay is again cracking from the sunlight. And I have struggled to locate parts; eBay has been best. I have now sourced a complete set of spare parts - so, I hope to keep mine going for at least another ten years.

Worst case: the Zodiac EziSalt 40 gram Chlorinator is a $1K direct replacement for your Zodiac LM2-40 (uses the same cell, but replaces that huge power transformer with a switching toroidal transformer)

 

[salinda]

Thanks for the detailed advice. It turns out that the LM2-40 was always a bit undersized for my pool. The entire box needed replacement. It was truly fried. My control panel was installed in a very protected location under a roof overhang on the north side of a building.
As you said, it was hard to source parts. I ended up replacing it with a Pentair intellichlor, which likes the salt level lower but can “tolerate” the current level. I wish I could’ve done what you suggested, but I couldn’t get the parts.