Pentair IC40 SWG in Florida with 34 month of service and 20% used life not generating chlorine

[JoeFletch]

As the thread title states, I live in Florida and have a Pentair IC40 SWG. This is the first July that we are staying here (we usually go on a month long road trip - and it is blazing hot here) and I usually hire someone to maintain my pool for a few weeks. I should have noticed this earlier but for the past ~2-3 weeks, I have noticed a high requirement for chlorine and some residual green in the pool. Cleaning and testing every ~2 days has keep the pool in check and but I have been adding chlorine to keep up. I initially thought it was just the hot month of July, but now I suspect the SWG is not working properly.

In that same ~2-3 week window, while checking the pool components, I did notice that the cell was off (no lights were on) while the pump was running. I'm not sure how many days it was in this state. To troubleshoot this, I disconnected the connection to my panel and then reconnected it and the cell turned on. I thought all was good here, but I guess something else is wrong. Not sure if this is related or not.

The SWG has been in service for 34 months; installed 9/2017. I checked the used life of the cell by pressing the more button for 3 seconds and 20% used life is displayed. I maintain the cell every 3 months but to make sure it looks good, I took it apart today to check the internal components for scaling. There was nothing apparent. I did a quick acid wash and there was no bubbling.

Not sure if there is anything else to check or if I am just out of luck and need to buy a new cell.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Joe,

You need to test the DC voltage going to the cell... It should be about 35 to 40 volts DC...

If the voltage is low, or not there at all, it could be a bad surge card (Power supply card) or the cell could be loading it down. I'd disconnect the cell and see if the voltage is about 40 Volts DC.

Test at the Red and Black wires on the connector going to the Cell..

New SWCG PCB.jpg

• Jimrahbe
• Jul 18, 2017
• 1

If you have not done so already, you should inspect the cell and make sure that it is not filled with Scale..


Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JoeFletch]

You need to test the DC voltage going to the cell... It should be about 35 to 40 volts DC...

If the voltage is low, or not there at all, it could be a bad surge card (Power supply card) or the cell could be loading it down. I'd disconnect the cell and see if the voltage is about 40 Volts DC.

Test at the Red and Black wires on the connector going to the Cell..

New SWCG PCB.jpg

• Jimrahbe
• Jul 18, 2017
• 1

Thanks for your reply. Is it the wires in the upper left hand corner of your image?

If you have not done so already, you should inspect the cell and make sure that it is not filled with Scale..

Yes, there is no scale that I can see.

I went to the pool supply store and they lent me a spool piece to install and then test the SWG. The cell is creating chlorine when I press on the flow switch. I will post a video as soon as Google processes it.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Is it the wires in the upper left hand corner of your image?

Joe,

Yes... the surge card green light should also be on..

Jim R.

 

[JoeFletch]

Here is the video of the SWG creating chlorine. I am about to go and check the before and after chlorine content. Pool water FC is 9ppm, SWG FC is off the charts. I got to about 30ppm and had to stop using all of my reagents!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Joe,

So now I am just confused... Are you saying that your cell is working fine, but none of the lights turn on???

I kind of got lost on the way to grandma's house.. Where are we now???

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JoeFletch]

Jim,

So now I am just confused... Are you saying that your cell is working fine, but none of the lights turn on???

What I am saying is that the SWG lights turns and the cell is creating chlorine, but I guess the SWG cannot keep up with the Chlorine requirements of the pool when set to 100%.

I kind of got lost on the way to grandma's house.. Where are we now???

Haha, sorry. I am all over the place here. Let me summarize.

My pool currently has a high requirement for Chlorine. I initially suspected that the chlorine generator was NOT creating chlorine at all because every 2 days I needed to manually add chlorine. The pool supply store allowed me to borrow a spool piece to test the SWG outside the loop of the pool. When I tested the SWG outside of the pool piping / loop, it was bubbling as seen in the YouTube video above. I tested a sample of the water from the SWG and it tested out of range for chlorine at well over 30ppm (as in it is creating chlorine). So I thought that at 7 hours pump run time at 100% SWG generation was enough to maintain the pool Chlorine levels. So last night I tested the water at 9ppm and I ran the pump overnight. When I tested the water this morning, the chlorine is at 9.5ppm. I would have expected that the chlorine level to be way above this, but I now think that there may be something else going on here with the pool chemistry.

I hope that is somewhat clearer!

In reading further, I think that I need to do a Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT).

 

[Jimrahbe]

In reading further, I think that I need to do a Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT).

Joe,

Yes!!! Most likely you have an algae bloom, even if your water is clear... My guess is that you will fail the OCLT..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JoeFletch]

Joe,

Yes!!! Most likely you have an algae bloom, even if your water is clear... My guess is that you will fail the OCLT..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Thanks Jim. Sorry for the confusion here. I will work on that this week.

 

[JoeFletch]

It appears that I had an issue with the pool chemistry. Something must have been growing and I didn't notice it. SLAM'ed it and the pool looks much better! Sorry for the confusion here!