Pentair Intellichlor heavily calcified/obstructed. Is it salvageable?

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M

Monkmullen

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Apr 27, 2016
67
Phoenix
I have a Pentair Intellichlor that is just caked with calcium and salt deposits between the fins. It has never produced chlorine effectively since we bought the house at the end of May. The pool is three years old, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing has never been cleaned in that entire time.

I finally had a chance to take the unit off and inspect it, and it’s just completely blocked up. I did several rounds of acid cleaning (15 min at a time), and a lot of the deposits from each end were removed, but in between the fins is still a mess.

Is this thing potentially salvageable? I’d likely have to do several more acid soaks to clean this up. Could this potentially damage the cell? Is it worth the time?

Obviously buying a brand new one is not optimal but if it has to be done then I guess I have no choice.
69460DE7-1966-40C7-BD73-6868862F86D1.jpeg
 
This is the worst case i have seen to date. Keep doing the cleaning cycles with muriatic acid 1:4 water, until its gone. Do not attempt to scrape it off or you will damage the fins. Worst case scenario is that life is cut short. You need to read up on ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry and keep levels optimal with a Test Kits Compared, so this does not happen again. I have not had to clean the cell in 2 years of ownership.
 
Yeah I was shocked when I saw how bad this was. And if you think it looks bad now, you should’ve seen it before I started cleaning it!

Water chemistry has been a mess (high PH, sky high TA, low chlorine) since we moved in, and I’ve been trying to dial it in for a while now. Our salt levels are really high too, so we will need to do a partial drain at some point, and I think I’m going to try and wait until the fall/winter to do it. I’d like to get everything else as on point as I can in the meantime.
 
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If dilute acid isn't working, it might require straight, full strength acid.

It looks like you're getting some copper mixed in with the scale.

You might have other scale types mixed in with the calcium carbonate.

Calcium carbonate comes out with acid. Other types are not always as easy to clean.

Calcium sulfate (CaSO4) is one type of scale that does not clean out very well. Calcium phosphate and calcium silicate are also possible.
 
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Weaker acid takes longer. So, I don't know that stronger acid for less time is any more damaging than weaker acid for more time.

It's always best to use the weakest acid possible, but if dilute is just not effective, I would go with stronger or even straight acid.
 
Assuming the Intellichlor is beyond repair, should I wait to replace it until I can drain the pool and lower the salt, which would be around October at the earliest? Or would I be okay using with high salt but with more frequent cleaning?
 

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M,

How do you know your salt level is high?? I NEVER trust what the cell says unless I use a salt test kit to double check how accurate the cell is...

They can be off by a 1,000 ppm on a good day. :mrgreen: I recommend the Taylor K-1766 and, if you don't have one already, the Speed-Stir.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
What level are you getting with the K-1766?

What does the Easytouch show for salinity?

Note that the deposits in the cell are not from high salt. High salinity does not increase the likelihood of scale. In fact, high salinity reduces the likelihood of scale.

Scaling is related to CSI. Calculate your CSI using poolmath app or page.

PoolMath

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PoolMath

Discover the calculator behind the perfect pool, PoolMath. Dealing with pools has allowed TFP to become the original authors of the best calculator on the net.
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You do not have borates unless you added them.

Your SWCG will never survive with that water chemistry. CSI should be kept between 0 and -0.3 for a SWCG.
 
Monkmullen said:
K1766 gives me 4800.

I don’t have a test for borates so I can’t complete the csi in the pool math app. With all other readings entered, however, the value is 1.57.

and FYI
Ph 8.2
Ta 270
CH 1200
Cya 60
Click to expand...
Ok, that explains the scale. You need to get the CSI down to between -0.3 and 0.0. You're going to need to get the pH, TA and calcium down significantly. Acid wash the cell as much as necessary to get the scale out, but leave the cell off until the CSI is below 0.0.
 
mknauss said:
You do not have borates unless you added them.

Your SWCG will never survive with that water chemistry. CSI should be kept between 0 and -0.3 for a SWCG.
Click to expand...

Right. So assuming I cannot do a full drain until the fall, what do you recommend I tackle in the meantime? After a quick check of pool math, it's telling me I'd need to replace 79% of my pool water, and that's a little more than I'm comfortable doing this time of year. I can't do anything about CH or Salt until I drain, correct?

Should I just get TA and PH managable, and then rely on liquid chlorine throughout the remainder of the summer?
 
If you get the TA down to about 50 and keep the pH down to about 7.5, you can keep the CSI under control, but the margins are tight.

You need to work on getting the calcium down somehow.

You might need to get a water supply with very low calcium. Maybe a water softener for the pool water.

What is the fill water calcium level?
 

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