I'm running my salt cell at 100% for the past couple of days with the pump running 24 hrs a day and I'm still getting constant FC of 2.5 to 3. The water looks to be nice and clear. I did the FAS-PDP test and CC is 0.5. I'm doing OCLT tonight and see what the reading is in the morning and will report back. Not sure what is going on.
Salt Cell running 100% 24hrs a day not producing enough FC
- Thread starter MacGeng
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,748
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
SoCalTFP
Well-known member
- Jun 18, 2023
- 118
- Pool Size
- 12000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,748
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
SoCalTFP
Well-known member
- Jun 18, 2023
- 118
- Pool Size
- 12000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Thanks I think my mobile isn’t loading the signatures!
Assuming it’s 1.25 lb/day that should be generating 5.5ppm FC daily. Low CYA or failing the OCLT would be pretty logical.
After that I’d personally inspect the cell and run any diagnostics. Maybe needs a cleaning or something.
- Apr 10, 2018
- 5,163
- Pool Size
- 18375
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45
Hold your phone sideways and sigs magically appear.
Numbers look decent overall however your FC is low for CYA of 80. Would perform an OCLT just to be sure it's not a bit of algae eating up the chlorine (even if you aren't visibly seeing anything right now).
EDIT: you can bring up the FC by dumping in some liquid chlorine, but do your OCLT regardless.
EDIT: you can bring up the FC by dumping in some liquid chlorine, but do your OCLT regardless.
Mac,
Salt cells either produce chlorine or they don't. They do not normally produce less chlorine then they should.
I doubt there is anything wrong with the cell, you just have algae, even if you can't see it yet.
You are running your FC way too low. With a CYA of 80 your target FC is something like 6 to 10....
As has been pointed out above you need to do an OCLT. Make sure you start the test with 6 to 8 ppm of FC in your pool after dark.
Thanks,
Jim R.
Salt cells either produce chlorine or they don't. They do not normally produce less chlorine then they should.
I doubt there is anything wrong with the cell, you just have algae, even if you can't see it yet.
You are running your FC way too low. With a CYA of 80 your target FC is something like 6 to 10....
As has been pointed out above you need to do an OCLT. Make sure you start the test with 6 to 8 ppm of FC in your pool after dark.
Thanks,
Jim R.
Thanks Jim, and I hope you're right. I'll throw some liquid chlorine today to get the FC to 8. We got over an inch of rain last night so I will have to do OCLT tonight instead and report back.
If mixed well, rain can only skew you proportionately. Every little bit hurts for accuracy of course, but one inch of rain in a 60 inch average depth pool is a 1/60th variance that you'll never even notice.
If you fail an OCLT by 1/60th, or even 1/30th with a 2 inch storm, the problem wasn't the rain.
Ok great. Now run another overnight test but with the SWG on 100%, to see if it's producing FC. This one doesn't need to be perfectly sunup/sundown because if you lose 1 FC by sleeping in just a little, you'll still produce enough to know the SWG is working.
Maybe this is why I'm not getting enough FC? 
It's marinating in an acid bath bucket right now 1 part Muriatic Acid and 3 part tap water. Hopefully, this will fix it. I will run it at 100% tonight and see how much FC it produces in the morning.
It's marinating in an acid bath bucket right now 1 part Muriatic Acid and 3 part tap water. Hopefully, this will fix it. I will run it at 100% tonight and see how much FC it produces in the morning. 
- May 3, 2014
- 58,455
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
That was minor and should have been removed with a popsicle stick and / or water.
Every time you soak the SWCG in acid, you remove life from the plates. Do not be surprised by an earlier than expected failure of your SWCG.
Every time you soak the SWCG in acid, you remove life from the plates. Do not be surprised by an earlier than expected failure of your SWCG.
reggiehammond
Gold Supporter
- Oct 4, 2020
- 1,509
- Pool Size
- 30000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
FYI - TFP would never recommend 3:1 MA to water as you're cooking off the rare earth metals, shortening the SWCG life span.
www.troublefreepool.com
SWG Cell Cleaning
31% Muriatic Acid - What's the correct dilution for cleaning a SWG Cel?
www.troublefreepool.com
That's great. What do I know. Putting it back now.FYI - TFP would never recommend 3:1 MA to water as you're cooking off the rare earth metals, shortening the SWCG life span.
SWG Cell Cleaning
31% Muriatic Acid - What's the correct dilution for cleaning a SWG Cel?
@MacGeng , you'll be fine. The manual recommends 1 Pt Acid, 2 cups water for the mixture. I wouldn't sweat it. If you can avoid acid washing them , even better, but if you need to use acid, just use the appropriate mixture. My $.02