Soaked my salt cell in full strength muriatic acid

[Davisro]

Did I ruin my salt cell? I have a Magan Resilience E40 swg. The salt cell comes with a plastic pitcher-type container to soak the salt cell in when cleaning it. So I put the pitcher out back on a stamped concrete patio, added full strength muriatic acid to the container, put in my salt cell and left for an hour.
When I came back there was a yellow foam on the concrete around the pitcher, which is weird because I only filled the container 3/4 full even after adding the salt cell so I dont understand how yellow foam could escape.

Looking at the pitcher more closely there's a line about 1/4 of the way up to fill with fresh water before adding the muriatic acid. Now I'm reading I could have destroyed some coating inside the salt cell. Does the yellow foam mean anything? How would I know if i damaged it?

Thanks

 

[TinFoilHat]

You will have definitely shortened it's life. If you had much calcium built up on it the acid probably foamed over. While you might not have any calcium on it now you will have shorter life from it if it still works. The good news is it appears to be a cheap salt water system so you won't go broke replacing it. The proper way to clean a cell is with something dull and small enough to knock the calcium off without scratching the plates, like a popsicle stick or something similar. Salt Water Chlorine Generators

 

[PoolStored]

Welcome to TFP!!!

Unfortunately what ever damage is done.

How would I know if i damaged it?

If it no longer produces chlorine, or you get a cell life low warning.

If there was no calcium buildup, no reason to clean. We recommend acid as a last resort. If you get to last resort, you should use 10:1 water:acid...and it should only be done long enough to remove the scale...not time based.

This is how we recommend cleaning.

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