SWCG Panel needs replacing after less than 2 years?!?!

[EmmaApp]

We deduced that our SWCG wasn't producing chlorine. So called Home Warranty people, they sent out the cheapest bidders possible who said salt cell looks good, probably a problem with the board as they only last about 2 years! Is this accurate?

The pool was converted to Saltwater less than 2 years ago. It's a Jandy pro series. We've only been in the house 3 weeks!

Thanks

Emma

 

[mas985]

o called Home Warranty people, they sent out the cheapest bidders possible who said salt cell looks good, probably a problem with the board as they only last about 2 years! Is this accurate?

Probably wishful thinking on their part. The panels should last much longer than that.

 

[Tanner M]

Do any of the panel lights come on? Can you read the display at all?

 

[EmmaApp]

Display reads fine, lights are on. Cell is clean and water is running through it. But it's not producing chlorine.

The guy even asked if we'd considered converting to a chlorinator!

 

[EmmaApp]

He didn't even take a look at the board. Should I call home warranty people and ask for a different service? He was barely here 5 minutes.

 

[ping]

If the panel is reading correctly and there are no errors, then the cell is most likely producing chlorine. What makes you believe that it is not producing chlorine?

Please post all of your pool water test results and how you tested them.

 

[EmmaApp]

		FC​	CC​	pH​	CYA​	T. Alk​	TH​	Salt​	Saturation Index​
5/29/17​	Stick test	0.0 ppm​	1.0 ppm​	7.8​	40 ppm​	120 ppm​	450 ppm​	2000 ppm​
5/30/17​	Store Test	0.1 ppm​	0.1 ppm​	7.9​	78 ppm​	44 ppm​	406 ppm​	3000 ppm​
6/1/17​	Store Test	0.1 ppm​	0.3 ppm​	7.7​	74 ppm​	30 ppm​	363 ppm​	3200 ppm​	0​
6/5/17​	Store Test	0.1 ppm​	0.2 ppm​	8.2​	72 ppm​	123 ppm​	388 ppm​	3000 ppm​	0.9​
6/6/17​	Taylor	0.0 ppm​	0.0 ppm​	8.0​	65 ppm​	130 ppm​	400 ppm​	3100 ppm​	0.9​
6/7/17​	Taylor	0.4 ppm​	0.2 ppm​	7.4​	60 ppm​	100 ppm​	350 ppm​	3200 ppm​	0.1​
6/8/17​	Taylor	1.0 ppm​	0.4 ppm​	7.8​	75 ppm​	120 ppm​	350 ppm​	3400 ppm​	0.5​
6/10/17​	Store Test	0.2 ppm​	0.3 ppm​	8.2​	75 ppm​	92 ppm​	392 ppm​	3000 ppm​
6/12/2017 10am	Taylor	0.0 ppm​	0.0 ppm​	7.2​	70 ppm​	110 ppm​
6/12/17 5pm	Taylor	8.2 ppm​	0.4 ppm​
6/13/17​	Taylor	5.2 ppm​	0.2 ppm​	7.4​	70 ppm​	90 ppm​	320 ppm​	3200 ppm​	0.0​
6/14/17​	Taylor	0.6 ppm​	0.0 ppm​	7.5​	65 ppm​	90 ppm​	300 ppm​	3600 ppm​	0.1​
6/15/17​	Taylor	2.2 ppm​	0.2 ppm​	8.0​	65 ppm​	90 ppm​	320 ppm​	3600 ppm​	0.6​

I put in a Gallon of 8.25% bleach last night, following 2 Gallons on Monday night. The SWG has been running 100% for 3 days.

Do I need to SLAM? My understanding is the CC would be higher if there's some nasties in the water... but then I've only been doing this for 3 weeks.

Thanks

 

[Pool Tool]

The only indications of "nasties" in the water is increased FC usage or seeing green. Unfortunately, CC's are often misleading. The is no direct correlation of CC's to nasties, while sometimes high CC's are present in similar cases they are not. Whether it is outgassing or testing accuracy they aren't reliable. With CC's remember; High CC definitely equal trouble, but Low CC's do not negate trouble.

What is your run time and % setting? The only real indicator in your testing above is that throughout the day of 6/13 you lost almost 5 ppm - this is SLAM worthy. Omitting the store tests, but what are you using for the "Taylor" results. Is your CYA reliable?

Great job on the history above.

 

[EmmaApp]

I'm using the Taylor K-2006 (yes, I should have got the bigger one - newbie mistake). I'm pretty sure I'm doing the CYA test correctly... back to the sun, usually the same time of day, down at/around waist level... dot eventually disappears.

The SWG is running 100% 24-hours/day at the moment on "18-hour Chlorine Boost" no.2. No visible evidence of Algae.

My plan is to dose it up with some M.Acid tonight and hit it with some more bleach... and from what you're saying, I need to re-read the SLAM technique.

Thanks for the history compliment, Husband thinks I'm overthinking all this.... and that we're sinking a lot of money into something that shouldn't be this complicated. Unfortunately the pool has been poorly maintained by the previous owner.

 

[EmmaApp]

Update: Last night I turned off the Saltwater cell and put in 3/4 Gallon of muriatic acid to get the pH to 7.2, 2 gallons of 8.25% bleach and 2 pounds of shock (working with what I had) - that pushed the chlorine level up to 12.2 ppm at 8pm . At 9 am this morning the FC level is 11.4 ppm and CC is 0.2.

Does that pass the OCLT?

 

[Pool Tool]

You can't consider it a pass since the shock is presumably a powder and continued to release chlorine through the night. Results are okay, but OCLT really needs to be done without the powder so you know what your FC is at sundown so you can identify the exact actual loss through the night. Feel free to ask questions and keep up the good work.

Nice pool and cute little guy.

And have no doubt, once you get it turned your husband will be a believer.

 

[ping]

Make sure you look at the display for several minutes to make sure there are no codes that flash on and off.

Use 10ml of water sample for the chlorine test and each drop will count as .5ppm of chlorine. This will save a lot of the reagents.

Don't bother getting pool store tests, you have one of the recommended test kits, that's all we need.

Run another OCLT test tonight with the system running and the SWG turned to 0% or off.

As pool tool said, CC's don't always show up if there is algae. I've SLAMMED a few pools and never did see CC's above .5.

 

[EmmaApp]

Thanks guys.

My husband is heading back from the store right now with 12 gallons of bleach.

I've been solo on testing for 2 weeks. I'm getting more confident in knowing what to add, what to test for every time.

I'm just struggling with a salt system that has no instructions, and I can't program it because the Aqualink is broken.

Definitely no error codes flashing.

 

[santacruzpool]

I have been struggling with a recurring problem with our 2 year old Jandy AquaPure 1400 and iAquaLink. We keep having "AquaPure Not Found" errors when we look at our status via iAquaLink - and therefore no chlorine is being produced. Our pool panel also has had some intermittent LCD problems in the PureLink control box when this error occurs - normally you can see if it is producing chlorine and what the % is on the control panel if you are outside at the pool. Our problem is "fixed", temporarily at least, by either just turning off the pump and restarting it, via the iAquaLink app, and/or in rare occasions, having to reset the breaker.

We have had several tech visits and have had the control board replaced, a new sensor salt tri-sensor along with the latest this that and the other! But it has failed three times this week alone!

Jandy is at a bit of a loss and is escalating our problem to a higher level technician hopefully...

--------

Since you don't have access to the Aqualink how are you checking/changing the programming? Do you have the PDA? Do you have the Power Center with the AquaPure CHLORINE GENERATOR USER INTERFACE LCD?

 

[EmmaApp]

I may contact Jandy directly.

We've had to do everything manually at the equipment. Our control panel in the house (Aqualink RS6) was telling us we were at 65%... but the panel at the machine was reading 0%. Basically, the control panel in the house just operates the water features, Polaris, and the spa bubbles. The heat, pump, and SWG don't appear to be communicating.

 

[danman]

I have the aqua pure 1400 as well. On my panel I have AUTO, SERVICE, and TIME OUT. You may already know this but one thing I have noticed and it's bit me before, is if I put mine into SERVICE mode. My salt cell will not kick on unless I manually hit the Rate increase button. That bit me a couple of times when I was having problems, and doing some voltage tests. I couldn't figure out why there was no voltage on the cell, and then I was like oh my... it's not on. Anyhow, interested in how your problem turns out or if you have already solved it.

 

[EmmaApp]

All fixed!

The salt sensor wasn't calibrated (read about 1200 above the actual level). The fabulous pool tech got Jandy to give out magic codes to correct it.

It also turned out that our water sensor wire was damaged, apparently that was the culprit for the aqualink malfunction....... now I can read the pool temp, salinity and SWCG% in the House!

 

[santacruzpool]

Good news!