SWG Generator Question

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Ron55

Bronze Supporter
Jun 23, 2013
90
SW Florida
This is my second (recently moved again) SW pool but the first time I am actually maintaining one.
We moved in a few weeks ago but the house was empty for several months before that so I am doing catch up with it.
I am ordering the salt water test kit today so I can provide better numbers as the only ones I have are from the pool store (yes I know).

The water has been clear but the pool is losing some water which is not totally surprising since its been 90+ degrees for the past 6 weeks with little rain. Probably about 1/4 inch a day. I checked the Aquarite panel and I have two warning lights. A solid yellow Inspect Cell light and a solid red for Check Salt.

The water results form the local pool store were as follows
TC 3
FC 3
Combine Chlorine 0
PH 8
Acid Demand 3 drops
ALK 110
Calcium 340
Stabilizer 20
TDS 4200
Salt 2800

I added a bag of salt but I am not adding anything else until I can test the water myself and determine if the numbers are accurate.

The prior owner had a pool guy who came by to give me a quick lesson on the equipment and suggested I remove the salt cell and take a look to see if it needed cleaning. Good guy, didn't try to sell me anything and said I could look up all the equipment on Youtube and I could maintain he pool myself for about 20 minutes a week time.

Pool store recommended 3 cups of Muriatic Acid and 4 pounds of stabilizer.

I am also surprised at the high level of TDS since I have been adding water to the pool.

Any suggestions or advice appreciated.

Ron
 
Ron,
Until you can do your own testing & also do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test don’t raise your cya yet.
Use
PoolMath to calculate how much muriatic acid to add to get to 7.5.
Don’t worry about tds.
Also, don’t clean the cell unless necessary & even then use the least aggressive methods first : use popsicle stick or blast of water, if that doesn’t work try diluted vinegar before moving on to diluted acid.
With properly maintained csi (slightly negative) you shouldn’t need to clean your cell.
Cleaning with acid reduces the cell’s life as it removes the coating that makes the chlorine.

*It can take up to 24 hours after adding salt for the box to acknowledge it.
*The inspection light comes on every 500 hours no matter what. Like an oil change light.
Hold down the diagnostic button to clear it.

Hayward Aquarite SWG - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
So while waiting for the test kit to arrive I inspected the salt cell and found it caked with calcium. I attempted to remove it with my water hose and then using a popsicle stick as recommended but with no luck.
I resorted to acid washing it and all the calcium came off beautifully. I then rinsed the cell and reinstalled it.
I reset the Aquarite and both the check cell and low salt lights went off. The salt level on the Aquarite was reading 2500.
Soon thereafter the low salt light came back on and a little while after that, so did the inspect cell light.

This morning when the pool first started both lights were still on and the salt reading on the Aquarite was 1400..
This afternoon I received the test kit in the mail and immediately performed a salt test and got a reading of 3800!
The Aquarite is now saying the salt level is 2100.

Since the pool needs water anyway I am adding water and will retest.
Any idea what the next step is?
Is there a way to adjust the reading on the Aquarite so it will read the correct salt level?
Any ideas why the check salt cell light is still on?

Thanks.

Ron
 
Ron55 said:
The water results form the local pool store were as follows
TC 3
FC 3
Combine Chlorine 0
PH 8
Acid Demand 3 drops
ALK 110
Calcium 340
Stabilizer 20
TDS 4200
Salt 2800
Click to expand...

Ron55 said:
I am also surprised at the high level of TDS since I have been adding water to the pool.
Click to expand...
The pool store is making a common mistake.

They have a dual meter and they set it to "Salt" to read the salinity and then they switch the meter to "TDS" and read the "TDS" reading, but the TDS reading is not a valid number because a setting of TDS assumes that the TDS is made of 40% sodium sulfate, 40% sodium bicarbonate, 20% sodium chloride, which is not accurate.

The dual use meter should ONLY be used on the Salt setting and never the TDS setting.

As you can see, 2,800 ppm salinity is the same conductivity as 4,200 ppm TDS.

Ignore the TDS reading as it is not valid.

I recommend that you get a K-1766 test kit.

tftestkits.net

Taylor K-1766 Salt Test Kit

tftestkits.net tftestkits.net

Did their meter look like this?

Select the desired range: T for TDS or N for NaCI.

S is the Internal Standard and is for field calibration only. (





poolmeter.png


PoolMeter™

The Myron L® PoolMeter™ is designed specifically for the Pool and SPA Industry with “DUAL” Ranges, accurate and reliable results and is simple to use.
www.myronl.com www.myronl.com



1691691269214.png
 
Last edited:
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Thanks all.

I have added water to the pool and now I have a salt reading of 3400. The Aquarite is still reading 2400.
The add salt light is flashing yellow and the check cell light is flashing red.
I know the cell is clean because I cleaned it yesterday.

Here are the numbers I get from running the diagnostics

Switch from Auto to off

2100 ppm, 92, 29.2, 0.00, 65p, -0, AL-0, r1.59, t-9

Switch from Auto to off

2400 ppm, 92, 29.2 (which changed to 25.4 as I watched), 4.00, 65p, -2700, AL-0, r1.59, t-9

Switch to off, waited 1 minute, then back toAuto

2400 ppm, 92, 25.4, 4.05, 65p, -2800, AL-0, r1.59, t-9

First seven digits on cell are 4E18019
 
The cell is about 5 years old, which is a typical life.

You can change the cell type to T-5 to try to get some more life until you can replace the cell.

You can take the cell to a local place that tests the cells to see if it is good or not.

I recommend that you get a K-1766 test kit to be sure about the actual salinity.

Dealer Locator

Locate a dealer near you for all your needs: building or servicing your pool, buying a product, or warranty support.
hayward.com hayward.com


2,800/3,400 = 82% efficiency.

At 82% efficiency, the cell is failing and it is getting close to the time to replace the cell.

You can increase the salinity or change the cell type to T-5 to try to get some more life from the cell.
 
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JamesW said:
The cell is about 5 years old, which is a typical life.

You can change the cell type to T-5 to try to get some more life until you can replace the cell.

You can take the cell to a local place that tests the cells to see if it is good or not.

I recommend that you get a K-1766 test kit to be sure about the actual salinity.

Dealer Locator

Locate a dealer near you for all your needs: building or servicing your pool, buying a product, or warranty support.
hayward.com hayward.com


2,800/3,400 = 82% efficiency.

At 82% efficiency, the cell is failing and it is getting close to the time to replace the cell.

You can increase the salinity or change the cell type to T-5 to try to get some more life from the cell.
Click to expand...
Thanks James. I checked with a TFT-100 Salt kit. That should produce an accurate reading?
 
Ron55 said:
I checked with a TFT-100 Salt kit. That should produce an accurate reading?
Click to expand...
Yes.

The cell is probably failing.

You should plan to replace the cell soon.

Maybe switch to T-5 until you can get a new cell.

Note: No matter how accurate and reliable any salt test is, I always want at least three different salt tests to be as sure as possible before replacing a cell.
 
So last night I adjusted the Aquarite to display the instant reading which was 2800. The pool turns on at 8 AM and I went out about an hour and a half later to see the display was 900 ppm salt.

I did a complete test on the water with these results.

Total Chlorine 1-2
FC 1.5
CCH 0
Cal 250
Alk 110
PH 8.2 +
CYA < 20
Salt 3500

I went through the diagnostics to see the instant salt level reading and it showed 0
I moved the switch from auto to off back to auto and the instant reading changed to 2800
When I cycled the display the average salt reading now showed 1400

Why is the system showing zero until i flip the auto off back and forth and then it shows 2800?

Another interesting issue is that the diagnostics show to percentage of the time it's set to chlorinate at 35 but the displays reads 66p. I adjusted the dial to about 66 and now it shows 82p

Is it possible there is an issue with the panel instead of or in addition to the salt cell or are these weird reading due the failing cell?

I plan to bring the cell in to be tested today or tomorrow.

Thanks,

Ron
 
The control dial on the display board is probably failing.

You can replace the display board or maybe try contact cleaner.

The flow switch might be stuck closed causing the box to generate with no flow.

Does the No Flow come on when the pump is turned off?

Does the SWG box lose power when the pump is off?

If the cell is on when the pump is off, the hydrogen gas and chlorine gas that accumulates can explode and the cell can blow up, so be very careful.
 
Good things I turned it back on at 10 1/2 seconds.

There was still power to the box with the pump off but the No Flow light did not illuminate.

Replacing circuit boards is beyond my skill set. It may be time to cry uncle and call the pool repair guy.
 
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