Hi, we have an inground pool with IC-40 SWG. It was working fine until somewhere yesterday. The screenlogic app is giving a low flow error. Looking at the SWG, the Good (green) and Low (red) salt level lights are blinking and the red flow light is on too. Salt is reading around 3800 ppm. Pool temp is around 82 degrees. I will try to clean the SWG when I have the time, just wondering if there are any other steps to take to troubleshooting this issue.
SWG stopped working
- Thread starter Poolpartay
- Start date
PP,
Nothing will work without a green flow light..
The Red and Green flashing salt lights are normal at start up and only stop after the cell tests the salt level.. Which it can't do without proper flow.
Do NOT clean the cell!!! Find and fix your flow problem.
When was the last time you cleaned your filter???
What is your filter pressure???
What speed is your pump running???
Show us several pics of your equipment pad and maybe we can spot something.
Thanks,
Jim R.
Nothing will work without a green flow light..
The Red and Green flashing salt lights are normal at start up and only stop after the cell tests the salt level.. Which it can't do without proper flow.
Do NOT clean the cell!!! Find and fix your flow problem.
When was the last time you cleaned your filter???
What is your filter pressure???
What speed is your pump running???
Show us several pics of your equipment pad and maybe we can spot something.
Thanks,
Jim R.
Thanks for your answer Jim! Adding one Pic I made earlier today. Can add more later if needed. I tried playing with the flow control valve, that usually does the trick with flow issues, but nothing changed. I cleaned my filters about a week ago, pressure this afternoon was around 18 psi. I am not quite sure how to see what the pump speed is. We bought the pool and never changed any settings. The pool company opens and closes the pool and usually all works well. Adding a screenshot of the SLconfig app, but maybe I should check this somewhere else.
I switched off the system aftwr this post and noticed during the start up the lights all turned green. But as soon as the pump was primed and slowed down, the lights started flashing again.
Of course I am out of town for for for a few days, so will add some chlorine for now and try to fix this later.
I switched off the system aftwr this post and noticed during the start up the lights all turned green. But as soon as the pump was primed and slowed down, the lights started flashing again.
Of course I am out of town for for for a few days, so will add some chlorine for now and try to fix this later.
Attachments
- Feb 6, 2015
- 7,855
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
If the SWG is working during pump priming at high RPM, your SWG is functional amd you have a flow problem.
If someone at home who can check the SWG lights if you remotely adjust the pump RPM?
If so, see if you can locate your schedules in ScreenLogic and increase the RPM by 100-200 to see if the SWG low dlow light extinguishes. Once you are back home, you can mess with it more in person.
Your immediate goal is to produce enough chlorine to properly sanitize the pool water. If the SWG is not producing chlorine, some will need to add liquid chlorine in your absence.
If someone at home who can check the SWG lights if you remotely adjust the pump RPM?
If so, see if you can locate your schedules in ScreenLogic and increase the RPM by 100-200 to see if the SWG low dlow light extinguishes. Once you are back home, you can mess with it more in person.
Your immediate goal is to produce enough chlorine to properly sanitize the pool water. If the SWG is not producing chlorine, some will need to add liquid chlorine in your absence.
Already added some liquid chlorine to keep it up. Let me look into the pump speed. Is the pentair SLconfig app the right place to make these adjustments?
PP,
Some idiot has put a SWCG by-pass in your plumbing.. It is just not needed and right now it is allowing some of the water flow to go around your SWCG.
The grey valve right below your SWCG, needs to be shut off (90 degrees to the pipe) so that all the water goes through your cell.
Something is not close to being right..
Looking at your ScreenLogic pic, Your only speed is 3000 RPM and it is not assigned to any Circuit. It does not make any sense..
Please go out and look at your pump's display and tell me what it shows.. It may show "Display not Active" or it may show some kind of RPM screen.
Also, please show me several pics of your equipment pad so I can see how things are set up.
If you have an EasyTouch, show me a pic of the little LCD so I can read it, along with a pic of the outside panel with all the buttons.
Thanks,
Jim R.
Some idiot has put a SWCG by-pass in your plumbing.. It is just not needed and right now it is allowing some of the water flow to go around your SWCG.
The grey valve right below your SWCG, needs to be shut off (90 degrees to the pipe) so that all the water goes through your cell.
Something is not close to being right..
Looking at your ScreenLogic pic, Your only speed is 3000 RPM and it is not assigned to any Circuit. It does not make any sense..
Please go out and look at your pump's display and tell me what it shows.. It may show "Display not Active" or it may show some kind of RPM screen.
Also, please show me several pics of your equipment pad so I can see how things are set up.
If you have an EasyTouch, show me a pic of the little LCD so I can read it, along with a pic of the outside panel with all the buttons.
Thanks,
Jim R.
Adding some pictures here. Is seemed when I got back from work things were working, but I think that was because we had the heater on. The heater is running at 3000RPM. My Spa/Pool pump was running at 2550RPM. I now upped it to 2750 and the SWG is now generating again, but that seems pretty high to me. I will try to lower it a bit so see at what speed it will keep generating. There is also a heater bypass after the filters that is not 50% open. I can adjust that one if needed.
I guess I could use some guidance on the RPM and see how I can keep it low and still generate enough chlorine.
I guess I could use some guidance on the RPM and see how I can keep it low and still generate enough chlorine.
Attachments
PP,
There are only a couple of things that you can control..
1. You should have the SWCG by-pass shut off so that all the water goes through the SWCG.. (In your latest pic it appears to be off.. like you want..)
2. Your Heater by-pass should be set so that just a trickle of water goes through the heater and that most of the water does not. Obviously, if you want to use the heater, then you can't have it by-passed...
3. Keeping your filters clean will help keep your flow higher..
4. On both of your pool and spa returns there is a gray ball valve that is not fully open.. It should be fully open..
Other than that, your plumbing is what it is...
I have no idea why you have two filters instead of one very large cartridge filter, but that is what you have. Does not make any sense to me..
The slowest speed you ever want to run is the speed that turns on your SWCG's flow switch plus about 100 RPM, just to make sure.
Do you know what HP your main pool put is??? It will be either 1.5 or 3 HP
I run my 3 HP IntelliFlo at about 1200 RPM and that is plenty fast enough to run my SWCG and allow the pool to skim well.. I can do that as I have no heater. When I am running at 1200 RPM, my filter pressure is about 1 lb. on a 30 lb. gauge.
You should be able to do close to the same thing if you have your heater mostly by-passed.. Even with a heater in line, I would think that you should still not have to run more than 1600 to 1700 RPM.. to turn on the cell..
Was your pool green? Did you are anyone else use Clarifier or Floc??? Did you clean the filters or did the pool guys clean your filters?
I see another different issue.. In your latest pic, your cell has good flow and good salt but is not making any chlorine??? Not sure why you would ever want to run the pump and not be making chlorine???
Let's see if we can get Mark to look at your set up and see if he can spot anything causing your flow issues... Calling @mas985
Thanks,
Jim R.
There are only a couple of things that you can control..
1. You should have the SWCG by-pass shut off so that all the water goes through the SWCG.. (In your latest pic it appears to be off.. like you want..)
2. Your Heater by-pass should be set so that just a trickle of water goes through the heater and that most of the water does not. Obviously, if you want to use the heater, then you can't have it by-passed...
3. Keeping your filters clean will help keep your flow higher..
4. On both of your pool and spa returns there is a gray ball valve that is not fully open.. It should be fully open..
Other than that, your plumbing is what it is...
I have no idea why you have two filters instead of one very large cartridge filter, but that is what you have. Does not make any sense to me..
The slowest speed you ever want to run is the speed that turns on your SWCG's flow switch plus about 100 RPM, just to make sure.
Do you know what HP your main pool put is??? It will be either 1.5 or 3 HP
I run my 3 HP IntelliFlo at about 1200 RPM and that is plenty fast enough to run my SWCG and allow the pool to skim well.. I can do that as I have no heater. When I am running at 1200 RPM, my filter pressure is about 1 lb. on a 30 lb. gauge.
You should be able to do close to the same thing if you have your heater mostly by-passed.. Even with a heater in line, I would think that you should still not have to run more than 1600 to 1700 RPM.. to turn on the cell..
Was your pool green? Did you are anyone else use Clarifier or Floc??? Did you clean the filters or did the pool guys clean your filters?
I see another different issue.. In your latest pic, your cell has good flow and good salt but is not making any chlorine??? Not sure why you would ever want to run the pump and not be making chlorine???
Let's see if we can get Mark to look at your set up and see if he can spot anything causing your flow issues... Calling @mas985
Thanks,
Jim R.
- May 3, 2007
- 18,097
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Can you post each filter PSI at each of those RPM levels?
Does the filter gauges go to zero when the pump shuts off?
@Jimrahbe
Yeah got the SWG valve closed now, was playing with the other valves to see if it would help the flow, but I opened them up again. Will keep the heater bypass as it is, I closed it a bit more but then started hearing loud bangs when the heater kicked it, indicating not enough water from what I read in other topics.
I assume its a 3HP pump, but not sure where I can see it. Its a Pentair Intelliflo VSF with 356903.A nr on it. The other side says THP 3.96 and WEF 6.9. My pool was not green, but it went cloudy as we went out of town 4 weeks ago. I got it back to clear pretty quickly and cleaned the cartridge filter after that. I never used clarifier or flock, just Acid/Liquid Chlorine and some stabilizer in the last few weeks.
Regarding the salt cell, I have it running at 10%, so the lights are blinking green, the picture caught the moment the lights were off for a second. The 10% keeps my chlorine level at around 4 PPM, which should be enough with my CYA at 50.
@mas985
PSI is around 21-22PSI for both filters, I just cleaned my cartridges 2 weeks ago. When I turn the pump off the gauges go all the way to 0
Yeah got the SWG valve closed now, was playing with the other valves to see if it would help the flow, but I opened them up again. Will keep the heater bypass as it is, I closed it a bit more but then started hearing loud bangs when the heater kicked it, indicating not enough water from what I read in other topics.
I assume its a 3HP pump, but not sure where I can see it. Its a Pentair Intelliflo VSF with 356903.A nr on it. The other side says THP 3.96 and WEF 6.9. My pool was not green, but it went cloudy as we went out of town 4 weeks ago. I got it back to clear pretty quickly and cleaned the cartridge filter after that. I never used clarifier or flock, just Acid/Liquid Chlorine and some stabilizer in the last few weeks.
Regarding the salt cell, I have it running at 10%, so the lights are blinking green, the picture caught the moment the lights were off for a second. The 10% keeps my chlorine level at around 4 PPM, which should be enough with my CYA at 50.
@mas985
PSI is around 21-22PSI for both filters, I just cleaned my cartridges 2 weeks ago. When I turn the pump off the gauges go all the way to 0
- May 3, 2007
- 18,097
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Ok but what is the RPM for 21-22 PSI? The filter pressure changes with RPM so I need to know that too.
PP,
At what speed were you getting 21-22 lbs at your filters??? The higher the pressure, the more effort it takes to push the water through the filter and the less flow there is..
Do the lights on your cell go off when the pump is not running, or when you are in the Service mode??
I ask because normally the cell will not work if you are not in the Pool mode or Spa mode, but you do not have a speed for either of those modes. The Cell's power supply MUST be wired to the load side of the pump filter relay.. I suspect it is not.. It is a safety requirement. This has nothing to do with your water flow issue..
Show me a pic of the little LCD on your EasyTouch when the pump is running..
Do you have an auto cover?? If you can run at 10% then I would assume so.
You have the 3 HP version of the IntelliFlo, so the pump is not an issue..
Thanks,
Jim R.
At what speed were you getting 21-22 lbs at your filters??? The higher the pressure, the more effort it takes to push the water through the filter and the less flow there is..
Do the lights on your cell go off when the pump is not running, or when you are in the Service mode??
I ask because normally the cell will not work if you are not in the Pool mode or Spa mode, but you do not have a speed for either of those modes. The Cell's power supply MUST be wired to the load side of the pump filter relay.. I suspect it is not.. It is a safety requirement. This has nothing to do with your water flow issue..
Show me a pic of the little LCD on your EasyTouch when the pump is running..
Do you have an auto cover?? If you can run at 10% then I would assume so.
You have the 3 HP version of the IntelliFlo, so the pump is not an issue..
Thanks,
Jim R.
Sorry I thought you would be able to see on the screenshots. The main pump is now running at 2750 RPM. The lights on the cell go off when I put it in service mode yes.
Indeed I have an auto cover. My pool turned cloudy overnight and lost a lot of chlorine, so I am trying to battle that right now.
The little LCD on the Easytouch doesn't show a lot, but I am adding a few more screenshots here.
Indeed I have an auto cover. My pool turned cloudy overnight and lost a lot of chlorine, so I am trying to battle that right now.
The little LCD on the Easytouch doesn't show a lot, but I am adding a few more screenshots here.
Attachments
Thanks for the extra pics... I now see that the Pool Circuit is running at 2750.. So when the Pool circuit is on, the cell should be making chlorine.
Is the 21 lbs. of filter pressure when the pump is running at 2750..??
Jim R.
Is the 21 lbs. of filter pressure when the pump is running at 2750..??
Jim R.
- May 3, 2007
- 18,097
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
That could be the cause of your high filter pressure and low flow rate.
Yes it is, I lowered the RPM back to 2550 that is was before. The filter pressure is now just below 20PSI. I think I may have messed up some of the settings with the valves earlier. Will work on getting my pool back in shape first. Looking at you guys mentioning that the RPM is quite high, is there anything else I should be looking at? I will clean my filters tomorrow after I get my pool up to SLAM level and see if that helps a little bit.
