T-Cell is coming on when pump is off.

[razorhawgfan]

I recently replaced my old Hayward t-cell 15 with a new one. This is the exact SWG I purchased through Amazon:

Hayward W3T-CELL-15 TurboCell​

I want to give you guys the full story in case there’s details that may help figure out my problem. So here we go.
September 2024 we had our vinyl liner replaced. Late April 2025 I replaced the SWG. We recently had a lot of bad storms and a lot of rain and I think my pump motor got flooded because my pump has been tripping out basically every time it rains. I tried silicone around the cover where the wiring is but it didn’t help. Also I’ve noticed the water in the basket housing at the pump is sometimes drained and I couldn’t figure out why that would be because that’s never been that way before. And when the water drains out of that basket housing the pump has to prime itself again and then there’s air all in the system, I’m thinking it can’t be good for the pump to have to prime itself everytime it kicks on or maybe not everytime but you get what I’m saying a lot more than normal. So just this week I bought and installed a new pump and motor. Here’s what I purchased:

Hayward Super Pump XE 1.65 HP 230/115V Ultra-High Efficiency Variable-Speed In-Ground Swimming Pool Pump Replacement, W3SP2610X15XE​

This morning I went outside and the pump was not running, which was fine, it wasn’t supposed to be running. So it was very quiet and I noticed a buzzing sound coming from my control panel so I got to investigating and I realized that my SWG was activated. So I just unplugged it for now and went to work. One last thing, I also noticed this morning, bubbles coming out of one of my returns in the pool which I think has something to do with the basket housing on the pump losing water. I do have a couple very slow drips on a couple threaded fitting but it’s nothing major. I’ve lived at this house for 6 years and there’s always been some kind of slow drip on something at the pump and sand filter. So I guess I have 3 questions:
Why is the basket housing at the pump losing water?
Why did I see bubbles coming out of one of my returns in the pool?
Why would my SWG be activated when there was no water flow?

 

[BravesFanInAZ]

It's very dangerous for your only go/no-go for the cell to be generating to be relying on the flow switch. I was ignorant to the same fact when I first got the pool and came out one night to your same situation. Quick search on here pointed me to setting the cell control box to be on a timer in line with your pump operation schedule. You could very easily run into an explosive situation if the cell is generating with no flow.

 

[ajw22]

Why would my SWG be activated when there was no water flow?

Your flow switch is bad and stuck ON.

Replace the flow switch.

And put your SWG panel on a timer or current sensing relay as described in SWG How It Works - Further Reading

 

[razorhawgfan]

Thank you, I will definitely replace the flow switch.
When the pool was originally installed it was professionally done and I have an automation system.(Hayward Goldline Aqua Plus) So I’m just curious do you know, if everything is wired correctly, and I believe it is, does the control panel or automation system not have a fail safe built in that should have kept the salt generator from activating when there’s no water flow? Or does the automation system only rely on the flow switch?

 

[razorhawgfan]

It's very dangerous for your only go/no-go for the cell to be generating to be relying on the flow switch. I was ignorant to the same fact when I first got the pool and came out one night to your same situation. Quick search on here pointed me to setting the cell control box to be on a timer in line with your pump operation schedule. You could very easily run into an explosive situation if the cell is generating with no flow.

Thank you, I will definitely replace the flow switch.
When the pool was originally installed it was professionally done and I have an automation system.(Hayward Goldline Aqua Plus) So I’m just curious do you know, if everything is wired correctly, and I believe it is, does the control panel or automation system not have a fail safe built in that should have kept the salt generator from activating when there’s no water flow? Or does the automation system only rely on the flow switch?

 

[ajw22]

The flow switch is the fail safe.

However, I do not believe your Aquaplus panel knows when your XE pump is running.

When the Aquaplus controls the pump it will only power the cell when it knows the pump is running and not rely on the flow switch.

You bypassed one of the safety features when installing the XE pump and are now relying solely on the flow switch.

There should be a primary safety feature with the flow switch serving as a secondary safety.

 

[razorhawgfan]

The flow switch is the fail safe.

However, I do not believe your Aquaplus panel knows when your XE pump is running.

When the Aquaplus controls the pump it will only power the cell when it knows the pump is running and not rely on the flow switch.

You bypassed one of the safety features when installing the XE pump and are now relying solely on the flow switch.

There should be a primary safety feature with the flow switch serving as a secondary safety.

I believe you are right about the panel not knowing when the XE is running. I had to turn off my pump schedule in the Aqua Plus and use the XE itself to program a new pump schedule.