Third time replacing Aquarite thermistor!

[abfab]

I've been in this house 8 years. Two years ago I replaced this part for the second time. I think the first replacement was two years prior to that. Today I have the same issue. When I opened the panel the part is cracked. I will be replacing it today (fortunately I bought two last time just in case). Hopefully that's the only fix required.

Is there a limit to how many times this part can be replaced or will it eventually cause the board or other parts to fail? Should I start slowly looking around for a new unit just in case or stock up on this part?

 

[ajw22]

What salt level do you keep your pool at?

Do you test your actual salt level with the K-1766 Taylor Salt Test

Running the salt level at the high end of the range causes more amps and heat through the thermistor. For the Aquarite you should keep the salt at the low end that makes it happy.

 

[ComputerGuyInNOLA]

Are you buying an OEM thermistor or an aftermarket thermistor? The reason I ask is my wife bought one when my first unit went out and she got it from Amazon. It lasted a little over a year. I replaced it with an OEM thermistor and has been going strong for over three years now. I also found that if you over tighten it they can fail.

 

[abfab]

I've been keeping it at 3200-3400 which I didn't in the first few years. I thought I read something that keeping it at the higher range was recommended which is why I bumped it up, Will see if the lower range is more successful. I got the parts from digikey.

As for salt reading that's a whole story in itself... After fixing the issue it said check salt/low salt. It thought it was odd as it was at 3200. I did a Taylor salt test and got 0. I figured the unit was giving a faulty reading, so I added a few bags of salt (turned off unit to allow it to circulate) and shocked pool with liquid chlorine. I suspect the part failed a few days ago as the water was looking slightly green and cloudy. We had bad weather so wasn't checking the pool as closely as usual. I didn't realize that the water would need to circulate for 24 hours to get an accurate reading. When I tested the water today I realized that I accidentally grabbed on of the chlorine reagents yesterday!! I don't know why the differing cap covers didn't click in my brain that it was a mistake, maybe because it's so rare that I need to do this test. This morning the Taylor test was 5000! I am adding water and backwashing to get the level down. I won't be making this mistake again!!