Hi all - I'm hoping for some help troubleshooting a problem with my Hayward Turbo Cell T-Cell-15 SWG (for pools up to 40K gallons). I manage my own pool except for the SWG, on which I've always sought professional help--but now that we're under a shelter-in-place order for coronavirus, I have to manage this myself, so I'd be extremely grateful for some TFP wisdom. The unit has been running well since we installed it a few years ago. It has a display that normally tells me the salt level, and I set the percentage performance based on the season of the year. I generally operate it at a low percentage in the cold winter months (25-45%) and then gradually raise it during the hot spring and summer months (generally 65-85%). I try to keep salt levels at 3300-3500, with a target around 2400 ppm.
Recently, strange things started happening on the display. The screen on startup is usually the salt level, but it recently jumped from 3000 to 3800 after I added one bag of salt (which should only have changed the level by only 200). Then, a week or so later, the same display started showing 3.50 (down nearly 4000 ppm, which I know can't be right). Also, the next display usually shows the temperature in F, but it recently jumped from 76 to 26. It looks like it could be reading in Celsius now, but I have no idea how that happened or how to change it back.
Here in North Florida, the main leaf fall happens in early March, and the main pollen season begins in late March, so this has been a rough month around here. The pool skimmers get so clogged with pollen and leaf litter that I have to change them and clean the pool motor filter basket several times a day. At one point, one skimmer basket door got stuck, and some air got into the system, shutting down the SWG. The pool got very cloudy with pollen, but I shocked it with chlorine and the water quality seems to be clear again, but I can't seem to keep the FC level high enough, even with the SWG claiming to run at 75%. I'm wondering if it's not really working properly
To make sure I have enough salt for the SWG to work, I ran a series of drop tests and strip tests to find out the actual chloride level. I have run them both twice and am getting inconsistent results here too--although that may be because the tests are a little out of date (they expired in 2018). The drop test says the level is 2800, which sounds plausible, while the strip test says it could be 3,000-4,000 (I'm not entirely sure how to read the strip because the "peak line" has an uneven edge, maybe because it's expired). In case the salt level was too low, I added another bag of salt, but then afterward, for a day, the SWG display said that the salt level was too high. I'm completely confused about what is happening.
Could pollen have gotten into the SWG indicator and is throwing things off? Is the SWG just broken? I had it professionally cleaned about six months ago, and all was well. But again, I have to manage this one myself thanks to coronavirus, so I'd be extremely grateful for suggestions on what to do! Thanks in advance, --Erin
Recently, strange things started happening on the display. The screen on startup is usually the salt level, but it recently jumped from 3000 to 3800 after I added one bag of salt (which should only have changed the level by only 200). Then, a week or so later, the same display started showing 3.50 (down nearly 4000 ppm, which I know can't be right). Also, the next display usually shows the temperature in F, but it recently jumped from 76 to 26. It looks like it could be reading in Celsius now, but I have no idea how that happened or how to change it back.
Here in North Florida, the main leaf fall happens in early March, and the main pollen season begins in late March, so this has been a rough month around here. The pool skimmers get so clogged with pollen and leaf litter that I have to change them and clean the pool motor filter basket several times a day. At one point, one skimmer basket door got stuck, and some air got into the system, shutting down the SWG. The pool got very cloudy with pollen, but I shocked it with chlorine and the water quality seems to be clear again, but I can't seem to keep the FC level high enough, even with the SWG claiming to run at 75%. I'm wondering if it's not really working properly
To make sure I have enough salt for the SWG to work, I ran a series of drop tests and strip tests to find out the actual chloride level. I have run them both twice and am getting inconsistent results here too--although that may be because the tests are a little out of date (they expired in 2018). The drop test says the level is 2800, which sounds plausible, while the strip test says it could be 3,000-4,000 (I'm not entirely sure how to read the strip because the "peak line" has an uneven edge, maybe because it's expired). In case the salt level was too low, I added another bag of salt, but then afterward, for a day, the SWG display said that the salt level was too high. I'm completely confused about what is happening.
Could pollen have gotten into the SWG indicator and is throwing things off? Is the SWG just broken? I had it professionally cleaned about six months ago, and all was well. But again, I have to manage this one myself thanks to coronavirus, so I'd be extremely grateful for suggestions on what to do! Thanks in advance, --Erin
--Erin