Salt Generator Cell

[mmmkevinz]

Hi guys!

I am brand new to this forum, i have done alot of reading here regarding salt generators and other things. I am currently arguing with a non-local salt cell retailer about whether or not my (girlfriend's parents) cell is working.

The cell has not been generating chlorine for weeks at a time (or so it seems now, it has been very hot in michigan!) The saline level is perfect, so is everything else. I know this because i work at a local pool store and ran it through Bioguard's Accuscan as well as testing it by hand. The CYA was at 50, so i had her add 1.75lbs of Stabalizer 100(Bioguards CYA increaser.) This increased the CYA to around 70 probably will continue to rise... I have turned the generator up to 100% and used the sanitizer boost setting many times, during this cycle i have put a water bottle near the return and not gotten a chlorine reading.

I called the retail store and they had her mom bring in a water sample(no idea why?) They told her that her cell is working perfectly fine and to increase the CYA level because they got a chlorine reading. I called them back and got into a nice arguement while they claimed sodium chloride will not last longer than 1 day in a pool. I also argued with her about why they should not be putting calcium hypochlorite or sodium bisulfate in the pool with a salt generator.

I guess my real question is how do i test a salt generator efficiently without playing a chemical guessing game? I am sick of getting customers coming to my store with dead salt cells asking for help. We hardly sell chlorine generators and my employees seem to know more than any of these other companies, am i wrong anywhere here?!

Thank You!

[flyboy]

Hi guys!

I am brand new to this forum, i have done alot of reading here regarding salt generators and other things. I am currently arguing with a non-local salt cell retailer about whether or not my (girlfriend's parents) cell is working.

The cell has not been generating chlorine for weeks at a time (or so it seems now, it has been very hot in michigan!) The saline level is perfect, so is everything else. I know this because i work at a local pool store and ran it through Bioguard's Accuscan as well as testing it by hand. The CYA was at 50, so i had her add 1.75lbs of Stabalizer 100(Bioguards CYA increaser.) This increased the CYA to around 70 probably will continue to rise... I have turned the generator up to 100% and used the sanitizer boost setting many times, during this cycle i have put a water bottle near the return and not gotten a chlorine reading.

I called the retail store and they had her mom bring in a water sample(no idea why?) They told her that her cell is working perfectly fine and to increase the CYA level because they got a chlorine reading. I called them back and got into a nice arguement while they claimed sodium chloride will not last longer than 1 day in a pool. I also argued with her about why they should not be putting calcium hypochlorite or sodium bisulfate in the pool with a salt generator.

I guess my real question is how do i test a salt generator efficiently without playing a chemical guessing game? I am sick of getting customers coming to my store with dead salt cells asking for help. We hardly sell chlorine generators and my employees seem to know more than any of these other companies, am i wrong anywhere here?!

Thank You!

make sure the fins are clean. mine plug up about every 4 days.

[AFiremanFirst]

4 days? Wow! Your cell should be after your filter! I test cells on sight by using a bucket of pool water. remove the cell and drop it into the bucket. over ride the flow sensor with a zip tie. The water should immediately become cloudy! Hope that works for you. Two key points however. It's been hot in Dallas too! Oh wait never mind, it's always hot in Dallas. 50 ppm for CYA is plenty!!! Adding more just demands higher chlorine levels. And when you say your saltilinty is fine, what is your reading. Too high and your cell will shut down and save itself, too low and it will do the same. I've seen in the past where homeowners add salt when their pool turns green. to levels of 5700! Congratulations I tell them, you now have a chlorine puck pool til we get your levels down, or wish to pay the water bill to replace the water appropriately! I am curios to hear your cal hypo debate in salt pools?

[Pool Clown]

Who makes this unit?

[mmmkevinz]

4 days? Wow! Your cell should be after your filter! I test cells on sight by using a bucket of pool water. remove the cell and drop it into the bucket. over ride the flow sensor with a zip tie. The water should immediately become cloudy! Hope that works for you. Two key points however. It's been hot in Dallas too! Oh wait never mind, it's always hot in Dallas. 50 ppm for CYA is plenty!!! Adding more just demands higher chlorine levels. And when you say your saltilinty is fine, what is your reading. Too high and your cell will shut down and save itself, too low and it will do the same. I've seen in the past where homeowners add salt when their pool turns green. to levels of 5700! Congratulations I tell them, you now have a chlorine puck pool til we get your levels down, or wish to pay the water bill to replace the water appropriately! I am curios to hear your cal hypo debate in salt pools?

Thank you for the reply. I have actually had a customer that claimed his salt generator runs at a saline level of 6000! Please exaggerate on this flow sensor over ride, i would like to do that this weekend. I have heard many different things about calcium hydrochloride so i'd rather be safe and use sodium hydrochloride (liquid chlorine.) I have been treating it with liquid chlorine the past few weeks.

Who makes this unit?

Jandy. I wanna say it's an aquaflow or something like that. Does your signature imply you are licensed for Jandy?

[Pool Clown]

licensed? You gotta be licensed?

Factory Warranty station means that you call Jandy, and Jandy calls me (or a guy local to you). But actually, I only do the warranty work for the pools we build. I go to the seminars, etc. but have I no "license". Not sure i would want one, if one were available.

Is the unit displaying a 3 digit code? It can take a min or two to display and then only for about a second before it goes away.

[mmmkevinz]

licensed? You gotta be licensed?

Factory Warranty station means that you call Jandy, and Jandy calls me (or a guy local to you). But actually, I only do the warranty work for the pools we build. I go to the seminars, etc. but have I no "license". Not sure i would want one, if one were available.

Is the unit displaying a 3 digit code? I can take a min or two to display and then only for about a second before it goes away.

No, i don't believe it does. I was told i had to pay 90$ labor to have the cell covered under warranty and i couldn't install it unless i was insured/liscensed or whatever by Jandy to do so.

[waterbear]

[

Thank you for the reply. I have actually had a customer that claimed his salt generator runs at a saline level of 6000!

There ARE many units on the market (many of them of Australian origin--WaterMaid comes to mind) that do operate at this salt level. It is not all that unusual. It is really the minority that operate around 3000 ppm, most of which are US in origin (Goldline, AutoPilot). Most of the units on the market seem to fall into the 4000-5000 or 4500-5500 ppm salt range (Zodiac, Resilance, Jandy, and ChlorKing to name a few) .

[Pool Clown]

That is correct. If Jandy covers a part under warranty, they want to be sure that A.) the replacement part is installed and brought back on line correctly and B.) to verify that there was not something else that caused the part to fail i.e. incorrect power hookup, incorrect water chemistry, etc. Who is wanting you to pay the labor? The company that will be replacing the part? Or Jandy? I do warranty for a couple of different manufacturers so i can't remember if Jandy pays its warranty station labor costs. I know that Pentair does (does you no good). Would be interesting to find out.

On the other hand, $90 is a bit under the going rate for an hour, so maybe the station gets a partial reimbursement from Jandy and you make up the difference.

[Swim 'N Save USA]

That is correct. If Jandy covers a part under warranty, they want to be sure that A.) the replacement part is installed and brought back on line correctly and B.) to verify that there was not something else that caused the part to fail i.e. incorrect power hookup, incorrect water chemistry, etc. Who is wanting you to pay the labor? The company that will be replacing the part? Or Jandy? I do warranty for a couple of different manufacturers so i can't remember if Jandy pays its warranty station labor costs. I know that Pentair does (does you no good). Would be interesting to find out.

On the other hand, $90 is a bit under the going rate for an hour, so maybe the station gets a partial reimbursement from Jandy and you make up the difference.

Jandy does cover the cost of labor to it's warranty service stations. Sounds like this company is trying to double dip from both ends. I would call Jandy direct to get another service company to look at it.