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Mr. Luddite Mr. Luddite is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Aug 2013
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Default Salt water pools?

On 4/22/2016 2:18 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 22 Apr 2016 13:36:15 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 4/22/2016 1:23 PM,
wrote:
I am watching Henc's pool again after he went back to Europe. It was
greener than Kermit the frog the other day. I am still not convinced.
I bumped up the cell current after I got it cleaned up.


Don't know what system your friend has but on mine there was no way to
"bump up" the cell current. It draws what it draws, depending on the
salt level. At 3400 ppm, that was about 6 or 7 amps. When it turned on
it would jump up and peak at about 10 amps, then drop to 6 or 7.

What you *can* do is increase the duty cycle, meaning how often the cell
operates. I used to start at 50 percent at the beginning of the
summer and drop it to 40 percent by August.

Also, the cell won't work unless the water temp is 64 degrees or above.
It also won't work if the pool water is low in salt. Mine told you
that the salt level was low or very low. You can also tell by how much
current the cell is drawing. If it drops to 4 or 5 amps or less, the
salt level is way too low and you are not generating any chlorine.


I guess that is what I am changing then. DAMININO. I am a "tabs in a
floater" guy.

I think it was 16a. Water is 28C so I doubt it is off for under temp
;-)

System says salt is 3500 PPM but Henc says it is wrong and that means
3100. When things settle down I am going to take a bottle of water up
to the pool store and see what is going on. I really don't want to put
my $8000 YSI meter in chlorinated water if I don't have too.
I saw a calibration for salt but I am not sure if he did it.


3100 ppm is fine. The system starts complaining when the salt drops to
below 2600 ppm. BTW ... 16 amps sounds *way* too high. Remote
possibility you might have a bad cell or cell power supply which would
explain why the pool is green. No chlorine is being produced.

Unlike a direct chlorine based pool system, you shouldn't notice any
chlorine smell at all in the pool. Best to take a sample to the pool
store and have them test it. The readings always vary from tester to
tester. My system always read a little high, but it was still over 3000
ppm.

I never had a problem with the system for the eight years we had it.
Oh ... yes, I did have one problem the second year. The circuit board
solder pad for the relay that provided power to the cell got too hot and
fried. Fortunately for me it was a known problem and I found it right
away. I re soldered it, putting a large blob of extra solder on the pad.
It acted like a heat sink and worked fine for the next 7 years.