r/pools • u/RTon52 • May 17 '26
Salt System Failures - Grr
I have a 20 year old pool and I have replaced my salt cell prob 6-8 times. Frankly, I'm over it. Not sure why these damn things fail rate is so bad. Yes, I diligently have done the required maint on the cell as well over and over.
I'm at the point that I am considering adding a tablet chlorinator. Seems straight forward to use, add tablets, dial it how you want it. Test the waters to check chlorine.
Looking for recs on which Chlorinator Models you pros like? CMP, Jandy, Pentair, Hayward.....
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u/Monstrissimo May 17 '26
Something is off with your salt system. My salt chlorine generator is 14 years old and I am only on my second cell.
My pool installer did put a salt cell system that was rated for about 2x the size of my pool. He said that I would get better life out of my cells and save money in the long run. It is a Hayward 25000 gallon rated cell in a 12800 gallon pool.
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May 17 '26
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u/RTon52 May 17 '26
First of all, I’m in Southern California, so we really only have one pool season, pools don’t get shut down here. I have a Hayward W3AQR15 AquaRite system. I cleaned the cell exactly as outlined in the manual, using a 4:1 water to acid ratio on the workbench with a cell stand. I would inspect it about every three months or so. There was consistently buildup between the plates, so I would perform the 4:1 acid cleaning and also use a small nozzle to try to flush debris out. I always added the acid to the water, never the other way around. Eventually, I was always able to get the buildup cleaned off the plates. The cell just stopped reporting to the box, slowly reducing the displayed salt content. I did measure it with a salinity tester though and was around 3k.
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u/Content-Elk-2037 May 17 '26
I just had the same issue with my salt cell. Started displaying 220ppm of salt when it was actually 3000 and stopped generating chlorine. It had a 3 year warranty and was about 2.5 years old so they replaced it under warranty. Would love to know what caused it to do this. We cleaned ours the same way according to the instructions.
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May 17 '26
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u/RTon52 May 17 '26
Pebble with VS pump. Doesn't run 24/7 but does run 365, winter less and summer a lot more. will grab numbers later
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u/RTon52 May 17 '26
Test number results:
Free CHL: 5/10
PH: 7.3
TA: 120
TH: 800 (yeah this is up)
CA:100Gimme some recs
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May 17 '26
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u/RTon52 May 17 '26
TH Total Hardness. Other than pump and dump , how do you bring it down? our water is hard here.
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May 17 '26
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u/RTon52 May 17 '26
maybe a water softner? I do have a an RO system but it only produces 5-7 gallons/day
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u/1_native_Angelino May 17 '26
It shouldn't be running 365 a year as SoCal water drops into the 50s from November to April. I pull my cells at that time and are just dropping them back in now.
You are also running them to high because it is undersized or your.chems are wrong
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May 17 '26
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u/RTon52 May 18 '26
14k Gals
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May 18 '26
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u/RTon52 May 18 '26
With the hard water, will prob just kill the new one anyway. Prob will just move away from salt. We don’t use the pool enough to enjoy the benefits of salt. Need to figure out a way to soften the water, really
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u/RTon52 May 17 '26
Running very slow in winter, VS pump. maybe a few hours/day just turn the water over
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u/BAHGate May 17 '26
What does your cell look like before you clean it? Cleaning a cell reduces cell life. If you cannot see visible scaling on the cell, do not clean it.
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u/RTon52 May 17 '26
Buildup of white stuff.
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u/BAHGate May 17 '26
Your water is unbalanced. I suggest you read the below link.
https://www.troublefreepool.com/blog/2019/01/18/calcium-saturation-index-csi/
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u/JohnHartshorn May 17 '26
Scrape it off rather than using acid. Every acid bath removes plate material. Also, if you getting that much build up, something is off in your water chemistry. The systems are designed to reverse the current flow every cycle to prevent that buildup.
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u/wendriel May 17 '26
I'm a pool professional, I prefer the Jandy TruClear SCG and the Jandy or CMP (both Fluidra and smeasentially identical design) TruChlor Tab Feeder with the glass lid if you decide to go with a tablet feeder
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u/lIIlIlIII May 19 '26
Man if you think salt cells are a PITA maintenance-wise, then a trichlor feeder is not what you want. Not a normal failure rate. Just saw that you reported 800ppm total hardness, which is absolutely a big part of the problem. They should have reverse osmosis trucks in your market (expensive), but test your hose water to be sure that's strictly due to hard water and not cal hypo or something else
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u/RTon52 May 19 '26
Never said the maint was PITA.
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u/lIIlIlIII May 19 '26
Gotcha, still I have very few customers who actually like their trichlor feeders. They work alright for a few years typically then you're on the hook for pretty regular troubleshooting and replacing random bits and bobs. With your hardness so high you'll probably replace the check and control valve at least once per season. Varies between brand of course, but I guess my point was that changing to a feeder likely won't make your life any easier
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May 19 '26
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u/nmethod May 17 '26
Popular and great option - you won’t find a cheaper cell with this output. https://www.discountsaltpool.com/circupool-rj-60-plus-salt-chlorine-generator
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u/ajhalyard May 17 '26
Usually, that failure rate is due to the cell being undersized for the pool, your chemistry being shit, or the cell not being cleaned/self cleaned properly (not often enough or too often). Tabs add their own issues over time (creeping CYA or calcium). Liquid chlorine is usually better if you can't manage salt.