Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

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ArizonaRalphie
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Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby ArizonaRalphie » Tue 21 Jun, 2005 09:21

I have a 20 x 40 fiberglass pool with a one year old "Mineral-Springs" salt sanitizer. The unit is actually a re-branded Goldline Controls "Aqua Rite" unit and seemingly has ceased working. I have weekly pool service and the unit has been cleaned several times, the las by me. It's clean as a whistle and the salt reading is just about 2600. Of course, it's calling for salt, but also the "check cell" light continues to flash.

My pool service people (also the folks who installed it originally) have told me that two months ago, they knew it was on it's last legs and are in the process of having the manufacturer replace it. They also told me that they replace 3 or 4 per month since they have trouble handling water here in Mohave County Arizona.

Has anyone else had trouble with there types of units, either here in Arizona or else where in the country? Seems like if they have problems, they shouldn't be sold in the first place.

Ralph


Eng

Goldline

Postby Eng » Sun 26 Jun, 2005 22:50

I had problems with my cell too. It seems like every 2 years they go bad. I got tired of paying money to get it replaced. I am an engineer, so I started studying how they work. It seems that the root of the problem is the temperature sensor at the cell. Check the temperature by pressing the button next to the display. Use a thermometer in the pool to check the water temperature. Is it off by more that 5 degrees? If it is, then you salinity will be wrong and it will call for more salt. The cell will shut down automatically. To overcome this situation I open my cell and cut the two wires on the side of the cell (red and blue). These are the temperature sensor wires. I installed an 8.5 K ohms resistor between the two wires. This will give you a forever temperature of 86 degrees. After that, the cell started working properly. Since I have a fixed temperature now I used salinity strips to keep track of the salt. This worked for me. If you want to do it, go ahead at your own risk. Other that this, there is no other way around it. I heard from other people having the same problem.
eng

Data

Postby eng » Sun 26 Jun, 2005 22:51

I had problems with my cell too. It seems like every 2 years they go bad. I got tired of paying money to get it replaced. I am an engineer, so I started studying how they work. It seems that the root of the problem is the temperature sensor at the cell. Check the temperature by pressing the button next to the display. Use a thermometer in the pool to check the water temperature. Is it off by more that 5 degrees? If it is, then you salinity will be wrong and it will call for more salt. The cell will shut down automatically. To overcome this situation I open my cell and cut the two wires on the side of the cell (red and blue). These are the temperature sensor wires. I installed an 8.5 K ohms resistor between the two wires. This will give you a forever temperature of 86 degrees. After that, the cell started working properly. Since I have a fixed temperature now I used salinity strips to keep track of the salt. This worked for me. If you want to do it, go ahead at your own risk. Other that this, there is no other way around it. I heard from other people having the same problem.
ArizonaRalphie
I'm new here
I'm new here
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 15 Jun, 2005 10:17
Location: Bullhead City - Arizona

Postby ArizonaRalphie » Mon 27 Jun, 2005 08:51

An interesting solution, but my temperature sensor is independent of the cell. Got any additional information?

Ralph

PS As I read your post do I understand that you have circumvented the use of the display board?
Environmental941

T Cell

Postby Environmental941 » Tue 23 Oct, 2007 12:50

As a Goldline dealer I have installed many hundreds of these cells , The only reacurring problem I have run across is calcium buildup and a failure to clean
the cell. if you mantan proper water balance you will elminate 99 % of your problems , You should also maintain Chlorine stabilizer levels of 60- 80 PPM
Failure to do so will require you to run the chloriine Generator at a higher setting. If you run your generator @ 60% this means your generator is on 60% of the time if you put in the stabilizer and are able to cut your generator to 30% you just doubled your cell life ! Life expectancy of a cell is around 1500 hours seems like a lot unless your running at 60- 80 % because your to lazy to put the Chlorine stabilizer in!
swampdog

cell life

Postby swampdog » Sat 15 Mar, 2008 12:22

1500 hours of cell life at 8 hrs a day ! that's about 1 year life. I believe that's how long mine lasted to the day . only problem I've got is my control is lying to me it says that my salt is 2500 but it's really 3400 and the unit is still making chlorine even though it keeps saying check cell , which I have and cleaned it even though it didn't look like it had any build up ,my thought's are the unit is not very accurate and will cause you to worry over nothing.
muss08
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Postby muss08 » Sun 16 Mar, 2008 11:54

First off never trust any of the chemical readings these things spit out. The largest problems are caused from the cells not being cleaned. Remove the cell and soak for a couple minutes in a 20-30% acid water solution but no longer or you can damage the cell. You should see bubbles as soon as you put the cell in the acid water. The life of a cell is a bit confusing. They should last MUCH longer than a year. I've been servicing units that have been around for 5 years now with no problems. The dial settings let you decide how long the unit produces chlorine. Most are set on either 15 minute or 30 minute cycles. If yours is on a 30 minute cycle and your dial is set to 50% then the unit is generating chlorine for 15 minutes every 30 minutes. If it is set to 10% then your are generating chlorine 3 minutes every 30 minutes. The dial does not control how much chlorine is made but how long chlorine is made. Hope this helps.
Dorigurl

I'm having issues too....

Postby Dorigurl » Thu 20 Mar, 2008 14:40

My Aqua-Rite cell is about 3.5 years old and it's been great!!

But this year when I went to start up my pool, it's been acting odd.

First it kept flashing the salt light and saying it was at 2600...so I added a little big of salt since 2600 is on the low end of the recommended levels.

Well, then it started flashing "inspect cell" but I JUST took my cell off and cleaned it as I do before I start up my pool every year. And then I check it every 3 months becuase we have harder water here...

So I go check on it today and now it's just flashing "no flow" even though the pool pumps have been running for over an hour...

I've done a little reading online and I had one pool guy tell me over the phone that he felt the sensor was out on the Aqua-Rite system and that it could be replaced for about $200.....

Any thoughts anyone? I'd much rather spend $200 than $500 on a whole new cell!

Also, I'm wondering how hard could it be to change this sensor? I can change the heating element in a dryer...surely I can handle this!!
excel

salt cell

Postby excel » Wed 26 Mar, 2008 13:40

I am an installer in Maryland and we had a problem recently that sounds very similar to yours. The problem turned out to be that the cell was actually the wrong size for the pool. We got a bad shipment of cells, we requested T15 cells and were shipped T5 cells in T15 boxes. We did not realize the error until it was already installed on the pool. The T15 cell is for larger pools >10,000gals the T5 is for <10,000gals. Since the cell was too small it was not registering the salt correctly and kept asking to add salt. Check your cell to see if it is the correct one for your size pool.
excel

salt

Postby excel » Wed 26 Mar, 2008 14:26

The sensor can also be replaced without having to replace the entire cell. It is a $20 part and is a very easy (less than 1/2 hr) fix.
Larry6667

Flow switch

Postby Larry6667 » Sun 30 Mar, 2008 09:56

A new cell is around 500, but the flow switch should be less than 200. I believe we sell them for about half that i think. Check around the internet. Ebay. You should be able to get the entire cell on ebay for about 400. No warrenty of course. But it is all easy as hell to replace, just watch the arrows on the flow switch...
jl

Problems since the beginning

Postby jl » Wed 21 May, 2008 14:00

This will be our second summer with the pool and that system and it has been nothing but problems since the beginning. It seems that our start up company put too much salt in. At that time the system read about 4700 but still produced and never read HI Salt. We have taken water out a couple of times and the level did come down. It now reads 4400. I took the water in to be tested and they told me that the level was actually around 3700. We are planning on getting one of those thermometer things that the stores use to test the salt becasue of the inaccurate reading. Anyway, after all this our syatem is now reading HI Salt and it is not generating. We clean the cell regularly and a matter of fact we just cleaned it before it started doing this. on another note it seems that we have to superclorinate a lot lately because when we test it there is no chlorine in the pool. Can anyone give me some insite as to what may be going on?
Strannik-au
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Postby Strannik-au » Wed 21 May, 2008 14:21

have you tried calling Goldline and asking for help? That's the first thing i would do.
Guest

Postby Guest » Wed 21 May, 2008 16:02

My original T-15 cell was installed in Aug 2002 and died Sept 2006. The unit reported low salt no matter how much salt I dumped into the pool. The reading dropped about 100 a week. I got the manufacturer to send me a replacement (~$300) in Nov 2006 and now it crapped out too. Similar failure symptom in that salt level reading drops on a week by week. Now it's dead. This one is a little different in that there is a rusty leak all around the outside of cell. Just wondered if anyone seeing this.

In any case, can someone please post on how to replace the sensor? Where is it? part number? etc.
Guest

Postby Guest » Fri 30 May, 2008 13:58

Update: I took my rusty T15 replacement apart and sure enough, the wires were rusted and broken off. I read on other pool forums that many people are noticing their "replacement" units are running very hot.

I think this is an Aquarite T15 cell mfg defect. It got so hot, it melted the black hard silicone which in turns melted the wires. If you have a T15 cell, check this out. If it's running hot, the life expectancy will be reduced significantly. At $400 to $600 a pop for 18 to 24 months, that's quite expensive.

I noticed this issue with the big rain that leaked in and thus causing the rusty liquid to come out. Then in 2 to 4 wks, the unit was dead.

I just removed the burnt gunk last night and rewired the electrical connections. Black wires to the outside posts and the 2 white wires to the inside/middle post. I hope this is correct and that it works.

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