Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

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floridapooltech
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Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby floridapooltech » Sun 17 Oct, 2010 03:53

James Watson wrote:swimnsaveusa, MAGUIRE65 does not have a Hayward chlorinator. MAGUIRE65 has a Zodiac LM3 saltwater chlorinator.



James Watson: Good catch! Didn't notice that part. The post was in the "Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems" thread so I figured that's what it was referring to. Thank you for clarifying with the correction. Maybe that will help someone else in the future that does need to reset a Goldline unit, however :thumbup:


dorlando

Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby dorlando » Fri 22 Oct, 2010 19:42

I have a turbo cell t 15, 4 years old and the pool is 15k gallons. My cell starts up and after a minute the display reads "HI" and the high salt light stays on. When going through the diagnostics it reads as though it is not generating chlorine. Had water tested 2 weeks ago and was perfect, getting algae now. I do clean the cell out and I had the cell tested at two stores.

Is it possible the sensor is bad in the cell or could it be a bad board? Is it definitely not the flow switch? If the cell is bad I'd like to get the T 9 but I think I'll have to also upgrade my board since it is older.

Any thoughts would be apprecaited, trying to figure out the problem.
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Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby floridapooltech » Fri 22 Oct, 2010 19:47

dorlando wrote:I have a turbo cell t 15, 4 years old and the pool is 15k gallons. My cell starts up and after a minute the display reads "HI" and the high salt light stays on. When going through the diagnostics it reads as though it is not generating chlorine. Had water tested 2 weeks ago and was perfect, getting algae now. I do clean the cell out and I had the cell tested at two stores.

Is it possible the sensor is bad in the cell or could it be a bad board? Is it definitely not the flow switch? If the cell is bad I'd like to get the T 9 but I think I'll have to also upgrade my board since it is older.

Any thoughts would be apprecaited, trying to figure out the problem.



Sounds like the sensor is the issue. Flow switch is fine, as the cell wouldn't produce chlorine if it sensed "no" flow. You are correct, unless you have the new re-vision, you would have to upgrade the control panel in order to use a T-Cell 9 or 3. The T-Cell 15 will work regardless as to what software version you have. Remember, the bigger the cell is exceeding the requirement, the more cell life you will get as it will not have to "run" as often to keep chlorine levels in range.
dorlando

Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby dorlando » Fri 22 Oct, 2010 19:56

Thanks. I read somewhere that you can replace the sensor for like $20, is that true?
floridapooltech
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Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby floridapooltech » Fri 22 Oct, 2010 20:41

dorlando wrote:Thanks. I read somewhere that you can replace the sensor for like $20, is that true?


It may be possible to get the components at a radio shack or similar store as i've heard it being done, however I have no knowledge of how to do this or any "factory" replacement parts for the cell itself. I believe I read your cell is over 4 years old. It may be best if you just keep the cell the way it is as you say it still produces chlorine (manually testing for salt) until the cell itself has completely died as you would be spending a great amount of time "fixing" a sensor when the entire cell's life expectancy isn't much greater.
dorlando

Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby dorlando » Fri 22 Oct, 2010 21:00

You are probably right. However, I don't think it is producing chlorine because the system seems to be shutting down since the panel thinks the salt level is 4,400. I think it is producing chlorine when tested at the store but for some reason it is shutting itself down due to the high reading. So, if the sensor is bad will that cause it to give a high reading and shut down? If that is the case is there any way to manually override that so it won't shut down?
floridapooltech
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Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby floridapooltech » Fri 22 Oct, 2010 21:05

dorlando wrote:You are probably right. However, I don't think it is producing chlorine because the system seems to be shutting down since the panel thinks the salt level is 4,400. I think it is producing chlorine when tested at the store but for some reason it is shutting itself down due to the high reading. So, if the sensor is bad will that cause it to give a high reading and shut down? If that is the case is there any way to manually override that so it won't shut down?


I do not believe 4,400 parts of salt is enough for a Goldline system to stop producing chlorine. Not quite sure what the issue causing this would be other than possibly a dying cell. They are rated for 10,000 hours of use. Being it is over 4 years old it may just intermittently quit working.
dorlando

Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby dorlando » Fri 22 Oct, 2010 21:10

Do you think there is a chance the board is bad? It turns on as normal, reading is immediately awalys 4,400 and then the high salt light goes on and the reading says "HI". So something is causing that to kick in. Like you said maybe cell going bad or bad sensor but for some reason it is shutting down and my salt level is defintitely not 4,400. It was tested last week at 3,100 and week before same thing.
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Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby floridapooltech » Fri 22 Oct, 2010 21:15

dorlando wrote:Do you think there is a chance the board is bad? It turns on as normal, reading is immediately awalys 4,400 and then the high salt light goes on and the reading says "HI". So something is causing that to kick in. Like you said maybe cell going bad or bad sensor but for some reason it is shutting down and my salt level is defintitely not 4,400. It was tested last week at 3,100 and week before same thing.


If you would like, you can call Hayward to see if they have an ideal as to what may be causing your system to power down intermittently. Their tech support number is: 908.351.5400 and located in the Eastern time zone. If you are located further to the western United States, I can provide that number as well.
dorlando

Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby dorlando » Fri 22 Oct, 2010 21:28

I actually called them twice. One person said bad cell the other said too much salt in pool and need to drain water, which wasn't correct.
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Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby floridapooltech » Fri 22 Oct, 2010 21:38

dorlando wrote:I actually called them twice. One person said bad cell the other said too much salt in pool and need to drain water, which wasn't correct.


I would agree more with the cell response, though I would hate to recommend replacing it and it not be the issue. If your water was tested at 3,100 PPM salt, I would trust that number over the cell any day!
dorlando

Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby dorlando » Sat 23 Oct, 2010 16:08

Just trying to determine if it is the board or cell before I buy anything, trying to save a service call. not sure how much I can trust tech support since two people gave me two different answers. I have heard that issues like this could be the board.

I was looking at your website and noticed your t 15 cell is over $100 less than anywhere else. How come you can sell it for so much less? Is it brand new with the 3 year warranty?
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Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby mas985 » Sat 23 Oct, 2010 20:14

Before replacing the cell, I would try to reduce the salt level some to see if you can get it to work properly. The last thing I would trust is a pool store test, they are rarely accurate. The best test I found is with a Taylor salt drop test kit and you might find that it matches your SWG better then the pool store test. At least it does for me.

Goldline cells will shut down when the current draw gets above 8 amps which can happen with high salt levels and certainly 4400 ppm would shut down the unit. This is done to protect the power supply from high current which can damage components. Also, these units will usually not read high salt unless there is really too much salt. I have also found that the SWG will sometimes read high salt if exposed to a hot water transient as from solar or a heater kicking on since the temperature increase makes the conductivity of the water increase which can then result in the current exceeding the 8 amp limit. Also, the cells will sometimes report low salt when the cell is nearing end of life even if there is enough salt.

For now, I would go by the unit readings over any pool store test since that is what really matters to the SWG. The SWG doesn't care what the actual salt level is only what it "thinks" it is. So I would try replacing some of the water before replacing any of the SWG parts. Besides, water is much cheaper. :D

Also, there is no separate salt sensor in the Goldline units. The cell itself is the salt sensor. They use the current delivered to the cell combined with the voltage and the temperature of the water to then calculate the salt level from the water conductivity. This is basically how electronic salt and TDS meters works.
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dorlando

Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby dorlando » Sun 24 Oct, 2010 06:56

Hello,

Thanks for the reply. I have had it tested at two different stores over 2 weeks and similar results so I think those are good to bo by. Now the display reads 0 salt and then the high salt light comes on so it shuts down. Odd that it would say 0 salt and the high sal light would come on. I did take a little water out a couple of weeks ago plus I had to add about 2 inches this past weekend due to evaporation and same results do I really don't think the salt is 4,400. Has to be bad cell or board but not sure which one. If the cell sensor itself as you say is supposed to send a message back to the board it could be damaged and therefore the board is giving wacky readings. I guess it could also be the board itself.
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Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby mas985 » Sun 24 Oct, 2010 12:58

A few questions:

Which Goldline unit do you have? AquaLogic, AquaRite, etc.

DId you recently add salt to then pool?

When you say the readout is 0 ppm then 4400 ppm, are you talking about the average salt level or instantaneous? Instantaneous will read 0 ppm when the cell is off during the cycle.

Can you do a cell reset, proceedure depends on unit type, and then watch the instantaneous readings of volts, amp and water temp right before the unit shuts off and report back the readings?

Personally, I have had five years of experience with my Goldline Aqualogic SWG and have been a member of several pool forums for more than seven years and I have never heard of a Goldline unit failing with a symption of a salt reading that was too high. I'm not saying it is impossible only that I have never heard that happening. Failure usually has syptoms of too low of a reading and/or a power supply warning but I don't remember ever hearing of a too high condition resulting from a faulty board or cell so that is why I am not convinced it is an issue with hardware. I still think it is worth your effort to reduce the salt level and just see what happens.

Also, some pool stores can also test the cell itself to see if it is working properly so you can at least rule that out.
Mark
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