Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

SWGs, salt water chlorine generators, chlorinators,
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chandlerAZ

goldline cell replaced every year for 3 years

Postby chandlerAZ » Mon 21 Jul, 2008 22:59

I have a 3 yr old pool in Arizona. I have had to replace the cell every yr. Now the builder tells me the warrenty is over. I took the cell to Lesile pools and they checked it and said it is bad. since it was checked in the store by filling it with room temp salt water temp was not an issue. When leslie test the pool water for salt it is 2500ppm. the unit at the pool will not read above 1800ppm. Whats with these units. one yr of life on a $ 500 cell. I could by enough clorine for 5 yrs. any ideas


Strannik-au
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Postby Strannik-au » Tue 22 Jul, 2008 06:11

Replace a unit :)
How many hours a day do you run your unit?
brookiebrooke

not producing chlorine

Postby brookiebrooke » Tue 22 Jul, 2008 22:10

My pool was badly stained (iron) so I bought some stain remover that worked great. The only problem was you had to drop the chlorine down to about zero in order for the stain remover to work, which I did on Friday. The pump had to run 24 hours with the aqua rite OFF in order for the stain remover to work.

I switched the chlorinator back on Saturday evening. It's now Tuesday evening, and despite having run the chlorinator almost non-stop for 72 hours, there is virtually no chlorine in the pool at all. The salt reading isn't going down either, so I can tell that the chlorinator isn't using the salt to make chlorine.

I read a couple online posts that said if your chlorine gets too low it can help to shock it to "stimulate" chlorine production. So I threw 2 bags of super-shock in today. That didn't help.

So I removed the cell and saw that there was quite a bit of while build-up on the cell. I let it soak in the suggested muriatic acid/water bath for a few minutes then reinstalled. I plugged it back in and set it to "superchlorinate" but after 3 hours, it appears that it is still not making chlorine.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be causing the chlorinator to NOT produce chlorine and what I can do to fix it? There is plenty of stabilizer and salt in the pool.
Strannik-au
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Postby Strannik-au » Wed 23 Jul, 2008 04:33

Is it actually not producing or your FC doesn't go up?
You might have an algae outbreak due to no chlorine for some time, in which case you need to shock up to 40% of your CYA level. So if your CYA is 40 you need 16 ppm of FC for some time to kill the algae.

Shocking best done with bleach
brookiebrooke

No Mor Problems

Postby brookiebrooke » Wed 23 Jul, 2008 23:54

I don't see any algae. The water and pool walls all look crystal clear. I had put 2 types of algaecide in the water after the cleaning was done.

Virtually no chlorine (FC or CC) at all is showing up on any test (2 different types of strips, plus the DPD and OTO tests).

I started wondering if one of the new products I had put in the pool after cleaning it was causing a problem. One of the products was a preventive algaecide called "No Mor Problems" by United Chemicals. This is what I found on their website:

"Your pool will go through a clean up period that will last from 1 day to 3-4 weeks. During the clean-up period you may expect a loss of chlorine residual. Don't panic! Just chlorinate continuously, DON'T SHOCK!"

So now I'm wondering (praying!) if what I've been seeing is just a result of this product and there isn't actually anything wrong with my SWCG. But it seems a bit crazy to me that they say the clean-up period is 1 day to 3-4 weeks! I can't believe that this crazy chlorine situation could last for that long. I think I might call the company tomorrow to find out if that's really true.

Has anyone else used this product and had a similar occurrence?
donewithautochlorinator

aquarite by goldline controls inc.,

Postby donewithautochlorinator » Mon 04 Aug, 2008 18:53

I have had 3 replacement cells in 4 years. Today was the final straw the complany goldmine controls inc. told me today the will send another without me paying for services folks to come to my home. this is still under warranty since the original device has never last more than 1 year. the replacement cost is $895. this will by a lot of chlorine ! I have had many issues reported on this blog...temputare sensor, incorrect salt readings etc....
T Dog

Salt Pool sounded like a good idea butt

Postby T Dog » Tue 26 Aug, 2008 15:35

I have had my salt pool for seven years now and it has been a pain in the you know what. I am going on my third salt cell and it is malfunctioning again.I called nature soft to get another cell sent to me and they convienietly changed their warranty from three years to one year. Now I have to pay around five hundred dollars to get my pool back up and running on salt. I have read all the postings on this site.The only one that gave me hope was the engineers analytical problem solving. I am going to try his idea. Oh by the way has anyone had this problem yet? My cool deck is de-laminating from the salt water.The spots that get splashed the most are the worst ie; by the steps and where the basketball hoop is.I have a chlorine floater right now and just might stick with it.I have to laugh to keep my sanity when I read that when the low salt indicator comes on people start adding salt to their pool.I did the same thing the first time and it just makes the problm worst.I had to drain mine because I had so much salt in it from the false reading.I wonder if the Better Business Bureau could help us consumers out with the Lemon Law.
Strannik-au
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Postby Strannik-au » Wed 27 Aug, 2008 08:36

buy a quality system and you won't have problems
as far as adding salt goes - you should test your water before adding any chemicals to it
T Dog

salt systems

Postby T Dog » Wed 27 Aug, 2008 10:25

Strannik-au wrote:buy a quality system and you won't have problems
as far as adding salt goes - you should test your water before adding any c micals to it
Do I really want to take the risk of spending 1,200 on a system? I thought I did have a quality system.You must sell them.
Strannik-au
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Postby Strannik-au » Sat 30 Aug, 2008 19:11

Well obviously you didn't

Yes i do.
Jaime B

GoldLine Chlorinators - Do not buy

Postby Jaime B » Tue 21 Oct, 2008 14:47

I have a Gold Line Chlorinator too. Basically is has does not work more than it does work. I have tried all venues from having Gold Line replace the entire unit ( box and cell ) to replacing just the cells.

It is only 3 seasons old and I am on my 4th cell and second box. The tech reps that come out ( not from GoldLine ) are the worst and try to blame its lack of chlorine production on anything they can including me.

The Goldline people are fine, and have tried earnestly to help, but for whatever reason the unit never seems to work well or for a long period of time. The last cell was turned on in May, and by the beginning of Aug it stopped producing Chlorine and reported my salt level was at 1700 when in fact it was 4700. I kept adding salt to bring up the level, then I finally realized it was not reading correctly and thus preventing chlorine from being generated. I have drained my pool down to decrease the salt level to the appropriate amount, but still no luck.

Furthermore, The stabilizer is always between 90-100, salt level is fine as I have it checked with a salt meter at the pool store, and I clean the cell regularly as per instructions.

To the best of my knowledge, I maintain my pool properly. It is crystal clear. But I have had to add chlorine manually since the thing stopped working ( again ) in Aug.

So to all of you reading this I will offer my opinion.... GoldLine Chlorinators DO NOT WORK IN THE LONG RUN, THEY ARE POORLY MADE AND YOU ARE THROWING YOUR MONEY AWAY IF YOU BUY ONE. This is the conclusion I have come to in the last 3.5 years of owning it.

When the time comes ( soon from the looks of it ) I will buy another manufacturers product. It cannot be any worse and most likely will be an improvement.

Hopefully someone at GoldLine will read this and revamp this product to a working model that will last longer than a month or two of use.
BOSS

SALT SYSTEM

Postby BOSS » Wed 12 Nov, 2008 17:51

UNSCREW AND CLEAN THE CALCIUM(ESP PHX) OFF THE FLOWSWITCH/SALT SENSOR EVERYTIME YOU CLEAN THE CELL. IF YOU USE A STAIN OR CALCIUM REMOVER PRODUCT THEN YOUR PHOSPHATES ARE GOING TO RAISE TO THE LEVEL THAT THE ELECTRICAL CURRENT WILL FLOW THRU (LEAST PATH OF RESISTANCE) THE PHOSPHATES INSTEAD OF THE SALT THEREFORE IT WILL APPEAR TO NOT GENERATE CHLORINE. RUN SYSTEM 1 HOUR FOR EVERY 10 DEGREES OF AIR TEMP AND ADJUST CELL O/P ACCORDING TO DEMAND. IF FILTER PRESSURE IS LOW OR HIGHER THAN NORMAL LESS WATER WILL BE FLOWING THRU CELL PRODUCING LESS CHLORINE ALSO. IF IT GETS TOO HI OR LOW THE FLOW SWITCH WILL NOT ENGAGE AND THE IDIOT LIGHT WILL SAY SO. CLEAN FILTER AND BASKETS IF HI AND REPLACE PUMP LID O-RING AND LUBE WITH TEFLON IF LOW (CLOGGED IMPELLER WILL CAUSE LO PRESSURE ALSO).
BOSS

YOU GUESSED IT...SALT SYS

Postby BOSS » Wed 12 Nov, 2008 18:06

TEST FOR CHLORINE AWAY...I SAID AWAY FROM THE RETURN JETS. YOU WON'T BE LOOKING FOR COMBINED CHLORINE...JUST FREE CHLORINE IN A SALT SYSTEM. WHEN YOU ADJUST THE O/P OF THE CELL YOU ARE TELLING IT TO PRODUCE THAT PERCENTAGE OF THE TIME THAT THE PUMP IS RUNNING. SO RUN THE PUMP THE PROPER AMOUNT OF TIME. DON'T BE A CHEAPSKATE OR YOU WON'T GET GOOD RESULTS.
XPoolGuy

Goldine

Postby XPoolGuy » Mon 05 Jan, 2009 01:55

Let me preface this by saying I did warranty service calls for Goldline Controls in the Phoenix area for 3 years, so I know a thing or two about their salt systems.

In a Goldline System, the seperate FLOW SWITCH does NOT have anything to do with the salt reading. ALL of the salt readings come from the cell. It doesn't matter if you have an automation system. There is NO SEPERATE SALT SENSOR other than the one internal to the cell.

The Flow Switch is simply a magnetic reed switch that lets the system know that water is flowing. If the system does not detect flow, it WILL NOT chlorinate. This is to prevent the cell being "on" when the pump is not running and causing the cell to fail prematurely, as well as chlorine gas buildup in the cell which will damage it and other equipment.

I've been to calls where the flow switch has gone bad and people have cut the wire and twisted them together so that the system will still generate. YOU ARE NOT SAVING YOURSELF ANY MONEY BY DOING THIS, and in fact will cause an even more costly repair down the road. You can get a new flow switch on Ebay for less than 100 dollars and they literally take two minutes to install.

Also, if the water temperature is below 63 degrees, the system WILL NOT chlorinate. This is because the water temp affects the density, which affects the salt readings. The cell has an INTERNAL temp sensor. Those of you with Goldline automation systems, this sensor is INDEPENDENT of of the seperate one strapped the the pipe. It also will not chlorinate if the water temp is ABOVE 95 degrees.

In short:

No flow= no worky.
Water temp above 95= no worky
Water temp below 63= no worky
Other facts:
Salt level above 3600= no worky
Salt level below 2700= no worky (make sure the cell is CLEAN)

As I said, I did warranty service calls. I can tell you that 95% of the problems with Goldline Turbo Cells are due to the homeowner not cleaning the cell.

The buildup in the cell basically prevents the cell from being able to read the salt level accurately. Once it thinks that level is below 2700ppm, it will shut down.

ALSO- Make absolutely sure that cell is clean as a whistle before calling for warranty service. If their tech comes out and it's got buildup they will charge you a service call to clean it, and when I stopped working for them a year ago it was $79.

So take 15 minutes and clean the cell. Check it weekly.

If there is some buildup, try to spray it out with a high pressure hose before giving it an acid bath.

Also, don't beat up the tech when he comes to your house and what he finds is not what you want to hear. Goldline's rules on warranty replacement are strict, and his hands are tied. If you want to complain about a percieved "manufacturing defect", call Goldline Controls. :) It's not HIS fault, he's just a contractor. If Goldline doesn't think it's a valid claim, he's not going to get paid. Period.

Now, maybe the tech CAN do something to hook you up- maybe he has extra parts in the truck, maybe you're JUUUUST out of warranty and he can fudge some paperwork, whatever- but I will say this- I was a lot more willing to help somebody out if they were nice. That thing about flies/honey/vinegar totally applies.

I don't do service anymore, but the pushier/angrier someone got with me, the less willing I was to hook them up. I just wanted to get out of there.

Hope any of this info helps!
Happy Saltwater Pool Owner

Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

Postby Happy Saltwater Pool Owner » Sat 21 Mar, 2009 11:17

I've had my goldline chlorine generator for about 4 years now. I live in a mild climate and we use the pool year round. We do have hard water, and keeping acid levels in the pool high enough is a constant issue. I've had some maintenance issues with the pool a time or two, but I've always taken care of them myself. I have no experience owning a pool prior to this, but I can honestly say that while I've learned a lot, this really hasn't been that hard.

Thank you by the way to those on this list with helpful information, but for those that are just whining and complaining about the produce, have you really exhausted all of the options and honestly tracked the root cause of your issues? This is simple physics and chemistry, not magic. it it doesn't work, there's a reason.

Last week, mine wasn't working, I did some research, checked and rechecked the chemistry and the cell condition. I don't know if the cell is 'good as new' but I can honestly say I've been nothing but thrilled with the produce for the last 4 years, and if I have to replace the cell this year for $500 or so, that's a pretty reasonable cost, considering I looked into, but never paid for pool service which would have cost me more than that and after spending $150,000 into my pool and back yard, $500 seems like a pretty reasonable cost for maintenance every few years (not that I'm giving up on this one just yet.)

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