Goldline "Aqua-Rite" salt chlorinator problems

[ArizonaRalphie]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.