Salt Cell Failed? Low Salt and High Temperature Readings

gkw4815

Well-known member
Aug 31, 2021
217
Memorial Villages, TX
Pool Size
25000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pureline Crystal Pure 60,000
Well, I've been pretty happy with my Pureline SWG until this week...it has just started shutting down on Low Salt (after running for a few minutes once switched on and presumably generating chlorine, based on the appearance of bubbles at the pool jets prior to shutdown).

I checked salt levels with the TFLPool Kits salt kit and with the AquaChek strips that came with the SWG - both were in agreement at ~2900-3000ppm.

I added 120 lbs of pool salt and ran the pump overnight, now I'm getting ~4000ppm with the AquaChek strips. But the SWG behavior is unchanged - still shuts down on Low Salt after a few minutes. Cycling through the menu, I see it's reading 2000ppm instantaneous salt and a very high water temperature of around 120 degrees (vs actual of 80 degrees per Aqualink). In the past, the cell temperature readings were in line with the Aqualink readings. Amps and volts are normal. I checked resistance across the temperature sensor pins and got 3750 ohms (in line with 120 degrees).

The cell only has 1000-1500 hours on it ("check cell" light flashes every 500 hours and has only flashed twice). I've never observed any scale or build-up on the plates, and have never cleaned them with muriatic acid or vinegar. I tried scraping them off with zip ties this morning but nothing came off. My calcium hardness has always tested in the 250-300ppm range.

I'll be calling InyoPools today to see what they suggest, but thought I'd check with the TFP community as well. Unfortunately the system is about 1 month out of warranty, but if my cell has failed prematurely I hope they'd at least offer a discount on a replacement.
 
The cell internal temperature sensor has probably failed. If the sensor reads too high and the current remains the same, the unit will report a salt level that is too low.

Check with Inyo first to see if they will honor the warranty.

But if not, you can replace the sensor with a 10k resistor and see if that fixes the problem. I did this with one of my cells but I am not sure you can get to the temperature sensor leads in the back of the Purline cell like you can with the Hayward.

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