Some semi-related notes:
(1 )
For future reference, Pentair IntelliChlor SWGs have a built-in usage meter. It keeps track of the number of hours the cell has generated chlorine, which is supposed to be about 10,000 hours total. You can access the hours counter quite easily. It's a quick way to determine how close your cell is to end-of-life.
From the manual:
IntelliChlor SCG Usage Hours Meter
The IntelliChlor® SCG provides a built-in cell “usage hours” meter that reports how many hours IntelliChlor has been operating. The IntelliChlor SCG is designed to operate for approximately 10,000 hours before replacement is needed or roughly five (5) years of average use.
To access the system status mode:
- Press and hold the MORE button for three (3) seconds until the lights scroll across the unit.
- One (1) of the five (5) Sanitizer Output LED indicators (20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%) will be lit,
indicating the hours of usage. The Output LEDs are as follows:
- 2000 hours (20% LED on)
- 4000 hours (40% LED on)
- 6000 hours (60% LED on)
- 8000 hours (80% LED on)
- 10,000 hours (100% LED on)
(2)
And to expound a bit on
@Newdude's advice, the plates inside the cell are coated with some sort of rare-earth materials that do the magic (sorry, I forget the actual names of the materials). The materials are very expensive, and once they wear off, your cell is done. Anything you do to clean the plates can accelerate the wear, but nothing does so better than muriatic acid! So you clean the plates as little as possible, as gently as possible, and use as little acid as possible.
(3)
The better solution is to never have to clean them at all. I haven't cleaned mine for years. Keeping your water chemistry to TFP standards, and running your CSI a little negative, ensures the best environment for those plates. I run my CSI at about -0.3, and I never see any build up on my IntelliChlor's plates.
(4)
Once you determine for sure what the problem was, you'll probably find there is nothing wrong with your old SWG (
). But keep using the new one, to take full advantage of its warranty. Keep the old one as a spare. When the new one is close to end of life (determined by its usage meter), then swap it out with the old one, keeping the newer one as the backup spare. Use that old one up, then replace it with another new one. Did I lose ya?
Repeat this MO and you'll always have a backup SWG. You never want to be without one, and if recent history tells us anything about supply chains, you can't always count on a replacement being readily available. If you always keep a "near-end-of-life" SWG "in stock," you'll probably never be without one.
