Longevity of salt cells?

[Bosqueboy]

In 2007 I installed an Aqua Rite generator. In 2013 I began to get antsy about the cell failing in mid season, so I bought a replacement. The replacement is still on the shelf and the original cell from 2007 is still working just fine! How long can one expect these things to last? That's 13 years with no sign that it is failing. In fact I run it at about 15% of its capacity for my 18 x 36 pool. Some say that 13 is an unlucky number. I hope it doesn't apply to salt cells!

 

[Newdude]

8k-10k hours is the most common range from your generation if all the factors inhibiting lifespan are perfect. Many manufacturers have lowered their expectancies due to the real world not agreeing with the lab and cost cutting on build quality due to more expensive materials. Whatever you happen to be doing appears to be far beyond perfect. I’d suggest you keep doing it and stop asking questions. The universe can hear your thoughts. Don’t tempt it. Lol.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

wow.... I thought I was doing well at getting 9 years out of our first cell. I wonder if you hold the record around here, BosqueBoy?!

Maddie

 

[Newdude]

Alright. You inspired me to do some math. There is much less magic here than I thought, but I’ll still give you Mondo credit for getting 13 years.

In 26 weeks (guesstimate of VA season that the SWG needs to produce) you have 4368 hours. 15% runtime would be 655 hours per season. It would take approximately 15.2 seasons to hit the 10k hour mark of cell usage.

 

[Bosqueboy]

Thanks for doing the math Newdude. It looks like I've got a couple more years before I'll need the replacement.

 

[Saturn94]

I‘m jealous your FC demand is so low!

 

[setsailsoon]

As @Newdude pointed out it's not years it's hours of operation. Water balance also has a big impact specifically the CSI. If you stay in TFP range CSI is slightly negative which helps reduce deposits in the cell. This in turn reduces the frequency of acid cleaning which also prolongs life since you remove a little of the very thin catalyst coating each time you clean. The catalyst is what helps you mostly split sodium and chlorine instead of making H2 and O even though there's a lot more water than salt. Keep up whatever you've been doing. You may set a new record!

Chris

 

[Newdude]

Keep up whatever you've been doing. You may set a new record

Amen. It will be a great reference the next time a newb is asking how long they should expect it to last. ‘Well there was this guy back in Aught 7 that still has his’.

 

[red-beard]

8k-10k hours is the most common range from your generation

So running at low % settings 24/7 it will only last a year? Or does lower output extend life?

 

[JJ_Tex]

So running at low % settings 24/7 it will only last a year? Or does lower output extend life?

The % comes into play as well. So at 24 hour run time, at 50%, you really only use your SWCG for 12 hours.

 

[red-beard]

OK, that's right. It doesn't run at a low setting, it cycles. At 10%, it run 6 minutes per hour. Understood.

 

[setsailsoon]

There is at least one brand sold in Australia I believe that appear to actually adjust the power to the cell but I've not seen that in US market. So reduced percentage for your model actually just reduces the time in a given cycle the unit runs. Even at 100% there is a "rest" period. The cycle of run time and rest time varies with brand. There's more information about this here.

Chris

 

[red-beard]

Chris, most microwave ovens operate in a similar manner, 50% means you run 30 seconds in a minute at 100%. There are now newer microwave ovens with "inverter technology" that actually reduce power and run 100% of the time. Knowing a bit about radio amplifiers, you can put a gain circuit and drive the amplifier output. It would be interesting to look at doing this with a salt cell and see if this increases life.

OTOH, in batteries, to dissociate the water you need to be above a certain threshold voltage (~15 VDC in a Lead-Acid battery) which is why most chargers hold the voltage to 14.6 VDC. A Salt cell might require a certain threshold voltage. Doing this in a cell might be difficult.

 

[setsailsoon]

Red,

Yep, could very well be the case. This is all deeper than I know about technically.

Chris

 

[amati5]

whenever I see people saying their cell lasts for 5,7 and now 13? I always thought I must have been doing something wrong. My AquaRite was bought in 2007 and all the cells (OE t-15) I bought consistently failed at around 3 yrs and a few months. Granted it’s a CA pool so it uses fc more but I only run the pool 6-7 hrs/day. Usually the first year and second year I only need to run around 50% or less in the summer. It’s the third summer is when it starts to generate (or fail) periodically. This is what I hate the most, it doesn’t show any sign of failing , or instantly stop working so I can just buy a replacement and not wasting so much time investigating what goes wrong With the water. i can only know for sure is when the salt reading is unreasonable low. I’ve accepted that it only lasts for about 3 yrs but when it dies it doesnt go quietly, lol....

 

[Saturn94]

whenever I see people saying their cell lasts for 5,7 and now 13? I always thought I must have been doing something wrong. My AquaRite was bought in 2007 and all the cells (OE t-15) I bought consistently failed at around 3 yrs and a few months. Granted it’s a CA pool so it uses fc more but I only run the pool 6-7 hrs/day. Usually the first year and second year I only need to run around 50% or less in the summer. It’s the third summer is when it starts to generate (or fail) periodically. This is what I hate the most, it doesn’t show any sign of failing , or instantly stop working so I can just buy a replacement and not wasting so much time investigating what goes wrong With the water. i can only know for sure is when the salt reading is unreasonable low. I’ve accepted that it only lasts for about 3 yrs but when it dies it doesnt go quietly, lol....

Do you run yours all year round? My previous cell lasted 7 seasons; our season runs 5 months. If it ran all year, it would probably last about as long as yours.

 

[amati5]

yes and your post makes me feel better

 

[mguzzy]

whenever I see people saying their cell lasts for 5,7 and now 13? I always thought I must have been doing something wrong. My AquaRite was bought in 2007 and all the cells (OE t-15) I bought consistently failed at around 3 yrs and a few months. Granted it’s a CA pool so it uses fc more but I only run the pool 6-7 hrs/day. Usually the first year and second year I only need to run around 50% or less in the summer. It’s the third summer is when it starts to generate (or fail) periodically. This is what I hate the most, it doesn’t show any sign of failing , or instantly stop working so I can just buy a replacement and not wasting so much time investigating what goes wrong With the water. i can only know for sure is when the salt reading is unreasonable low. I’ve accepted that it only lasts for about 3 yrs but when it dies it doesnt go quietly, lol....

There are also other factors that can come into play besides raw runtime. The average Temp of the water, how many times you acid wash it, and other chem levels in the pool can also affect the longevity of the Cell. I have no idea how to specifically calculate for those factors. All I know is my first one lasted for just more than 9 years, and I had no idea what I was doing. I am on year 6 of the second one, and presumably since finding TFP I now know what I am doing.. so I'll see.

 

[amati5]

i used to have a lot of deposit in the cell since our water here is very hard and I had to acid wash the cell every time I checked. I only used 1/10 acid/water until the bubbles stop. I started to add borax a few years ago and I have noticed that the cell was always clean and was hoping it would last longer. Nope, same thing, actually this cell actually had shorter life at 3 yr and one month. But it’s also a t-cell-15-swp for the first time if that makes any difference.

 

[mknauss]

Your choice but you can manage your pool chemistry and never have to clean the SWCG with acid. Every time you do that, you reduce the life of the cell.