Why Do I Have To Clean My Salt Cell So Much

by Ron

Why Do I Have To Clean My Salt Cell So Much

by Ron

I have a Compupool salt water generator which I have to clean every two weeks from the calcium build up. Can you please tell me why this is?

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Thanks for the question Ron. There are some reasons why your chlorine generator will have a build up inside. High calcium is one. Try to keep your calcium between 150 - 250ppm.

This is mostly for plaster pool. You can go a little lower with a vinyl or fiberglass pool. To reduce water hardness, the only thing you can do is a partial or full drain and refill. 2nd is a high salt level. Many salt cells have a range between 3000 - 3500ppm.

The cell we have for YMCA hot tub is a little more forgiving, between 2800 - 4800ppm. You need to manually test your salt against the reading on the cell.

The tester I use is a Myron Salinity Meter. You can get one from TMI Salt Pure. They're the company I've used for the last 3 years. Ask them about salinity water to calibrate the meter.

To lower the salt you'll need to drain 1/3 - 1/2, refill, and balance the chemicals again. Using the wrong kind of salt. Another one is allow the pool to be gunked up with dirt and debris, then cleaning it. It will cause a massive amount of dirt, calcium, etc.. to go through the system, and through the cell.

This happened to the Y pool a week before I started to work there. The guard who was supposed to vacuum the pool every week, but didn't, let it go for about 1 month. Then he swept all of the built up dirt into the bottom drain. The cell got a massive dose of dirt at once, and burned up within a week. Try to scoop out as much debris with a leaf rake as you can. Don't use those blue skimmers.