A salt chlorine generator cell is a consumable. Treated well it lasts three to seven years; treated badly it is dead in two. Here is the maintenance we do on service routes and how to know when the cell is done.
Why cells scale up
The cell makes chlorine by passing current through titanium plates. In Florida fill water, calcium plates out on those plates as a white crust that insulates them. The power center reads low output, salt readings drift, and eventually it throws a check-cell or low-salt warning even when the salt is fine.
Cleaning the cell
- Turn the system off at the breaker, close the valves and unscrew the cell from its unions. Look through it. Light white flaking is normal; heavy crust between the plates needs cleaning.
- Mix one part muriatic acid to four parts water in a bucket (acid into water, never the reverse). Or use a commercial cell cleaner, which is milder.
- Stand the cell in the solution with the plates submerged and the cord end out. A cell cleaning stand holds it upright. Foaming is the calcium dissolving. Ten to fifteen minutes is enough; more than thirty damages the plate coating.
- Rinse with a hose, reinstall, and reset the inspect-cell timer on the power center.
Twice a year is typical here. If you are cleaning every month, your calcium hardness is too high or the pH is running high; fix the water, not the cell. A pH that sits at 7.8 or above all summer is the fastest way to kill a cell. Keep pH 7.4 to 7.6 and alkalinity 80 to 100.
Dead cell or bad power center?
Before buying a cell, rule out the cheap stuff. Confirm the salt level with a test strip or a Taylor K-1766 kit (the power center reading is a guess based on conductivity, which changes with temperature and scale). Clean the cell. Then look at the power center: if it shows cell output but the pool has no chlorine after cleaning and a salt check, the cell is worn. If the power center shows no output, throws board errors or the display is dead, the cell is probably fine and the board or power supply is the problem. Pentair IntelliChlor and Hayward AquaRite both report cell life and output percentage in the diagnostic menu; a cell reading under 50 percent output at full salt is at the end.
Choosing a replacement cell
Match the brand and model of the power center. The cell and the controller are a pair.
- Pentair IntelliChlor: IC20, IC40 and IC60 cells (the number is thousands of gallons it can treat), plus the IntelliChlor Plus and LT versions that replaced them. An IC40 power center can run an IC60 cell, and that is what we recommend: a bigger cell runs at a lower setting and lasts longer. Shop IntelliChlor IC40 and IntelliChlor Plus and LT.
- Hayward AquaRite: T-CELL-3 (15K), T-CELL-9 (25K) and T-CELL-15 (40K). The W3 versions are the current ones and fit all AquaRite and AquaRite Pro boards. Shop T-CELL-3 and T-CELL-15.
- AutoPilot: RC-28, RC-35 and RC-52 cells with unions, and the ChlorSync CS30, CS40 and CS50 for the newer systems. See AutoPilot.
- Jandy AquaPure and TruClear: PLC700 and PLC1400 cell kits, sold for in-store pickup as an authorized Jandy dealer.
Size up. Pick a cell rated at least 1.5 times your pool volume. In our climate chlorine demand in July is double what it is in January, and the extra capacity is what gets you through August without running the cell at 100 percent.
Make the new cell last
Keep stabilizer at 60 to 80 ppm so the sun does not burn off the chlorine the cell makes, keep pH down, run the pump long enough for the cell to meet demand (eight hours in summer is typical on a variable-speed pump), and clean the cell on the calendar, not when it complains.
Not sure which cell you have? Send a photo of the cell label and the power center to Find My Replacement or call 1-877-650-POOLS. All cells over $300 ship free, or pick up free in Jupiter.
