Your salt water chlorinator is a very sophisticated piece of equipment depending on the model and manufacturer that you choose of course. While a functioning chlorinator can be to some extent a set-it-and-forget-it scenario, things can go wrong that need to be corrected.
Sometimes it’s an actual problem but other times it might simply be an incorrect setting.
The most common chlorinator problems you’ll face are:
- Chlorinator setting is too low or too high.
- Pump runs too frequently or not frequently enough.
- Salt cell is dirty and needs to be cleaned.
- Salt cell needs to be replaced.
- Water flow problem.
- Water chemistry problem.
NOTE: You can only run the chlorinator (i.e. produce chlorine) when the pump is running so the two actually work together. If you need to adjust chlorine production up or down, you can therefore adjust the chlorinator setting, the pump timer or both.
Let’s discuss each potential problem below in more detail and how you can address them.
Chlorinator setting is too low or too high
Your chlorinator can be set (depending on the model) to produce chlorine as a percentage of total pump running time. So if you set the chlorinator to 50% which is a common setting and you run your pump for 8 hours per day, your chlorinator would produce chlorine for 4 hours per day (8 hours * 50%).
Your chlorine requirements depend on a number of conditions specific to your pool including:
- Amount of direct sun you receive per day (sun kills chlorine)
- How much you use the pool and your overall pool usage (the greater the pool use the more chlorine is needed)
- Other conditions (Do you have pets who swim in the water? Do you get a significant amount of leaves, dirt, etc in the water?)
- Not enough (or no) cyanuric acid, which we’ll elaborate on below.
Over time you’ll figure out what level to set your chlorinator at but 50% is often a good place to start.
Pump runs too frequently or not frequently enough
As mentioned above, you can only produce chlorine when your pool pump is running. So even if you had your chlorinator set to run 100% of the time (not recommended) but don’t run your pump frequently enough, you may not produce enough chlorine for your pool’s needs.
Conversely, if you run the pump too much, you might produce more chlorine than you need which can cause side effects and also prematurely wear out your pump and chlorinator. Plus your electricity bill will be inflated.
An average salt water pool owner will find that running their pump 8-10 hours per day and will enable you to run your chlorinator at around 50% with success i.e. you produce enough chlorine for your pool.
Salt cell is dirty and needs to be cleaned
Check your salt chlorinator system because if you have a system like my AquaRite chlorinator from Hayward, it has an automatic cleaning feature that you can use to take care of this feature for you. Your chlorinator might have a cleaning option that needs to be activated or it might be an automatic feature that works continuously or at least, as needed.
Look for an option like the reverse polarity feature which is an auto cleaning tool that reverses the electrical current inside the salt cell from time to time to clean it.
Otherwise, you might have to manually clean your salt cell from time to time which means you need to follow the instructions of the salt cell manufacturer. This typically involves the use of chemicals.
Salt cell needs to be replaced
Eventually your salt cell will wear out and its chlorine-producing abilities will die. At this point your salt cell will need to be replaced. While your salt chlorinator system should warn you that there is a problem with your cell, if you don’t actually look at the chlorinator box for a few days or longer, you may not see it!
The pump can keep running while the salt cell isn’t working and everything seems ok, but no chlorine is being produced. After a few days, green algae can set in and then you’ll know about it.
How long does your salt cell last? People often throw out a year range like 3-5 years (my experience) or 5-7 years but the truth is that your use of the salt cell is what matters. Once the lifespan of your salt cell is used up, it won’t produce any more chlorine and will need replacement. That could be in 3 years or longer. Your chosen salt cell will probably tell you how many pounds of chlorine it can produce in its lifespan.
Some Hayward brands for example advertise a lifespan of 725 lbs of Trichlor (chlorine) production before the salt cell would need to be replaced.
Water flow problem
Your salt chlorination system has a water sensor that detects a low water flow and will shut down chlorine production to protect the salt cell, until proper water flow has been restored.
A water flow problem typically happens for a few reasons:
- The side skimmer or pump basket is full of debris and needs to be cleaned.
- The filter is backed up and either needs to be back washed (if you have a sand or D.E. filter) or the cartridges (if you have a cartridge filter) need to be washed or replaced.
- There is a bad leak somewhere in the piping or pool system.
Always inspect your skimmer and pump basket when you’re around your pool as they can fill up quickly with leaves, etc especially after a wind storm and if you live in an area with many large trees or other vegetation nearby.
Your pool filter will have a pressure gauge that can give you clues as to when it needs to be rinsed or back washed. The pressure will reach a level that lets you know that it has reached its limit, is saturated with debris and needs to be looked at.
Water chemistry problem
When your water chemistry is off balance, it can negatively impact your chlorine level. The most obvious is your chlorine level itself. If it drops below 1 part per million, you will start to see cloudy water and eventually green algae.
If you don’t have enough (or any) stabilizer (cyanuric acid) in your pool, your chlorine won’t last as long as it otherwise should. Sunlight kills chlorine on its own and stabilizer helps to extend its life so if you aren’t using it, you’re going to have to produce more chlorine which in turn causes your salt cell to need replacement sooner than you’d like.
Check out my page on water chemistry to see the ideal levels of each component of your salt water pool. Keeping them in check will make your pool ownership experience better.
Summary
There are a number of reasons why your salt chlorinator might not be working properly. Some reasons might be a quick fix. Other might require some maintenance or parts replacement i.e. new salt cell.
Generally though, a salt chlorinator reduces the amount of time a pool owner needs to spend maintaining the pool and does a good job of keeping water clean and clear.
I’ve written an article called Does A Salt Water Pool Chlorinator Monitor Chlorine? that helps you learn more about how a chlorinator deals with chlorine but why you shouldn’t expect it to monitor this particular aspect of pool chemistry.