Today I am going to talk about caring for your Aquarite salt cell (specifically the T Cell 15). First off, if you know your salt cell is dead and needs to be replaced, the best price on the Internet is from Amazon. They have the best price, best shipping options, and the best return policy if something goes wrong. That being said, what I am going to discuss here in this article will extend the life of your T Cell 15 well beyond what most pool owners will experience. By preforming just a little bit of preventative maintenance, you will save yourself a lot of money and aggravation in the long run. Let's get started...
The secret to keeping your T Cell 15 running trouble free and at maximum efficiency is to clean the cell every few months. Depending on how hard your water is, you may get away with cleaning the cell a little less often, but I would always make sure you clean the salt cell no less than three times per year - about once every four months. Conversely, if you have harder water, you may need to clean the cell more often. For example, I have very hard water where I live and need to clean my T-Cell 15 about every two months. Don't worry about buying an expensive test kit to test your water hardness. You just need to keep an eye on how much calcium gets built up each time you clean your cell. My recommendation is to start with a three month schedule and adjust as needed.
The first step is to remove the cell from your pool equipment. Start by making sure your pool equipment is off and in service mode so it will not come on while you are working on it. Open the Hayward Goldline control unit (usually a white box hanging on the wall). This is where your salt cell plugs in to. Again, make sure the power has been turned off to the control unit, and then unplug the big white plug on the bottom of the control unit. Now you want to remove the salt cell from the plumbing. All you have to do is unscrew the large hand-tight fittings on both sides of the TCell 15. Some water will come out as you remove the salt cell, but don't worry, it's normal.
Once you have the salt cell removed, take it to a work area where you can use muriatic acid without worrying too much about what you are going to destroy. I personally like to work on the steps of my pool since whatever I spill will go to good use reducing my Ph Levels. Take a look inside the cell. All the white flaky buildup on the inside is what we want to remove. The easiest way to perform the next step is to use the T Cell 15 cleaning stand. I cannot stress enough how easy this stand makes the job.
The T Cell 15 should be cleaned vertically - standing straight up and down. The stand should be screwed onto the end with the power cord (more on why later). Once you have the salt cell standing on end, you will pour 1/3 acid and 2/3 water into the cell - all the way to the top. Be very careful not to get acid on your skin and wear eye protection just in case it splashes out as you are adding it. Now, it does not have to be mixed exactly one-third acid to two-thirds water, but this is a good rule of thumb. It's enough acid to get the job done, and not too much that it will start eating the plastic and inner components. You will see acid fumes and bubbles coming out the top of the salt cell which is normal and shows that the cleaning is underway. You will want to let the process continue for at least 30 minutes and sometimes longer. Once the bubbles have stopped, pour the contents out of the cell and back into the pool. Take a close look inside the cell to determine if all the calcium (all that white flaky material) is gone. If so, your cell is clean and ready to be reinstalled. If not, repeat the above steps until all the calcium is gone.
Cleaning the cell with the cord-side down has a huge benefit. Right next to where the cord comes into the unit, there is a salt sensor. This sensor is used by the system to determine how much salt is in your water. It's this sensor that you get your salt reading in the control unit. Keeping this sensor at the bottom during cleaning ensures that the sensor is getting as cleans as possible. Why is this important? Well, the T-Cell 15 will change its chlorine output based on the amount of salt in the water. In fact, if the cell determines the water has an insufficient amount of salt, it will turn the T Cell 15 off completely to prevent it from being damaged. Having just a small amount of calcium buildup on the sensor can cause a lot of problems for you and your pool. Cleaning with the sensor on the bottom will help make sure it's as clean as possible.
Once clean, install the TCell 15 the same way you removed it. Make sure the plastic fittings around the cell are hand tight and that no water is leaking out when you turn the system back on. You're done! With just a bit of extra care, your Hayward Goldline Aquarite T Cell 15 will last for years and years.
