What's better than Aquarite?

[jacksonlui]

hi Guys,
I own an older version of Aquarite and I've been replacing the TCells on a yearly basis eventhough I clean them every 3 months with acid/water. The hard water in southern california seems to reduce the life of these cells dramatically.

I was wondering if others have the same problem in this region.
I'm also looking to get a new salt chlorinating system and was wondering if there are better systems than the Aquarite.

Thanks!

[waterbear]

Sounds like you have one of the old, non self cleaning ones. Just about all of the newer SWGs on the market now have polarity reversing cells which cut down on the cleaning quite a bit, including the ones from Goldline Controls. I have a newer Aqualogic PS-8 that has not had to be cleaned in a year now. Aquarite and Aqualogic are identical in terms of chlorine generation. Aqualogic also adds pool automation. IMHO, Pool Pilot Digital by Autopilot Systems is probably the best out there in terms of bells and whistles and Goldline runs a close second in performance.

[mas985]

Hard water and scale does not directly reduce the life of the cell only how well it works. It's the corrosion of the cell from the acid cleaning that reduces it's life.

You may just need to focus on reducing the scale from the hard water. Replacing the water with lower calcium hardness water will help. Also, if your fill water is the same hardness as your pool, then one thing I found useful is to adjust the pool chemistry for hard water. This means operating at the low end of the PH (7.2) and alkalinity (80) ranges.

[jacksonlui]

oh, I didn't know the constant cleanings I've been doing with muriatic acid has actually been reducing the life of the cell. the tech over the phone told me to clean it once a month due to the high calcium levels in my area and also suggest I used more acid. was this bad information from them? I feel like I've caused my own demise.

The Autopilot looks good, especially the new one that's not out yet which automates adding acid. It's a quite a bit more expensive than Aquarite. I can get an Aquarite for $660 shipped these days (uninstalled).

J

[waterbear]

actually, running the salt on the low side, running the cell in cold weather, not maintaining an adequite CYA level which causes you to run the cell at a higher output level, and superchlorinating with the cell probably reduce it's life more than proper acid washing does. All these things put a strain on the cell and reduce it's effective lifespan. NOT acid washing will create the need to up the output of the cell to produce enough chlorine! Another alternative to your high calcium levels besides dilution would be to use a seqestering agent that is specific for calcium. They are based on derivatives of phosphonic acid like most of the metal seqesterants but have a preferance for calcium. Try googling calcium hardness reducer. There is also a company that makes a magnesium additive so the scale that forms will be soft and "mushy" and wash off easily (chemisty behind this is sound but I have no experience with the product). I believe the company is LoChlor and PoolSean said in one of his posts about one of their other products that they are a 'sister company' to Autopilot Systems like Aquacal is.