Las Vegas, NV 13,000 gal salt pool- 2 Jandy chlorinators with issues

Hi,
I have lurked on your board years ago and was so impressed with the help and knowledge here when we turned our pool to salt- I thought I would come back now that we have been in it about 5 years with issues on our chlorinators.

The deets:
Las Vegas, NV (pool faces southwest- but it half shaded in the afternoons) we know we have HARD water!
Approx. 13,000 gal pool/jacuzzi
Jandy Aquapure 1400 (2 actually- we interchange them for parts)
Pentair Intelliflo pump (calibrated by the power company)
All pool equipment is under a plastic cover- out of the sun and all PVC is painted (not sure that matters to you- but it is WAY easier to touch in the summer for us ;)
We have only added salt once in those 5 years- after a crazy storm that filled the pool- and then not more than half a bag (maybe 3-4 years ago?)

We have kept the water in decent condition (no major highs or lows in the levels) until the new pump went in about 2 years ago. We also replaced the Jandy cel at that time because of repeated unspecified errors (the flow sensor was bad). We had Jandy send us 2 sensors (both were bad from the factory) so we bought a whole new cel to try to remedy the problem-drastic, I know, but we figured redundancy would be good (and it has been!)

After the pump went in, we noticed it was much harder to keep the chlorine levels "normal" in the summer. We also started noticing flakes of what look like calcium on the bottom of the pool. It's like our pool has dandruff!! The cel now has to be cleaned almost every 3 weeks!! If it isn't- the chlorine levels fall almost overnight and algae appears on the shaded sides of the pool. It is a never-ending cycle and we know that by cleaning the cel so much we are eventually going to ruin it.

We have tried stabilizer (once the levels are good) and that helps temporarily, but we are still having the issue of the cel getting dirty too quickly. We suspect that the lower flow this pump produces less flow on the cel- thus allowing more calcium to build up- but not sure?

Any help would be appreciated! We are out the cost of 2 cels- with little to no help from the manufacturer (luckily my boyfriend is handy with electronics and can test and figure out what is wrong) and really don't want to buy a 3rd cel (of if we do- advice on who to use other than Jandy? Initially we loved them, but their QC and customer service isn't amazing).

Many, many thanks for any help you can steer me towards!
Jen

You're describing a long term solution, so I feel like it's appropriate to give you something OTHER than a 'right' now answer. Do these things:

1. Get a K2006 (HTH 6-way is really not what you need, in this case) -- links below
2. Go to your water company's website, and get a copy of their most recent water analysis.
3. Report the anion values - chloride, sulfates, carbonates, phosphates, silicates, etc. OR simply post the link to the report.
4. Report the full set of K-2006 values.
5. If possible, get a few of the flakes and put them in a CLEAR glass -- a wine glass is great. It's OK if there's a little water, too. Add 1/2 cup of vinegar and cover with Saran. Check after 24 hours to see if the flakes have disappeared.

Now, I'll tell you that my *guess* is that the best solution is to drain and refill your pool. After 5 years of evaporation, you've concentrated whatever is in the fill water a LOT. If you want to go ahead and try that, be my guest AS LONG AS IT'S A CONCRETE POOL!

But, if your fill water is as bad as some Western water, that may not be the best solution.

+ Here are links to the kits we recommend:

HTH 6-Way Test Kit @ Walmart
Taylor K2006A (3/4 oz bottles) @ Amazon
Taylor K2006C (2 oz bottles) @ Amazon

membership upgraded; thread moved. -ben