New Hayward CL220 chlorine feeder still full of tablets after 3 weeks

[Anonymous European in California]

Three weeks ago I decided to replace our floating feeder with the Hayward CL220. After some research, this appeared to be the only viable option to integrate a feeder easily into our system. I loaded it with 8 tablets and started the pump system again. Today, the feeder is still fully loaded. So my questions are

1. Where shall I start looking first?
2. How much water am I supposed to see when the feeder is open? In my case, I only see a 2 or 3 inches of water at the bottom and most tablets are dry.

A few additional points worth noting.

1. I verified the flow direction
2. I started with the 5 setting but then after a week dialed up to 10
3. I still use the floating chlorine feeder in addition to ensure enough chlorine exists. In fact, I believe its the only feeder where chlorine is coming from I guess.
4. I read a lot about clogging in and outflow holes but I am surprised that this immediately happens on a brand new feeder

Thanks in advance for any help or direction to get this solved.

[Watermom]

Hi and welcome to the Pool Forum! I do not have a feeder so can't give you good advice about it, but I have asked one of the other moderators, Poconos (aka Al), to take a look at your question. He has a feeder. Not sure if it is the same one or not, but hopefully he can advise you.

[Anonymous European in California]

Thanks for quickly getting back to my post. I also just opened the in and ouflow plugs and can verify that flow functions. Changing the dial also showes different strength in flow. Therefore, I already conclude it's not clogged. I am happy to upload a picture of anything if that helps.

[PoolDoc]

Hi Andreas;

My experience with the Hayward CL series feeders is that they are badly designed, and usually "broken from the factory". Years ago, when I was servicing lots of commercial pools, I wouldn't even offer a contract on pool, unless they agreed to remove and replace those monsters. There's a lot of Hayward equipment that I like, but not those miserable chlorinators.

Part of the problem with them is that they tend to be VERY erratic, working sometimes and not others. At this point, I could probably disassemble a couple and figure out why they are so bad, but it's not worth it: those units have a shrinking market, and Hayward is not going to spend money redesigning and retooling.

Just get rid of the stupid thing! Not only is the Hayward CL series a problem, OFFLINE trichlor feeders are tricky, and usually installed incorrectly.

Put your tabs in the skimmer, in a floater, or in an INLINE chlorinator:
Pentair Rainbow Pool Auto Feeder Model 320 R171096 @ Amazon

(I don't love inline feeders, either: install the unit DOWNSTREAM of all equipment and NOT in an enclosed space. Also, be SURE to run your pump 2x per day, at separated intervals. Water standing in a trichlor feeder will generate chlorine gas, and if you let it sit too long, your feeder can 'burp' chlorine gas onto a swimmer!

Has happened to a PF member; fortunately, no one was hurt!

One more thing: you may want to change your email address in your PF profile to a Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo .COM address. 98% of the traffic I have from ".de" -- Deutschland -- is from hackers, and I have an ever increasing amount of .de netspace blocked in firewall. If I happen to get a hacker attempt from 213.165.0.0/16, where the web.de mailservers live, your email address will be blocked, and you'll lose access. You probably want to do this anyway, while you are in the US, since email from a .de address will tend to be flagged as spam.

[Poconos]

I've had one of those 'monsters' going for over 14 years now and the only things I've replaced are the O-rings. Seems to work just fine for me. Granted I only use it when I need to jack up the CYA and when I'm away for a long time but I still use it. Never had a plugging problem either. A couple thoughts though....when you screw the lid on it is a pressure seal and if there isn't much pressure in the return pipe where the chlorinator is located, due to not much flow resistance between the unit and the return jets, the water level may not climb up high. Try removing the lid, close the needle valve, turn on the pump and wait for the water level to get to within a couple inches of the top then put the lid on. Turn off the pump, tighten the lid, no need to really make it tight as the O-ring is the seal, set the needle valve where you want it and just use it normally. This gives you a full charge of water in the canister. These units have a restriction in the pipe and rely on the pressure differential generated by the flow to cause water to circulate through the canister. If you have a 2 speed pump on low speed or just a low flow for any reason then it may not work right.
Hope this helps.
Al