Is my cell dying?

[JimK]

One other thought. There are many "events" which can create excess chlorine demand such as pollen or even not killing all the algae after opening. So that could have accounted for the lower FC levels.

True. Pollen was really bad this spring.

At opening I did keep CL at shock level until CC was 0 and CL loss stopped dropping much overnight. This year it only took a couple days or so to get there. Previous years took longer and much more CL.

I found it interesting that over this past winter my CYA didn't drop at all, unlike previous winters were it plummeted. I understand the by products of CYA being eaten up create high CL demand. I guess that explains why I didn't need near as much CL at startup this season.

[JimK]

UPDATE:

My cell seems to be having no trouble maintaining CL, so apparently it hasn't given out yet. The only mystery left is why last year the controller's salt reading was the same as my test strips, but this year the controller is reading about 300ppm lower than the strips.

[kelemvor]

Maybe it's time to try a taylor k-1766 drop based salt test kit? My local pool store actually carries those.

[JimK]

Maybe it's time to try a taylor k-1766 drop based salt test kit? My local pool store actually carries those.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I looked into that before and decided to go with the AquaCheck Salt Strips that were recommended here. I was told the strips do a good job (they seem to do fine).

I'll take a look at the Taylor kit again.

I'm wondering if the 300 ppm is simply the normal range of error. I think I remember years ago being told by the pool store that installed our system (I was having them test salt back then; they were using the Taylor kits) that it was normal to see a variation of 200 ppm or 300 ppm.

[kelemvor]

I'm wondering if the 300 ppm is simply the normal range of error. I think I remember years ago being told by the pool store that installed our system (I was having them test salt back then; they were using the Taylor kits) that it was normal to see a variation of 200 ppm or 300 ppm.

I found an old post somewhere else made by waste that said the moa was 500 on this test (even with the 1766). I think you're probably just fine

[JimK]

I found an old post somewhere else made by waste that said the moa was 500 on this test (even with the 1766). I think you're probably just fine

Great info. Thanks!

[mas985]

Test strip are fine IF they are fresh but they do seem to go bad quickly.