Low chlorine production

[robrainney]

I have a Jandy Aquapure 1400 in a three month old plaster pool. Its about 26000 gallons.
PH 7.8
CYA 100
Alk 80
Salt level 3.0
Chlorine 2.5, for now
At first the chlorine generator seemed to work great. I had to keep turning it down, eventually to 25%. After the first month of running it, the chlorine production seemed to drop off. I'm running it for about 10 hours a day. I took the cell out, and it looks clean inside. I hosed it out like the manual says to do, but that didn't seem to do annything. The water has warmed up into the high 80s, but the chlorine seems to drop to zero if I don't add some. I keep bumping the production up. Now its up to 75%. The chlorine level seems to fall anyway. We do have a solar cover on the pool, unless we are using it. Today I tested the water away from a return, and directly in a return with the generator on, and it was hard to see a difference. Should I see a big difference there? Am I missing something? Could there be a problem with the chlorine generator? Theres no error message, and all the indicator lights seem to be working. I just don't know. Thanks for any help.

[mwsmith2]

If you are testing water from a return, and you are sure the unit is generating (some operate on a duty cycle, on 75% time, off 25% time) you should see significantly higher Cl coming out of the return.

Michael

[Rockman59]

Are you sure your salt level is at least 2800 ppm? Sometimes the SWG does not give the correct reading.

[Calcutta]

I have had a SWG for over 5 years with excellent results. My cell has a 2 year warranty and is prorated for an additional 3 years.
When there are no experts around to help-you keep looking for info. and you almost become an expert yourself.
The only problem in all the 5 years was not product related. The problems I had were caused by Nitrate(from fertilizer) windblown or otherwise, and Phosphate.
With Nitrates you drain and refill. With Phosphate you can get a product at most pool stores called Phosfree ( or a comparable name) and add according to directions--usually a couple of ounces for a few weeks. This neutralizes it.
HACH Co. has Nitrate test strips,cat. 27454-25 which will read as low as 1ppm. The 25 strip bottle is around a buck a strip---a small price to pay when stumbling around in the dark. This nitrate/phosphate problem is very seldom addressed when asking your peers for help.
Make a point in asking the mfg. of your SWG how badly these affect the operation of you cell.
Good luck---if this helps get back to me.