I've just moved into our new place and it has a salt water pool.

Upon checking water levels i noticed too little or hardly any chlorine.

Upon looking at the salt cell its totally clogged up with white stuff.

The previous owners have had the pool for about 4 years, i heard thats average lifetime of a cell.

I'll attach a picture of the chlorinator box.

Should i attenpt to clean the plates or look for a new one?

Edited November 11, 201510 yr by Dieter78

I would definitely attempt to clean the cell before replacing it. Cleaning is really quite easy with a diluted mixture of hydrochloric acid.

As above... Let it soak in an acid solution, should be fine. Just clean and test again.

As above give it a good clean in dilute acid, but first clean as much as you can by hand.Not always nessesary to replace whole unit , just plates if they are damaged.

Good luck and keep us posted,all info helps other forum users.

1part 30-33% Hydrochloric to ten parts of water should suffice any stronger and you may damage the plates.

A large amount of heat is released when strong acids are mixed with water. Adding more acid releases more heat. If you add water to acid, you form an extremely concentrated solution of acid initially. So much heat is released that the solution may boil very violently, splashing concentrated acid out of the container! If you add acid to water, the solution that forms is very dilute and the small amount of heat released is not enough to vaporize and spatter it. So Always Add Acid to water, and never the reverse.

Edited November 11, 201510 yr by sappersrest

Thanks for the replies. Our pool guy is coming tomorrow so I will point it out to him. Apparently he knows how to do it but he hasn't been checking the cell unit.

don,t let your pool guy clean it in neat acid whatever you do,not use a wire brush either There are a few step by step videos on tube how to do it.

When you put in acid it will not all come off all at once, i would estimate you will need at lease 5 or 6 attempts .

Cleaning the plates is generally possible but if the calcium deposit is very thick it might take several hours for it to dissolve in the hydrochloric (muriatic) acid. If the plates have been buckled by the deposit, the electrode may need to be replaced. However, since PoolRite was liquidated a couple of years ago, genuine replacement electrodes may be difficult to find. Some generic copies may be available on Amazon or eBay and are certainly being offered by several pool shops in Australia.

If correctly maintained, electrodes can last for 4 years or even longer. I've known of some (Surechlor models) still in use after 8 years. The Poolrite Enduro, if I remember rightly, was supposed to reverse it's polarity to self-clean, but I may be confusing it with the Surechlor, a later model.

The pool guy was already doing it when i got home and its looks clean now and the plates appear to be ok. I guess i will see the next few days if chlorine develops. I think he was just being but lazy.

Have you verified your pool salinity?

If you don't have it the manual for your chlorinator is here http://addasplash.com.au/assets/pdf/manuals/PLR183_EnduroMAN-R1.pdf

It's really easy to tell if the cell is working ok as you will see some cloudiness in the water inside the cell while it's on. The cloudiness is the chlorine it's producing.

He took the cell away as there was a leak after re-fitting due to worn o ring.

Thanks for the tips and link to manual!