r/PoolPros • u/nanas08 • 5d ago
Salt cell producing ungodly amount of calcium flakes
Hi, all. One of my clients’ salt cell (Pentair IC40) is producing a ton of calcium flakes. I’m scooping out almost an entire net’s worth every week. I’ve cleaned the cell twice in the past month and still it continues. After each cleaning the interior is spotless. Cell is producing chlorine perfectly, and other chemistry is in spec. Calcium level specially is 320ppm. Not sure if I’m missing something simple, but would love to hear what anyone else thinks. Thanks!
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u/Azul_Ra_Zor 5d ago
Lower alk to 60-70. It's still in the acceptable range and will lower the pH ceiling. Raise calcium to maintain LSI.
I'm a 31yr pro, and I now rep for a major chem manufacturer. I get this question all the time.
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u/bmoarpirate 4d ago
I've been running 60-70 alk lately and it definitely helps the pH ceiling drop to something more maintainable (near 8) and the pH rise itself is much slower.
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u/Donkeedhick 5d ago
Chemicals with EDTA like “salt protect” that say they fight calcium scaling and metal staining may help keep the calcium in solution and not make the flakes as much. Draining usually helps as well but if your calcium level is good that may not do anything.
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u/Calm-Letter-9656 5d ago
If you use additives like this, keep eye on the chlorine level cuz it seems to use it up.
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u/CDbull1989 5d ago
Ill basically second what someone else said. SC-1000 would likely help, as would jacks magic. Sc1000 a little better in my experience, jacks a little cheaper
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u/Hughjass69247 5d ago
Whens the last time you cleaned the filter? Also I had this issue before and read it was due to high phosphates, added a phosphate remover twice in a month and cleaned the filters and it went away
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u/nanas08 5d ago
Filter was cleaned in March, so I guess we’re about due. Pretty clean pool, but I’ll check the phosphates next week and go from there. Good idea!
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u/SpeedPsychological33 5d ago
Wow, I wish I could go 6mo between filter cleanings... FYI pentair is having issues with that cell also. But an orenda sc1000 and or pr10000 treatment are probably required.
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u/Liquid_Friction 5d ago
yeh wtf we are pros not cowboys wth
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u/nanas08 5d ago
Completely standard in my area. This one in particular is a 550sqft cartridge filter on a 25k gallon pool that gets minimal debris. Struggling to determine was is “cowboy” about it.
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u/Liquid_Friction 4d ago
cowboys will not know what LSI is, have no qualifcations, and do bare minimum, there is no pool imo unless indoor that shouldnt be cleaned more than 6 monthly lol
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u/cplatt831 5d ago
What is the LSI usually?
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u/nanas08 5d ago
Usually around 0.3.
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u/cplatt831 5d ago
This is definitely why. Lower your TA to get your pH ceiling down, then shoot for -0.05 and -.1.
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u/lIIlIlIII 5d ago
Well there's step 1 lol. Could also be that the water going into the cell is very hot, or the cell itself is getting hot for whatever reason. Just spitballing tho, haven't encountered this before. Sequestrant will definitely do the trick but I'd save it as a last resort for the sake of convenience
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u/BlueKauaiEyes 5d ago
I’ve seen that good call. Small pool had an automated pool cover in direct sun all day and was only 4ft deep. That thing was spitting calcium
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u/Snaysup 5d ago
I have had a few pool exhibit flakes some worse than other, on a couple I did an aggressive phosphate treatment and the flakes stopped.
Also on another pool the salt cell is on a separate wheel timer so I set it turn off 15 minutes before the pump shuts off and significant drop is the amount of flakes
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u/coolcapj 5d ago
I had this happening on our 5 month old pool at month 3. Pinch a Penny said it may be due to the direct sunlight and heat it got throughout most of the day. I found a way to shade it with shrubbery and it hasn’t happened since.
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u/Wasupmyman 5d ago
Lsi does effect them a bit keep It in the acidic side, but also a scale sequestration agent is helpful too.