Single speed pump 25 years old. Rebuilt 2 times. Still kicking ass. Our electricity is not expensive in Pennsylvania. And I have an attic pool heater I put in 24 years ago to heat the pool that requires high speed to get water to the attic. I guess I am in sticker shock at the price of the T-15 cells. I bought my last one on 2016 with a 5 year warranty for 450 bucks.
The most common component to fail on these units is the Thermistor that is inside the Cell that is shown in the video. The Thermistor is used to determine the water temp and salt level. If the Thermistor fails, you will more then likely get a "HOT" error on your panel. If you check the Molex connector, pins 6 and 10 connect to the blue and red wires. You can use a multimeter to check the resistance and continuity. The resistance should be around 10K ohm, +- 2K ohm depending on your temp. If you see reading that are way too high or low then your Thermistor is cooked. The easiest fix is to slice the power cord cable sheathing and expose the wires. The blue and red are the ones you need to work on. Cut the wires and solder a 10K ohm resistor between the red and blue wire that are facing the Molex connector. Give the unit a test and the error should be gone. Tape everything backup up with some electrical tape and you are done. The 10K ohm resistor has the control panel think that the water temp is 77F. Fixed my unit this way and it works perfectly. One dollar resistor and 2mins of soldering saved me $1000 for a new unit...
Thanks ! Have a t15 that just failed after 4 years, previous t15 after 6. I still have both and I will try to repair them. I don’t care about the reading I just want the cell to generate Cl ;-) Crappy design🤬
I just uploaded a video and I'd love to get your input. Please take a look. My cell stopped generating chlorine(except for when I first switch it on at the aquarite system... but Noone would do that daily). My cell has the red blue orange and yellow wires all going into the black epoxy filled cavity. What is causing my cell to not register the salt content right?
Ned Mandaric Ladies and Gentlemen! I totally am going to do this. You said the Thermistor is used to determine the water temp and salt level only. Does the unit need those readings for anything? My water stays between 55 and 85 year around. But the salt measurment I am worried about, what does the unit need that for and how do I work around it?
Well its not pin 6 or 10 on my female connector but i did find the 2 red and blue wires when i cut the cable open and i do read 8.17k ohms solid so i take the thermistor is good but the panel says its bad.
Thanks for this Beach, I was unaware that the U cover could be removed by hand. The area where the nuts are are definitely a weak link that could cause all kinds of errors and poor operation. I will add that the heat sensor doesn't need to be cut off to gain full access, the power wire can be separated from the U cover.... it has a U shaped flexible cord cover that slides off.
Thank you for sharing These salt cells are meant to last 5 years so Hayward can make more money. I opened mine and found a lot of brown hard deposit between the two poles. Can’t fix it. So I’ll suck it up and buy another one
Thanks for the disassembled view. Looking at this I feel like I can reverse engineer some of this to make it work indefinitely. I’ve replaced a few 45k gal cells over the years. If you simply found a resistor to mimic what the temp sensor sees at say 75-85F then you could eliminate that part of the circuit. Replacement generic cells have the job used harness wires blocked and capped at the board connector. Re-water proofing the black and white connections after a thorough dry out should be the ticket as long as the plates are in good condition (chemistry control is prime). I have a few old ones lying around. I guess I need to get to work.
I understand your frustrations. After almost 4 years I'm replacing my T5 cell which worked well. I am going to pull mine apart and see what's going on in there. I am ordering another one from Blue Works instead of a T5 I am installing a T15 which should last longer.
I just paid $900 for my Hayward T Cell 15. I think I’ll attempt to repair my old one. The man at my pool store said to remove the good cell in the winter and it will last longer. You can make and install a dummy cell. 6/23
@jeanneburke1380 I live in Florida so my pump runs year round. The water is way too cold to go into but I have to keep it filtered and clean. I do have an electric heater for the water but with the price of electricity thanks to mumble mutt in the Whitehouse it's too expensive for me to run.
@@raykasza6855 I live in Texas and don't shut my pool down for the winter time and we do have freezes here during the winter. I have a natural gas heater but only use it for my spa. I don't think I can tear a $900 salt cell apart, maybe I'll try that on the old one though. Lol
10k ohm resistor, I took what was mentioned and measured the resistance on the cell plug for the red and blue wires and got around 8.2 k ohms and as a last ditch effort, I carefully sliced and pulled back two inches of the sleeve cut the red and blue and soldered in a 10k resistor. As a result, the system thinks the water temp is 77 degrees. It is actually 84. Prior to this, My cell, T-9 would not hold the instant salt reading and would drop to zero. now, I can take a instant salt reading and lock in 3300 for salt and it doesn't drop. The problem is the plates are probably worn where I get 27 VDC and 2.5 amps draw on the display. It would be cool if I could go further and know if replacing the plates would restore full operation.
My Salt Pool Store replacement failed within 60 days and I returned it for a warranty replacement.. I have had the Salt Pool Store send a replacement and it been working perfect for over a year!!!
Just wait until it fails and it's been more than a year Then they will tell you it is prorated and you have to pay a percentage of the FULL retail price of $750 so that you actually will have to pay as much or more than you can buy it for the sale price. Just go to the BBB and read the complaints on them. Have you noticed there's no place to leave reviews on their website. Beware!!
Thank you for this video and the one where you replaced the Hayward cell. I was wondering about your experience with the aftermarket cell, since this video was published a year after the other, this comment helped understand. I have the same issue with my Hayward salt system. We have had the pool for less than 5 years and we called the guy who installed, he advised it was probably the motherboard. I thought it was a sensor issue with the cell itself, because the cell generated salt when I tested it, and there are no other issues that point to a motherboard issue, but I replaced the PCB (because it was only 150 aftermarket). Did not fix the issue and had been looking at the Salt Pool Store site aftermarket cell but they have several complaints with BBB. This video validates my belief that it was a salt sensor issue all along. Why pay for Hayward if it isn’t going to last? I have the T-Cell 940, which is comparable to a T-15, it’s rated for a higher volume than T-5. The Salt Pool store has it listed for 339 with a 5 year limited warranty, which is a longer warranty than Hayward for less than half the price. Thanks again for the information you have shared!
So the cheap cell failed in 60 days... Great info, maybe put that in the description of your other video, I was wondering how the cheap cell would do.... sad it failed so quickly
Very insightful breakdown of the cell, thank you. I have a salt cell sensor fault on my board. Is that sensor inside the cell the sensor that has gone bad?
I'm fairly certain that the screw going to the plate the ne I called free willy was broken. That could have set it to the HOT reading. Im not 100% certain
Do you have a 2 speed pump? I do and my salt cell kicks on only when it goes to the higher setting. The high speed runs only for 4 hours a day, I have no issue with cleaning it using a haywards crawler type cleaner or no issue with algae or lower chlorine level
They are designed to be replaced. The cells wear out. When you clean it make sure the plug end is up and not submerged. It is possible for acid to get in but rare. $650 now
Yep, nothing lasts forever. Mine had broken the lug, probably to salt. It doesn't matter salt or chlorine or muriatic acid they are all corrosive and affect all measures to protect any connection. Not a good design since in my book.
Brother!, you are my kind of guy. I like your planned obsolesce comment with the heat sensor. I have a T-Cell 15 that is still working, but I know someday it will fail. If it did tomorrow $900+tax to get a new one. Can you tell me if you think these are actually repairable, and what is it that fails when these fail?
@@Beachnative42 thank you. I finally got it out. Cut out the weird connector and unnecessary wires. Put new connectors. I hooked up a 50K potentiometer to red and blue, adjusted the fake temperature until the board thinks my salt is at 3200. Tada! Of course independently I made sure my salt is at 3200. My T15 works like new. Repair cost $5. Thanks!
@@stevethetoolman2435 most pools with 2 speed pumps that run continuously like I have only run at max speed where the salt cell starts working is three hours a day. 3 x 365 = 1095/yr 1095 x 8 = 8760 over 8 years If your cell is running 10,000 hours in 4 years then you are running it too much or have an undersized cell
These things are the biggest pieces of shit. I see them fail constantly, usually only after a couple of years. Salt water pools are the biggest scam in the industry. If it's not the reoccurring cost of the salt cell, or the control panel (which has a common thermistor failure) it will be the eventual cost of replacing ALL of your pool equipment when it rusts away. Hayward makes these systems just cheap enough for them to be sold in mass, this is why they are the most popular and you see them used in most installations. The higher end Pentair, Jandy etc... do not fail as rapidly, but again it's only a matter of time before the salt water eats away at everything, and believe me the swimming pool industry knows this that's why they push this garbage. Fun fact, generating chlorine with a salt water system was actually they way they did it back in the 50's during the boom of swimming pool installations, mostly in California etc... They moved away from this for the exact reason I just mentioned. Salt water destroys EVERYTHING. As chemical manufacturing became more cost effective and readily available it did not make sense to keep chlorinating pools this way. They even had companies that would come to your house and pump chlorine gas in to the pool weekly. (Look up how deadly chlorine gas is, and you can imagine why this fell out of practice. ) Another fun thing is that apparently the metals used to coat the titanium plates (ruthenium oxide or iridium) are mined in Ukraine... well guess what... Ukrainian industry isn't doing so well at the moment so it's going to be a while before you can ever get one of these again. As of summer 2022 the cost for a new salt cell alone ranges from $800 to over $1000
I'm buying a replacement now, and decided to chance it on an open-box Hayward T-15 on Ebay. I've read lots of caution stories about the off-brands, and I was wary of all the high reviews that didn't really mean much under 1 year of use (and when reviews were critical, they talked about failing at 2-13 months, and the lack of warranty support/honoring). It's possible some are good, but I don't see a reputable-seeming alternative system. As long as I have a Hayward controller, it seems it may be best to stick with Hayward cell so I don't have to "game" the system. Some people say salt readings are off, meaning they have to crank up the usage percentage, meaning more overall time on. I've used an undersized cell for the 3 years I've been in my house, and I don't know how long before that it was installed. I've learned from reading reviews that there are different ratings for these different cells. In my case, I had a trickle of chlorine all last year with controller at 100% on-time, then found I had very low salt, added some this year, and still had low production, BUT NO ALGAE. Therefore, my new plan (now that I know how expensive these are) is to 1.) Maintain my pool chemistry, 2.) Keep the cell on for 25-50% of the time. No algae means no need to overdo it, and maximum cell life (amateur assumption, but seems smart enough).
Наука
Single speed pump 25 years old. Rebuilt 2 times. Still kicking ass. Our electricity is not expensive in Pennsylvania. And I have an attic pool heater I put in 24 years ago to heat the pool that requires high speed to get water to the attic. I guess I am in sticker shock at the price of the T-15 cells. I bought my last one on 2016 with a 5 year warranty for 450 bucks.
The most common component to fail on these units is the Thermistor that is inside the Cell that is shown in the video. The Thermistor is used to determine the water temp and salt level. If the Thermistor fails, you will more then likely get a "HOT" error on your panel. If you check the Molex connector, pins 6 and 10 connect to the blue and red wires. You can use a multimeter to check the resistance and continuity. The resistance should be around 10K ohm, +- 2K ohm depending on your temp. If you see reading that are way too high or low then your Thermistor is cooked. The easiest fix is to slice the power cord cable sheathing and expose the wires. The blue and red are the ones you need to work on. Cut the wires and solder a 10K ohm resistor between the red and blue wire that are facing the Molex connector. Give the unit a test and the error should be gone. Tape everything backup up with some electrical tape and you are done. The 10K ohm resistor has the control panel think that the water temp is 77F. Fixed my unit this way and it works perfectly. One dollar resistor and 2mins of soldering saved me $1000 for a new unit...
Thanks ! Have a t15 that just failed after 4 years, previous t15 after 6. I still have both and I will try to repair them. I don’t care about the reading I just want the cell to generate Cl ;-)
Crappy design🤬
I just uploaded a video and I'd love to get your input. Please take a look. My cell stopped generating chlorine(except for when I first switch it on at the aquarite system... but Noone would do that daily). My cell has the red blue orange and yellow wires all going into the black epoxy filled cavity. What is causing my cell to not register the salt content right?
Maybe you can post a video of how you did it or of the finished work , please .
Ned Mandaric Ladies and Gentlemen! I totally am going to do this. You said the Thermistor is used to determine the water temp and salt level only. Does the unit need those readings for anything? My water stays between 55 and 85 year around. But the salt measurment I am worried about, what does the unit need that for and how do I work around it?
Well its not pin 6 or 10 on my female connector but i did find the 2 red and blue wires when i cut the cable open and i do read 8.17k ohms solid so i take the thermistor is good but the panel says its bad.
Thank you for doing this. Very, very educational and enlightening. Revealed a lot of mystery for me. Thanks again!
Thanks Beach for the education. I’m having the same problem with mine as many here has also experienced.
Great video! Thanks so much for posting this. I have repaired two cells so far because of your video.🙂🙂
Thanks for this Beach, I was unaware that the U cover could be removed by hand. The area where the nuts are are definitely a weak link that could cause all kinds of errors and poor operation. I will add that the heat sensor doesn't need to be cut off to gain full access, the power wire can be separated from the U cover.... it has a U shaped flexible cord cover that slides off.
Thank you for sharing
These salt cells are meant to last 5 years so Hayward can make more money. I opened mine and found a lot of brown hard deposit between the two poles. Can’t fix it. So I’ll suck it up and buy another one
Thanks for the disassembled view.
Looking at this I feel like I can reverse engineer some of this to make it work indefinitely.
I’ve replaced a few 45k gal cells over the years.
If you simply found a resistor to mimic what the temp sensor sees at say 75-85F then you could eliminate that part of the circuit.
Replacement generic cells have the job used harness wires blocked and capped at the board connector.
Re-water proofing the black and white connections after a thorough dry out should be the ticket as long as the plates are in good condition (chemistry control is prime).
I have a few old ones lying around. I guess I need to get to work.
I understand your frustrations. After almost 4 years I'm replacing my T5 cell which worked well. I am going to pull mine apart and see what's going on in there. I am ordering another one from Blue Works instead of a T5 I am installing a T15 which should last longer.
How did the Blue Works fare? I read disconcerting reviews that the product fails anywhere from three to eight months.
@@johnlorraine204 so far so good. Had it for 7months.
I just paid $900 for my Hayward T Cell 15. I think I’ll attempt to repair my old one. The man at my pool store said to remove the good cell in the winter and it will last longer. You can make and install a dummy cell. 6/23
@jeanneburke1380 I live in Florida so my pump runs year round. The water is way too cold to go into but I have to keep it filtered and clean. I do have an electric heater for the water but with the price of electricity thanks to mumble mutt in the Whitehouse it's too expensive for me to run.
@@raykasza6855 I live in Texas and don't shut my pool down for the winter time and we do have freezes here during the winter. I have a natural gas heater but only use it for my spa. I don't think I can tear a $900 salt cell apart, maybe I'll try that on the old one though. Lol
planned obsolescence is the word you were looking for I think.
10k ohm resistor, I took what was mentioned and measured the resistance on the cell plug for the red and blue wires and got around 8.2 k ohms and as a last ditch effort, I carefully sliced and pulled back two inches of the sleeve cut the red and blue and soldered in a 10k resistor. As a result, the system thinks the water temp is 77 degrees. It is actually 84. Prior to this, My cell, T-9 would not hold the instant salt reading and would drop to zero. now, I can take a instant salt reading and lock in 3300 for salt and it doesn't drop. The problem is the plates are probably worn where I get 27 VDC and 2.5 amps draw on the display. It would be cool if I could go further and know if replacing the plates would restore full operation.
Thank you posted video
My Salt Pool Store replacement failed within 60 days and I returned it for a warranty replacement.. I have had the Salt Pool Store send a replacement and it been working perfect for over a year!!!
Just wait until it fails and it's been more than a year Then they will tell you it is prorated and you have to pay a percentage of the FULL retail price of $750 so that you actually will have to pay as much or more than you can buy it for the sale price. Just go to the BBB and read the complaints on them. Have you noticed there's no place to leave reviews on their website. Beware!!
@@missyb1958 I'm not interested in a Hayward new one. The clear housing one works just as good as the factory one
Thank you for this video and the one where you replaced the Hayward cell. I was wondering about your experience with the aftermarket cell, since this video was published a year after the other, this comment helped understand.
I have the same issue with my Hayward salt system. We have had the pool for less than 5 years and we called the guy who installed, he advised it was probably the motherboard. I thought it was a sensor issue with the cell itself, because the cell generated salt when I tested it, and there are no other issues that point to a motherboard issue, but I replaced the PCB (because it was only 150 aftermarket). Did not fix the issue and had been looking at the Salt Pool Store site aftermarket cell but they have several complaints with BBB.
This video validates my belief that it was a salt sensor issue all along. Why pay for Hayward if it isn’t going to last?
I have the T-Cell 940, which is comparable to a T-15, it’s rated for a higher volume than T-5. The Salt Pool store has it listed for 339 with a 5 year limited warranty, which is a longer warranty than Hayward for less than half the price. Thanks again for the information you have shared!
I replaced my Hayward with the clear housing one. It’s been working fine for a couple of years.
@@bobdrawbaugh4207 Where did you buy your clear housing one from? Thanks 😊
So the cheap cell failed in 60 days... Great info, maybe put that in the description of your other video, I was wondering how the cheap cell would do.... sad it failed so quickly
Couldn't be said better. FYI, there's a YT about bypass that heat sensor to deal with the "HOT" error. Easy and smart.
Very insightful breakdown of the cell, thank you. I have a salt cell sensor fault on my board. Is that sensor inside the cell the sensor that has gone bad?
I'm fairly certain that the screw going to the plate the ne I called free willy was broken. That could have set it to the HOT reading. Im not 100% certain
My pool is 36500 gallons so the cell does run 12 hours with the pump. It runs at 70 percent. My cya is 30 so minimum ppm would 30x7.5% =2.25ppm
Do you have a 2 speed pump? I do and my salt cell kicks on only when it goes to the higher setting. The high speed runs only for 4 hours a day, I have no issue with cleaning it using a haywards crawler type cleaner or no issue with algae or lower chlorine level
Thank you for this. I've gone through two of these. Can the sensor be replaced?
unfortunately not
They are designed to be replaced. The cells wear out. When you clean it make sure the plug end is up and not submerged. It is possible for acid to get in but rare. $650 now
Yep, nothing lasts forever. Mine had broken the lug, probably to salt. It doesn't matter salt or chlorine or muriatic acid they are all corrosive and affect all measures to protect any connection. Not a good design since in my book.
Mine reads cold. Pin 6 and 10 read 11k ohms. I'm not sure what's going on. Any advice?
You would to just happen to know which pins on the chlorinator plug were the red and blue wires?
Brother!, you are my kind of guy. I like your planned obsolesce comment with the heat sensor. I have a T-Cell 15 that is still working, but I know someday it will fail. If it did tomorrow $900+tax to get a new one. Can you tell me if you think these are actually repairable, and what is it that fails when these fail?
The carriage that holds the plates broke on mine. I don't think there is a way to fix them since they are platinum plated
@@Beachnative42 thanks brother...I think Ned Mandaric posted a comment that answered my question anyway.
Great video thank you. Sir how the heck did you manage to take that epoxy out where the 2 screws are?
First I used a saw and cut off the side wall then it just popped right out. The surface had no sanded prep marks
@@Beachnative42 thank you. I finally got it out. Cut out the weird connector and unnecessary wires. Put new connectors. I hooked up a 50K potentiometer to red and blue, adjusted the fake temperature until the board thinks my salt is at 3200. Tada! Of course independently I made sure my salt is at 3200. My T15 works like new. Repair cost $5. Thanks!
@@JimmyDeriter AWESOME!!!!
What did you use to cut open the cell? Looks like you did a clean cut.
An oscillating saw from Harbor Freight that cost $20
Crap design. Thank you for making this video.
does the thermistor there for water temperature in general or for the cell overheating?
More than likely the cell
How do you seal the extra wires. Did you silicone those too?
I did this video forinspection and to see where mine failed. You shoud ask nedmandaric3321 since he used a resistor to fix his
are all the wires connected inside or just blue red and white and black ...other are just sitting there ???
yes all of them do not connect black and white go to the cell plates the others go to the heat/salt sensor
Blk /Wht; Red / Blu. All others are usually Cut and not connected!@@Beachnative42
So if not for that poor design on the temp probe how long would the plates last in a perfect world? The plates do wear down eventually?
Yes thats why the expected life cycle is 8-10 years
I’ve heard 10,000 hr on a cell. That’s 4 years for me
@@stevethetoolman2435 most pools with 2 speed pumps that run continuously like I have only run at max speed where the salt cell starts working is three hours a day.
3 x 365 = 1095/yr 1095 x 8 = 8760 over 8 years
If your cell is running 10,000 hours in 4 years then you are running it too much or have an undersized cell
What do you recommend for salt
Morton pool salt
These things are the biggest pieces of shit. I see them fail constantly, usually only after a couple of years. Salt water pools are the biggest scam in the industry. If it's not the reoccurring cost of the salt cell, or the control panel (which has a common thermistor failure) it will be the eventual cost of replacing ALL of your pool equipment when it rusts away. Hayward makes these systems just cheap enough for them to be sold in mass, this is why they are the most popular and you see them used in most installations.
The higher end Pentair, Jandy etc... do not fail as rapidly, but again it's only a matter of time before the salt water eats away at everything, and believe me the swimming pool industry knows this that's why they push this garbage.
Fun fact, generating chlorine with a salt water system was actually they way they did it back in the 50's during the boom of swimming pool installations, mostly in California etc... They moved away from this for the exact reason I just mentioned. Salt water destroys EVERYTHING. As chemical manufacturing became more cost effective and readily available it did not make sense to keep chlorinating pools this way.
They even had companies that would come to your house and pump chlorine gas in to the pool weekly. (Look up how deadly chlorine gas is, and you can imagine why this fell out of practice. )
Another fun thing is that apparently the metals used to coat the titanium plates (ruthenium oxide or iridium) are mined in Ukraine... well guess what... Ukrainian industry isn't doing so well at the moment so it's going to be a while before you can ever get one of these again. As of summer 2022 the cost for a new salt cell alone ranges from $800 to over $1000
I guess you sell chlorine?
@@Beachnative42 nope
Can someone tell me what's the best salt generator to buy for the money
By far Hayward
I'm buying a replacement now, and decided to chance it on an open-box Hayward T-15 on Ebay. I've read lots of caution stories about the off-brands, and I was wary of all the high reviews that didn't really mean much under 1 year of use (and when reviews were critical, they talked about failing at 2-13 months, and the lack of warranty support/honoring). It's possible some are good, but I don't see a reputable-seeming alternative system. As long as I have a Hayward controller, it seems it may be best to stick with Hayward cell so I don't have to "game" the system. Some people say salt readings are off, meaning they have to crank up the usage percentage, meaning more overall time on. I've used an undersized cell for the 3 years I've been in my house, and I don't know how long before that it was installed. I've learned from reading reviews that there are different ratings for these different cells. In my case, I had a trickle of chlorine all last year with controller at 100% on-time, then found I had very low salt, added some this year, and still had low production, BUT NO ALGAE. Therefore, my new plan (now that I know how expensive these are) is to 1.) Maintain my pool chemistry, 2.) Keep the cell on for 25-50% of the time. No algae means no need to overdo it, and maximum cell life (amateur assumption, but seems smart enough).
Today 2023 that t-cell is $900
if they go up any more it might get cheaper than my whole pool!!!
@@Beachnative42 3 yrs ago it was $475
My pool filter 3 yrs ago was $370 and today its $475.
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