Your salt water chlorinator PCB Board or Personal Control Board is the "brain" of your chlorinator. Without it, your salt water chlorinator cannot function. Shop genuine salt water chlorinator PCB Boards for Zodiac, Astral, and More!
The PCB Board of your salt water chlorinator is an electrical circuit or mini computer that stores all of your settings and executes them so that your salt water cells do their job according...
The PCB Board of your salt water chlorinator is an electrical circuit or mini computer that stores all of your settings and executes them so that your salt water cells do their job according to your specifications. Think of it as the brain of your chlorinator, without it, there won’t be anything to regulate the power going to the salt water cells themselves.
Common Causes of Salt Water Chlorinator PCB Damage
Voltage / Electricity Spikes - Lightning strikes nearby can cause power surges that can burn out your salt water chlorinator’s PCB board.
Overheating - Gunked up salt water cells can cause your PCB board to try and “force” power to the cells causing the board to overheat and burn out some parts. So make sure to clean your salt cells regularly.
Corrosion - A crack on your salt water chlorinator’s housing can cause moisture to enter and cause corrosion and damage to your PCB. Moisture and electrical components don’t play very well with each other.
Signs of PCB Damage
No power - The chlorinator is just dead or not powering up. A sure sign that your PCB needs to be replaced or repaired.
Intermittent power / flickering - This can be a loose connection somewhere, but if all connections are secure then your PCB is probably on the way out.
Random Error messages - If you’ve recently cleaned or replaced your salt cell and made sure that your pool’s salt concentrations are in the right levels but your salt water chlorinator still throws back error messages then there’s probably something with your PCB board
Swapping out your PCB for a new one
If you’ve determined that your PCB is damaged and you’ve gotten yourself a replacement board, don’t worry too much, installation is pretty much plug-and-play. All it takes is the removal of a couple of screws and replacing the damaged board with a new one then your salt water chlorinator should be as good as new!
Some brands do not offer replacement PCB boards and will require you to send over your entire salt water chlorinator to be sent in for repairs. If this is the case, then you’ll be looking at weeks, or even months of waiting for repairs to be completed, leaving you with a pool that will have to be manually chlorinated. If your chlorinator is already out of warranty, then we suggest getting a new chlorinator like the Water TechniX Atomic Salt Water Chlorinator instead. Sending an out-of-warranty chlorinator in for repairs can cost as much as getting a brand new chlorinator, and not to mention a lot of time wasted. For older salt water chlorinators, you might be waiting for weeks to get word back from the dealer and only to find out that replacement parts are no longer available.
Tip: Self-Cleaning salt water chlorinators will still need their salt water cells to be cleaned occasionally, although the cleaning process is much simpler and easier than older non-self-cleaning models.
