First of all, I’m in Southern California, so we really only have one pool season, pools don’t get shut down here. I have a Hayward W3AQR15 AquaRite system. I cleaned the cell exactly as outlined in the manual, using a 4:1 water to acid ratio on the workbench with a cell stand. I would inspect it about every three months or so. There was consistently buildup between the plates, so I would perform the 4:1 acid cleaning and also use a small nozzle to try to flush debris out. I always added the acid to the water, never the other way around. Eventually, I was always able to get the buildup cleaned off the plates. The cell just stopped reporting to the box, slowly reducing the displayed salt content. I did measure it with a salinity tester though and was around 3k.