A method for operating an electrochemical stack (10) comprising a plurality of electrochemical cells (1), each
cell having an
anode compartment (2) with an
anode electrode (6) and a
cathode compartment (3) with a
cathode electrode (7), wherein the
anode compartment (2) and the
cathode compartment (3) are separated from each other by a
semipermeable membrane (8). An electrical
voltage is present between the anode
electrode (6) and the
cathode electrode (7) during operation, with the electrochemical cells (1) being connected in series. A
cell voltage monitoring unit (17) is connected to the electrochemical cells (1). The method is characterized by - Measuring electrical voltages U i using the
cell voltage monitoring system (17) of n electrochemical cells connected in series, where n is greater than or equal to 2, - Comparing the measured voltages U i with a maximum voltage U exp,nand a minimum voltage U min,n , where the maximum voltage U exp,n n times the maximum possible
cell voltage of a single
electrochemical cell U exp is and U min,n the (n-1) times the maximum possible
cell voltage of a single cell (1) plus a lower
voltage limit U Limit , where U Limit the smallest
cell voltage down to which operation of a single
electrochemical cell (1) is to be carried out, - Output an
error message if at least one of the measured voltages U i smaller than U min,n or larger than U exp,n is.