Hayward's new "budget" in ground chlorinator

[Spensar]

I'm shopping for a salt system and saw they are now offering the"

"Hayward Salt and Swim System for Inground Pools with 6 Month Cell"

The price is $599, which is 40% to 60% cheaper than regular systems, but it looks to be a very false economy if the cell is only good for a 1 here. A "6 month" cell is $199 and it is $249 for a 12 month cell.

This appears to be a sucker 'em in offering, and really not worthy of Hayward, who I have always had a good impression of.

[Wraypau]

I got my Hayward 25k Salt water system for under $900 offline. If you going to pay $600 + another $200 for the cell, I might spend the extra and get a good system. I bought mine from pools4less

[spica]

Yip, sounds like a suckering in scheme to me.

If you are handy at plumbing, I would give the intex system ($170 for electronics and cell) a try. If you then decide that a salt water system is not for you, you've only lost a couple of hundred dollars instead of a thousand. I've read (on another forum) the intex system can generate enough chlorine (1.5lbs running 24hours) for large pools. If you have a really large pool, you can run two of them in parrallel (assuming you have enough flow). You can also plumb the intex system with pvc pipes by buying a pvc electrical fitting and sanding it off a bit. (I've done this on my system).

If you do decide to go this route, keep the following in mind:
1. If you have an inground pool, I'm not sure if the intex generator is officially "approved" for inground pools, but then again this is just for a trial. It is electrically safe though (UL certified with adequate isolation for electrical safety).
2. This is just for a trial. The intex cell (or electronics) might not last as much as higher priced models. I've read of though of owners running on their 5+ seasons.
3. Some units reverse the cell voltage to reduce deposition on the cell electrodes. I'm not sure if the intex does this (I'm sure someone have posted about their experience). If you have high numbers of calcium and minerals you might have to quite frequently clean the cells with an acidic solution.
4. Make sure the amount of produced chlorine will be enough to maintain your pool.
5. The intex system might have a copper "ioniser". If the chlorinator is going to be running for long periods of time, it might be a good thing to disable the ioniser due to risk of high copper levels.

Looking at SWCG, especially from an electrical standpoint, a SWCG is a very, very simple machine. I wouldn't be surprised if they have very high margins on these systems. In my opinion they are way overpriced. Making a system that lasts a long time, is reliable, warranty and customer support obviously adds to the cost, but I'm sure there is a lot of "power pricing" involved because it would be compared to the cost of expensive chemicals.

[waterbear]

If you are handy at plumbing, I would give the intex system ($170 for electronics and cell) a try.

NOT a good idea since all the Intex units now are also copper ionizers. They do not have any systems currently available thst do not introduce copper into the water.

[BigDave]

I would also disagree that these units are electrically safe. The do not follow standard electrical safety practices. The isolation may fail and there is no provosion for this contingency.