Intex Salt System on an inground pool?

[regardie]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Thanks for the forum, I have been using the BBB system for a few years now and it is working out quite well.

I have a 14000-15000 gallon comma shaped in ground pool with painted concrete sides that has to be over 40 years old. The original owner of the house put the pool in for the kids who were on the diving team at school, basically a 10 foot deep circle big enough to support a diving board in the 60's. The walls are 12 or more inches thick, about the same as the coping pieces. Currently running a Hayward DE filter and pump.

My question has to do with the Intex Salt System (Now with Copper Ions!). I have seen where some people have successfully removed the copper bars since the copper doesn't really sanitize and can lead to staining. My local BJ's now has the systems on sale for $99 and they claim to be good for up to 14000 gallons. Would this be a worthwhile purchase if I wanted to go salt this season?

Regardie

[CarlD]

You'd be running it all the time and it would soon fail. You want to run an SWCG on a pool bigger than its maximum capacity.....but if you can afford to gamble with $100, plus salt (which will make your water feel softer even if the SWCG fails), try it and let us find out how it works for you. For all we know, it may be a smashing success.

[regardie]

Sorry to bump this again, but it is almost July and the cover is still on. Hopefully, next week sometime. So the stock Intex is not big enough, how much capacity do I really need? Anybody have a favorite SWCG or are they pretty much the same?

[PoolDoc]

The consensus is that the AutoPilot Pool Pilot or Digital Nano series, or the Hayward AquaRite / Goldline systems are preferable.

You should get the largest unit you can afford and turn it down, since SWCG life is a direct function of 'ON' time. On average, a unit that operates 1000 hours per year will last 1/2 as long as unit that operates 500 hours per year, but system cost does NOT double, as output doubles.

[regardie]

Bumping my really old thread.

So I never got around to doing anything about this and with a summer at home starting up, I had a few more questions.

So the Intex is definitely a no go. What about the smaller Hayward's like the Salt & swim 3C which says it's good for inground pools up to 30,000 gallons, which I believe would double the size of my pool.
There doesn't seem to be much info here about them.

Thoughts anyone?