Quote Originally Posted by CarlD View Post
No way the math works out to save me money versus daily checking and using LC. The initial cost of the SWCG would buy me 10 years of chlorine--15 if I had had someone else install it. Plus a new cell every 5 years costs about the same as 5 years of LC, so it's NOT a cost savings in any way, shape or form.

But, I'm going to be away for a couple of weeks at a time this summer and I won't always have someone to add half a gallon of LC every two days, so this gives me a MUCH easier to maintain pool when I cannot give it daily attention.
While my water is great (FC: 12.5, pH: 7.3, T/A:70, CH: 150, CYA: 70) I still have to work out the optimal settings..otherwise it's going great!
Agreed. . I was mearly pointing out that the cost of salt, over time, isn't a big factor. As you said, the biggies are the cost of the system and the cells.

The pool stores like to say you will save money, but as you pointed out its not true. For me, having a SWCG is about convenience (I like the way the salt water feels as well, but I guess you could do the same with a traditionally chlorinated pool).