Salt Water Chlorine Generator for New Pool Build

[Toybuilder]

I'm going to post a "rant" in the China Shop one of these days to let you know how we got to this position with our pool. Our original idea was a "Lazy River" with a lagoon in the middle Now that was stressful!!!

[SunnyOptimism]

Morning Sunny! I'm used to doing things manually from my old pool so I'm not so sure about the acid pump. I'm trying not to add too much in that will need maintenance...but will keep some conveniences. Best of both worlds. The SWCG is to make sure we're getting chlorine in the pool. I sometimes work some pretty long hours including weekends and our vacations can last about 2 weeks. That is the only reason we're getting it.

The decision to go not go with the Intellichlor was based on what I've read, and even the builder said it wasn't very reliable and didn't mind the switch. Honest man. There have been some good reviews on the IC40, like yours, but there seemed to be more bad.

We are still getting the 3 year warranty as you mentioned since our pumps, heater, and filter will be from Pentair. Our setup is actually very close to yours, Intelliflo VS, (smaller pump for the waterfeature but I'm still waking up so I can't think off the top of my head), MasterTemp Heater, and TR-140 sand filter. Also, the EasyTouch.

Do you have pics posted of your pool? I'd love to take a look.

IC40 has been working fine....maybe Fortune is just smiling on the foolish

Here's my pool in the morning -

[JimK]

Howdy PoolSean,

Glad to see you’re still around. To start off, our pool will be about 16k gallons with and attached spa with about 850 gallons, and we’re in the Denver metro area. We’ve contacted John at Monarch already so we are familiar with each other.

I’ve pretty much pulled the trigger on the AquaRite but I can still change my mind if you can convince me that Autopilot is better. At this moment, we just need a chlorine generator to give us piece of mind. The pump time will be controlled by the Pentair EasyTouch . The only thing that’s not covered is the salt level but I’m sure I can grab some kind of specific gravity meter to test that or bring a water sample into a pool store.

The prices I found for what the Pool Pilot Digital and the Manifold equivalent to the the AquaRite, and were not from the Autopilot website. That would have put us closer to $2000. Even Amazon would have been more.

Please tell me the difference between Hayward and AutoPilot. Our first pool didn’t have a SWCG so this is all new.

These work well for testing salt level;


http://www.amazon.com/Aquachek-White...lt+test+strips

[JimK]

IC40 has been working fine....maybe Fortune is just smiling on the foolish

Here's my pool in the morning -

Beautiful!

[Toybuilder]

IC40 has been working fine....maybe Fortune is just smiling on the foolish

Here's my pool in the morning -

Awesome! Funny, you may be getting a twin here in Colorado. Our design is very similar except our spa is about 3ft away from the pool and not raised. But the rock waterfall and general shape is almost exact.

[SunnyOptimism]

These work well for testing salt level;


http://www.amazon.com/Aquachek-White...lt+test+strips

I have both test strips and Taylor K-1766 chloride test drops. Taylor drops are more accurate BUT here's the deal - don't get too crazy trying to exactly measure your salt levels, it'll only drive you nuts. Once your PB loads the salt in your pool at startup and assuming the SWCG cell is happy, you only need to test salt levels maybe twice per swim season or after a major (>10%) water exchange. Too many SWG owners get way too crazy trying to figure out their salt levels to the last signigicant digit. The available tests are, at best, +\- 200ppm accurate. If your salt cell says it's happy, then you're good. The whole point of making SWCG practical is for the process to be insensitive to salt concentration over a wide range or else it would be too much of a hassle for the user.

Just my $0.02 opinion.

[JimK]

I have both test strips and Taylor K-1766 chloride test drops. Taylor drops are more accurate BUT here's the deal - don't get too crazy trying to exactly measure your salt levels, it'll only drive you nuts. Once your PB loads the salt in your pool at startup and assuming the SWCG cell is happy, you only need to test salt levels maybe twice per swim season or after a major (>10%) water exchange. Too many SWG owners get way too crazy trying to figure out their salt levels to the last signigicant digit. The available tests are, at best, +\- 200ppm accurate. If your salt cell says it's happy, then you're good. The whole point of making SWCG practical is for the process to be insensitive to salt concentration over a wide range or else it would be too much of a hassle for the user.

Just my $0.02 opinion.

You're right, salt isn't something you have to check often.

One thing to be careful about though, one sign a salt cell is starting to fail is it can give incorrect low salt readings. Some have gone ahead and added salt without verifying level and ended up with way too much salt. If my SWCG reports low salt, I always verify the level before adding.

We get a bit more rain here on the mid Atlantic coast, so I usually have to add salt a few times a year. I usually go through 150# to 200# a year.

I thought about trying the Taylor kit, but the strips seem to be accurate enough and are easier to use. Do you also find this to be the case or are there circumstances where you find the Taylor kit more helpful?

[JimK]

Toybuilder,

Something that's been mentioned but I would like to stress, despite what the pool dealer/store/owners manual might say about using the SWCG, only use it to maintain proper chlorine level. Do not use it to "shock", "super chlorinate", or raise chlorine levels. Use some other form of chlorine for that (plain bleach is most popular here; that's what I use).

Following this advice your salt cell will last longer. I learned this the hard (expensive) way. My first cell, before I found this forum and learned about proper SWCG usage, only lasted 4 seasons. My second cell, using it as recommended here, is in it's 7th season and still working well.

[SunnyOptimism]

You're right, salt isn't something you have to check often.

One thing to be careful about though, one sign a salt cell is starting to fail is it can give incorrect low salt readings. Some have gone ahead and added salt without verifying level and ended up with way too much salt. If my SWCG reports low salt, I always verify the level before adding.

We get a bit more rain here on the mid Atlantic coast, so I usually have to add salt a few times a year. I usually go through 150# to 200# a year.

I thought about trying the Taylor kit, but the strips seem to be accurate enough and are easier to use. Do you also find this to be the case or are there circumstances where you find the Taylor kit more helpful?

Hahahaha....yup, that's my story - had a funny low salt reading and did not properly verify. Wound up over-salting the pool and had to drain 20% of my water. Sending the water company a big check has a way of teaching you a good lesson

Strips always read about 400ppm lower than expected and the salt drops are practically on the money with what my IC40 reports. But salt drops are messy AND I don't like messing around with potassium chromate (hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen). So I only use the drops when I absolutely have to and I use the strips for more routine testing.

[SunnyOptimism]

Toybuilder,

Something that's been mentioned but I would like to stress, despite what the pool dealer/store/owners manual might say about using the SWCG, only use it to maintain proper chlorine level. Do not use it to "shock", "super chlorinate", or raise chlorine levels. Use some other form of chlorine for that (plain bleach is most popular here; that's what I use).

Following this advice your salt cell will last longer. I learned this the hard (expensive) way. My first cell, before I found this forum and learned about proper SWCG usage, only lasted 4 seasons. My second cell, using it as recommended here, is in it's 7th season and still working well.

+1

Excellent post!! Superchlorinating/Boost mode is total sales literature nonsense!!