Salt Water Chlorine Generator for New Pool Build

[Toybuilder]

Guess I'm going to have to dig a little deeper. The builder isn't familiar with the AutoPilot either, so I may pass on this one. It may be out of my price range anyway if you have to purchase the both the Pool Pilot and the Manifold.

[CarlD]

autopilot.com may be of some help. They have dealers all over.

[Toybuilder]

autopilot.com may be of some help. They have dealers all over.

I just sent an email to them. Apparently they don't have any "authorized dealers" here in Colorado. Can't blame them, I don't think we're is a big pool state. I'll keep searching the internet to see what I can find in the meantime.

[CarlD]

I got mine from a dealer on the Gulf, not in NJ.

[Toybuilder]

I got mine from a dealer on the Gulf, not in NJ.

I will save that for a last resort. I think I'm going to give Autopilot a couple of days to answer. Not in a hurry...at the moment. Out of curiosity, do you get snow/freezing temps where you live? Do you drain everything for winter?

[CarlD]

Oh, yeah. I get about a foot of ice, minimum, on top of my pool water. I drain below my skimmer and the return ports for the winter.

[Toybuilder]

Oh, yeah. I get about a foot of ice, minimum, on top of my pool water. I drain below my skimmer and the return ports for the winter.

The reason I ask is that we requested that our spa be usable year round. I'm just not sure how that's going to be possible with the winters we have. We've had sprinkler pipes crack in early spring. We're planning on enclosing the equipment with a shed or something but I'm not sure that will even work. Hopefully the builder has done this before and I'm just worrying over nothing. Do you know of anyone that has the spa open year round with freezing temps?

At any rate, I did a little more digging on the AutoPilot, and from what I can figure out, a power supply will be necessary, what they’re calling the Pool Pilot Digital or the Soft Touch along with the Manifold. For our setup, the cost will be about $1400 to $1500 (lowest prices I could find). Wee bit out of my league so I think I’m going to go with the Aqua Rite.

Thank you, and JimK, again for all your help. Couple of days and 2 biggies off my list.

On to the next inquiry. Any suggestions on robotic cleaners?

[Poolsean]

Toy, what size pool are you building? Where in Colorado? If we don't have an authorized dealer in your area, I can also work with your builder to get it installed.

[SunnyOptimism]

The reason I ask is that we requested that our spa be usable year round. I'm just not sure how that's going to be possible with the winters we have. We've had sprinkler pipes crack in early spring. We're planning on enclosing the equipment with a shed or something but I'm not sure that will even work. Hopefully the builder has done this before and I'm just worrying over nothing. Do you know of anyone that has the spa open year round with freezing temps?

I live in Tucson, a far warmer climate than yours, so I'll put in my two cent opinion on spa's in winter time - I don't think your request to have a usable spa year-round is feasible in your geographic area. I'm not saying that it can't be done (people use hot tubs in freezing climates all the time) but it depends A LOT on the location of your pool/spa relative to your house as well as how you plan to heat it (gas, electric, etc) and how you're going to winterize your pool relative to the spa.

As far as comfort goes, when the air temp hits the low 40's, going into and out of a heated spa can be difficult. Even if you are fully submerged up to your chin, your head is going to lose a lot of heat and it will be uncomfortable. We have freezing temps down here in the desert and I rarely want to go out to the spa once the air temps are below 55F...it's just more work/effort than I care to expend.

This brings up the other point - energy to heat a spa. 1 BTU is the energy it takes to heat 1 pound of water 1 deg F (water is 8.4 lbs/gallon). I have a 400,000 BTU/hr gas heater and an attached spa of roughly the same volume as yours. In winter, to go from 40F water temps up to 90F (if that's even possible given the surface heat loss) would take 336,000 of BTU's of gas, or about 3.36 Therms (gas cost is typically measured in Therms, 1 therm = 100,000 BTU). Given local gas costs here, that's probably about $10/hr to run the spa. That doesn't even factor in the electrical energy costs of running the pumps, so if you plan to use your spa a lot in the winter, it can cost you quite a bit of money

Finally, winterization - If your spa and pool are connected on the same pump system, it will be hard to winterize your pool (close it) and keep your spa open. You'll need a chlorination method for your spa that doesn't rely on the SWCG because most cells have a cold-water cut off feature and won't run when the water temp is below 50F. Also, most automated pump control systems have an "anti-freeze" setting where the pumps run once the air temp drops close to freezing (my system is set to 38F air temp to kick on the anti-freeze option). Again, this complexity needs to be factored into winterization.

In your area, I probably would have opted for a pool with a separate hot tub or, with a pool/spa combo, then I would just winterize everything. My pool/spa stays running/open all year round because we rarely ever get any surface freezing here and day time temps in southern AZ can go into the 60's easily making winter algae a possibility.

Again, just my opinion. Folks in your area may do pool/spa combos a lot and, hopefully, your PB knows what he's doing....

[Poolsean]

Just re-read this string. Keep in mind that the output of the T15 is equivalent to the AutoPilot RC42 cell. My website shows the MSRP. Don't use that as a comparison for pricing.
If you're around the Denver area, Monarch Pools is an authorized dealer.