Been awhile, but I'm back...

[steveinaz]

Had a 2+ year break, as the new place had no pool. We're now back on the market and will either buy a house w/pool or have one built again. Those last 2 summers were HOT.

Good to be back!

[Watermom]

Hi, Steve! I had been wondering where you were. In fact, I sent you an email last summer to check on you but apparently didn't have the correct email address for you. At any rate, glad to see you again! Hope you are doing well.

[steveinaz]

Hey! glad to see you doing well. We bought a house in 2012, but no pool..ugh. Well, we decided to move back closer to town and after these last 2 BLAZING summers, decided to get back into a pool. We're still waiting on the current house to sell, and then I'll be re-learning everything I forgot! LOL Great to hear from you, and thanks for the warm welcome back.

[SunnyOptimism]

Hi fellow desert-dweller!

When we moved to AZ in 2012 we had no pool the first summer....that quickly changed and we built a pool in 2013. Started the project in June 2013 so we went through two summers without a pool

Anyway, see you around the threads.

[steveinaz]

Hello, and thanks. Looking at your equipment, my last pool also ran a pentair IC40, I really liked it. Much better than the system they built our pool with, which consequently went out of business--so I replaced it with the pentair. I'll likely go the same route in the next house; once you go SWCG, you never go back...LOL!

[SunnyOptimism]

Hello, and thanks. Looking at your equipment, my last pool also ran a pentair IC40, I really liked it. Much better than the system they built our pool with, which consequently went out of business--so I replaced it with the pentair. I'll likely go the same route in the next house; once you go SWCG, you never go back...LOL!

Yeah, it's nice to have automation. However, had I had more pool equipment awareness when the pool was built, I might have opted for a Cl stenner pump instead of the SWCG. I think the TCO and ROI for a Stenner is less and they are fairly simple to setup and operate. As well, its a bit easier to calculate how much FC you are delivering to your pool while for a SWCG you have to go by the manufacturers stated Cl gas output which is always in an idealized, lab-scale value and not typically close to real-life.

I do want to get an IntelliPH system (not IntelliChem) so I can automate acid additions as well. The downside of the SWCG is that you have to constantly fight the rising pH and so you almost have to have an acid injector or else be tied to daily acid additions.

If you do build a pool, consider/compare a Stenner setup as opposed to an SWCG. My pool builder probably would have poo-poo'd the Stenner idea and tried desperately to talk me out of it as he is a certified Pentair guy so he gets extra $$$ from Pentair when he sells equipment bundles. Also, if you're in the Tucson area, my PB is/was and excellent guy. Definitely not the cheapest by a long shot (if you want cheap, go to Patio Pools), but he builds beautiful pools.

[JimK]

......The downside of the SWCG is that you have to constantly fight the rising pH and so you almost have to have an acid injector or else be tied to daily acid additions....

Since adjusting my TA down a bit (about 80) a couple years ago I haven't had to add any acid at all.

[SunnyOptimism]

Since adjusting my TA down a bit (about 80) a couple years ago I haven't had to add any acid at all.

Hey JimK!

I think for us it's the difference between vinyl and plaster. Vinyl pools tend to have pH drifts that are acidic whereas plaster pools drift alkaline. Therefore the alkaline drift caused by an SWCG can be balanced by the acidic drift in vinyl. For plaster that typically drifts alkaline, it's a compounding problem. I also get a lot of alkaline drift due to my rock waterfall and spa spillway running so it adds to the acid demand.

But I do agree that it helps to be on the lower side for TA to make the acid additions more reasonable. I also added 50ppm borates which helped to slow the pH rise but that also creates the need for larger acid additions to lower the pH. My pH is manageable but I just wanted to throw out the idea that SWCG's are not cost-free in terms of water balance.

[JimK]

Hey JimK!

I think for us it's the difference between vinyl and plaster. Vinyl pools tend to have pH drifts that are acidic whereas plaster pools drift alkaline. Therefore the alkaline drift caused by an SWCG can be balanced by the acidic drift in vinyl. For plaster that typically drifts alkaline, it's a compounding problem. I also get a lot of alkaline drift due to my rock waterfall and spa spillway running so it adds to the acid demand.

But I do agree that it helps to be on the lower side for TA to make the acid additions more reasonable. I also added 50ppm borates which helped to slow the pH rise but that also creates the need for larger acid additions to lower the pH. My pH is manageable but I just wanted to throw out the idea that SWCG's are not cost-free in terms of water balance.

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the clarification.

[steveinaz]

With my SWCG I typically had to add about 3/4 cup of muriatic each Saturday. This was for a 13k gallon/plaster pool with waterfall. No biggie.