Swg - 24/7 365?

[Smurfe]

Hello all, I have a vinyl lined 20 by 40 in ground pool. I am getting ready to put a new liner down in a couple weeks or so. I have been very interested in adding a SWG. Even though I am still a little confused about their operations and read some say they are the greatest thing since sliced bread and others seem to have issues with them, I still feel it is the way to go for me.

My main questions is, can the pump run constant? I run my pump 24-7/365. I live in South Louisiana so we have quite an extended swim season. I just run it all constant and the pool has basically been running constant for the 20 plus years it has been in service. Will this be hard on the SG systems? Or am I over analyzing?

I figured I would let the experts give me some guidance and help me make my decision. Thanks in advance for your input.

Smurfe

[BigSplash]

I don't understand why you would waste money running your pump 24/7
but then this is not your question.

You can adjust the chlorine generation from 0% all the way up to 100%. Since you would be running your pump continuesly you would require a smaller % of clorine generation. What this percentage is, is the "Big Guess" it depends on your pools individual circumstances, but will require the most fiddling around with.

Anywho, just do it!! -------->you'll love it promise
(I got mine on E-bay, great price)

[Smurfe]

I don't understand why you would waste money running your pump 24/7
but then this is not your question.

You can adjust the chlorine generation from 0% all the way up to 100%. Since you would be running your pump continuesly you would require a smaller % of clorine generation. What this percentage is, is the "Big Guess" it depends on your pools individual circumstances, but will require the most fiddling around with.

Anywho, just do it!! -------->you'll love it promise
(I got mine on E-bay, great price)

I figured everyone would say "Why you run the pump so much" Well, it's like this. The pool isn't at my house, it is actually at work. We have a private school and it is actually at my wifes Aunt's house which is next door/connected to the school.

We use the pool for swimming lessons and free swim as well as personal use. The bather load varies vastly with the current time being a very heavy load with around 150 kids swimming every day. So, the business pays the electric bill.

But seriously, they had a timer on the pump years ago but found they had numerous issues from the heat and rain in the summer and was always fighting this or that, mostly algae. They say since they run it 24/7 they had much less water problems. I dunno, they want it to run like that so I do.

I have been caring for the pool 2 years now and until a few days ago I never had any water issues. We had a hard rain and 100 degree temps and I had a major algae bloom. Took me 4-5 days to get that under control.

I have to say until that, I have not had any issues maintaining the pool. About the only minor prob I have is keeping the chlorine stable when it gets really hot. I test it and clean it daily during our swim lesson season. After that it is a weekly duty that only takes about an hour or two to take care of.

I just really am interested in a better quality water and bather comfort. Plus I would like to get away from always trotting to the supply store for chemicals which is a decent drive from me. Everyone I have talked to seems to really enjoy theirs and are much happier after converting.

[PatL34]

There is no problem running the pump 24/7, but the SWCG will be running continuously as well. You may well have to set a fairly low output rate to maximise the cell life, which could be anywhere from 5 - 8 years, and beyond adding Muriatic Acid to maintain pH, there will be very little maintenance.

The CYA ppm may well be in 60 ppm range, when running at 100 degrees, and the Chlorine will be in the order of 5-10 ppm, based on the "Best Guess" chart. Use bleach to offset a heavy bather load, rather than reduce cell life. SWCGs are basically designed to run at a constant output. All other chemicals are used just like a bleach maintained pool as you have now.

As BigSplash says you can find them on E-bay quite easily. The most popular models are Aquarite, Autopilot, Watermaid, and Ecomatic, with some minor manufacturers.

By all means go for it, and we will help you set it up.

Pat

[gwrace1]

I don't have the bather load that you do but I run my SWG for 12 hours each night with pump on low speed and SWG at 40%. The pool is 26000 gallons with CYA at 35PPM and FC at 2.5 PPM. I had one quart of acid to the pool each week to keep PH under control and that's about it. Water is always crystal clear.