Pool Pilot

[DONNIE]

Where do you buy your salt. I noticed Lowes has about 8 different types.

[PatL34]

You need to buy a 99.5% or better granular salt. Do not buy rock salt, as there are too many metal impurities in them.

Pat

[rollo]

I buy the Diamond Crystals from Lowe's. 99.6% and about $4.50 a 40lb. bag. Used to be about $2.50 a bag three years ago when I installed my Pool Pilot.
Think the salt manufacturers are lovin the SWG boom??

[DONNIE]

Does the PoolPilot have temperature limitations. I haven't been able to find anything on their website but I have a friend telling me they are useless below 65 degrees.

Donnie

[Poolsean]

"...they are useless below 65 degrees" Certainly not talking about Pool Pilot. The Automatic Temperature Compensation feature allow Pool Pilot to be the only system that WILL operate under cold water conditions. The reason that we can is that while normal operation is not necessary due to there being less activity for chlorine to kill, cold water operation can deplete the cell life. However, the temp compensation will reduce the output of the Pool Pilot automatically down to 1% when the water temp is approx 55 degress. As it warms up, the Purifier % will also increase, proportionally.

No more need to manually add chlorine when it is colder out and the salt system quits. Again, the Pool Pilot will continue operating.

[DONNIE]

I dont know how you can keep those things on the shelves. Between the AutoPilot website and expert advice on here i'm sold 100%. Thanks all!

Donnie

[gkosin1]

I want to install a new system and I have a 20,000 Gal inground gunite pool about 5 years old. Since 20k gal is the cutoff line do I buy the system that goes up to 40K gallons? I see a few people say to upsize. Why is that?
Thanks
Greg

[Davenj]

gkosin1, the cell runs at a lower power level, which extends the life of the cell. My pool is about the same size "vinyl". I run a 48 cell, if I replace it down the road I might go with a 60 cell. PoolSean can give you a more detailed explaination.

[Poolsean]

No need for my input, you all are correct. Larger cell means longer cell life and in some cases, longer warranty. You do have to be careful with pools less than 10,000 gallons though, as there are some systems that cannot adjust down to handle small volume pools. In which case you do not want to go with the largest cell, but going with the next size higher will benefit you.