Hi Boys and Girls,

Poor thread title...I know

I am interested in what sort of percentage
of U.S. Pools are SWG?

Here in Australia I estimate that 80-90%
of all new pools are salt.

It is as high in the US?

Take Care,

Michael Silvester

I hear numbers around 70%, but I don't think anyone really knows for sure.

haha

aussies win

main difference between aussies and americans is that americans love their bells and whistles on SWGs

The Ausies started the game long before we did. Our market is just a big larger and generators have caught on. It won't be long before we have more installed units I'll bet.

Scott

Yay...Aussies Win

There is actually a new type of SWG that has
just come out on the market here in australia
and it is based on Magnesium Salts.

I think they are going to replace regular salt
pools...make sure you look out for them.

Take Care,

Michael Silvester

Hi Mate,

I didnt realise we had a celebrity on the board

The guys at AIS build the best chlorinators
on the market in my opinion. Keep up the
awesome work.

Oh, Autochlor and K Chlor

Take Care,

Michael Silvester

What's the purpose of using magnesium salts (and by that, do you mean magnesium chloride) vs. sodium chloride? It will have twice the conductivity on a molar basis (1.2 times the conductivity on a weight basis, assuming anhydrous magnesium chloride), but magnesium chloride is much worse than sodium chloride with respect to salt recrystallization pressure so you have to be even more careful about splash-out creating problems with soft unsealed stones. In the U.S. there tends to be a lot more stonework in the coping and decking around pools.

Yes, Magnesium Chloride based SWG.

A company here has released a product under the
name "MagnaPool" and is starting to market it
very hard through pool stores and builders.

They are converting many community/commercial
pools over to Magnesium Chloride.

I havent looked into it very hard, but they are
marketing it as more healthy for the skin etc etc.

Take Care,

Michael Silvester

i think i heard of that one

don't think it would take off much though, last time i heard they were charging an arm and a leg for their salt, which is kinda like mineral springs, or whatever that rebranding of Goldline is called

Yes, it is quite expensive.

From what I remember, it is about $30 per 10kg bag.
Compared to $6-$9 for 20kg of normal pool salt.

But I think the more people that get it...the more
the price will come down.

It will be interesting to see how it goes?

Take Care,

Michael Silvester

well on the other hand AIS is introducing a unit which doesn't require any salt apart from what's already in the water, so it will be a battle between those 2

I don't think there will be any battle. Being able to generate chlorine at far lower salt levels is a virtually hands-down winner. You get the benefits of automated chlorine generation without the downsides of the higher salt levels.

Give or take what it ends up costing.

Strannik,

What will the salt level have to be
for those new chlorinators?

Mick

I'm not sure about residential range, probably around 200-500ppm (whatever you get in normal water in most places). I'd need to check the exact specs.

Commercial units are already available for sale, and it depends on the range.
The standard units have a range of 500 to 3000 ppm, units suitable for lower salinity are available upon request, and those go as low as 50ppm from memory.

You can view the specs in the newest catalogue: http://www.tdconsulting.com.au/catalogue2010.pdf

Look for Ecoline products. These units already won few awards in Middle East and Australia.

Jason the price tag isn't going to be much higher than conventional units.

For example on a commercial unit which makes 200g/hour you are looking at about $1300 difference in catalogue price (about 10%)

I just bought an Compu chlor here in the U.S....can't wait to give it a try. It is supposedly an Aussie model as well. However, the directions say to keep the salt level at 5000ppm...that can't be right can it???

Dan

That's the standard "Aussie" salt level, so would be right

SO I SHOULD bring my pool water up to 5000ppm????

I just read the owners manual and it says 5500 to 6000 ppm, so I'd have to say go with what the manual says. If you want more verification, give them a call.