My dad is interested in SWG for his 13,5000 gal above ground pool. He's had the only pool store in the area taking care of his pool, and it's been a disaster. I was discussing BBB with him, as well as SWG since they occaisonally take short trips, and he likes the idea.

I was doing some research and narrowed it down to the Aquatrol by Hayward and the Cubby by autopilot. The cubby looks to be 20-30% more expensive without any of the Hayward features (I think, the pdf link on autopilot's site isn't pulling up the literature) and the aquatrol has 2 more years of warranty.

The aquatrol says it's specifically designed for above ground pools but handles up to 18,000 gal of water. They have both a standard in line model and one that fits the return jet, which is about $60 cheaper for some reason.

Anyone have any experience with these models? Heard anything bad about them? He's about to fire the pool store as soon as they get his not closed correctly opened up disasterously mess cleared up.

One thing to consider is that if you were to go with the Cubby, you would have a service rep right here in the forum (PoolSean). Just a thought as I don't even have any of Autopilot's products, but all the good things everyone says about PoolSean and the help I've personally seen him give makes me wish I owned one of their products.

ktdave, I agree whole heartedly, I've read sean's posts for a few years now, and he's consistently helpful and gracious.

It just seems that for smaller pools his company just doesn't really have a good match. I wish they did, and would be happy to hear I am wrong.

We sell many of the AutoPilot Digital SC-36 units to customers with pools well under 20,000 gallons. It's the same as using a 40,000 gallon system with 30,000 gallon pool. It's always better to have more capacity...

Josh

Not trying to be difficult or argumentative, but at almost twice the price I don't see the benefit.

Hopefully poolsean can give me the scoop on the cubby and I'm misinterpretting it's features, or lack there of.

Here's another one to throw in the mix-

http://www.smartpool.com/website/recwat ... /works.htm

Any reason it shouldn't be considered? Says it treats up to 18,000 gal, produces 5 ounces of pure chlorine daily, which if my math is right should equal 83.3 oz of 6% ultra, right?

I am skeptical of the ChlorEase. I don't see how it could get enough water circulation. If it does produce enough chlorine I would expect it to get too concentrated around the portions of the liner near the unit, particuarly since they appear to say that you can't hook it up to the pump timer.

Their website says to place it next to your return, to increase circulation. I read the manual pdf and it says that you can hook it up to a timer, provided it can do 6v or something. They also seem to have a new model that is programable which might make the timer issue a moot point.

I've emailed them for clarification.

Rangeball,

The Cubby is an older model that we designed to be a very basic model. Across the board, our systems have always been the most expensive units available. Naturally, my opinion is that we're worth it.
The Cubby has simple features, no bells and whistles. The output dial determines how much chlorine it will produce. Then there's either a solid green light (unit powered up), flashing green light (cell energized), or flashing red light (service issue, error determine by the number of flashes the red light shows in sequence).

Josh is correct too, we've sold many Digitals with SC-36 cells to smaller volume pools. Although yours is an above ground pool, there really is no difference between sanitizing an in ground pool from an above ground pool.
18,000 gallons is 18,000 gallons. The salt system should not be any different, other than what you want for "bells and whistles".
Less money would be the Soft Touch unit, with the SC-36 cell.

(ps - thanks Dave... your checks in the mail)

Rangeball,

The Cubby is an older model that we designed to be a very basic model. Across the board, our systems have always been the most expensive units available. Naturally, my opinion is that we're worth it.
The Cubby has simple features, no bells and whistles. The output dial determines how much chlorine it will produce. Then there's either a solid green light (unit powered up), flashing green light (cell energized), or flashing red light (service issue, error determine by the number of flashes the red light shows in sequence).

Josh is correct too, we've sold many Digitals with SC-36 cells to smaller volume pools. Although yours is an above ground pool, there really is no difference between sanitizing an in ground pool from an above ground pool.
18,000 gallons is 18,000 gallons. The salt system should not be any different, other than what you want for "bells and whistles".
Less money would be the Soft Touch unit, with the SC-36 cell.

(ps - thanks Dave... your checks in the mail)

Sean, thanks for responding. I'll pass the info along to my dad, as it's his pool and he'll ultimately have to make the final decision and payment

I agree you get what you pay for, and even though the chlorease ultra (the new one with the timer program) has a 3 year warranty, it will be his battle to fight.

If nothing else, if I can get him away from the pool store, he'll come out way ahead.

Thanks all

Did somebody say something about a check?