After my initial venture into firing the pool guy and using BBB this year (only 1 little algae outbreak due to my laziness) I now have a change on the horizon. Next week I am moving to a different home that has a SWCG pool.

I've been reading here on TFP and it sounds like I will prefer SWCG to lugging 10 gallon jugs of bleach every time I go to the grocery store. Also it sounds like I just might prefer a little more pH stability (will definitely be looking to add borates sometime soon).

Is there a downside? So far it just sounds like I get to do less work. Is that correct?

What about the other stuff that I do, like skimmers/backwash/brush pool? Same schedule or do I handle differently? Also, do I need any other test kit? I have the Leslie's Complete FAS-DPD K2006 kit now.

Any newby advice would be well appreciated. I learned enough this year to muddle through BBB, but I am defintiely looking forward to breaking my bleach habit. Sorry I don't have new pool specifics. I will get them within the next week and post again.

Best news is that I think I get to fire another pool guy. Thanks.

Howard

The primary "down side" to getting an SWG is the up front costs. Also, if you don't balance your levels correctly the PH can go up annoyingly quickly with a SWG. Most people don't have any problems and love their SWGs.

You still need to do all the normal things, clean skimmers, backwash, brush, test levels. The SWG only takes care of adding chlorine, and even there you need to check occasionally to make sure it is adding the correct amount of chlorine.

I concur with JL you may still have to add bleach if you have a large bather load or pets in the pool. I've got a SWCG and very happy with it.

I don't have a SWG but I do observe here that there are things you need to know (error codes) and things that may need cleaning (cell, flow sensor). Do try to find out how old the cell is, that can be important as they do have a lifespan and are pricey to replace at the end of 3-5 yrs.

As I understand it, the only thing that has changed is that you won't be manually adding chlorine. You still need to test, dose, brush, and vacuum regularly. Every so often you'll be lugging 40 lb bags of salt instead of cases of bleach, but nowhere near as often.

The one downside I just had on my recently installed SWG is I noticed my ladder was rusting in spots.

I'm not sure if this was due to the salt in the water or if it was just a cheaper Stainless Steel on the ladder, but I contacted the mfg. and they replaced it under warranty.

I have to say, I love the ease of having the SWG. Once I got my levels in balance and figured out the % to set it at, it was easy and smooth sailing. I didn't have to worry about coming home from work and finding that there was not enough chlorine in the pool from family swimming along w/ a full day of sun.

Couple observations from personal experience on family,friends and my own pool:

1. I have yet to detect any change within 200ppm of salt from initial load after build in 2010(almost one full year of use)
2. Since pH can be fully automatic injection and since MA adds sodium to pool, that may be the reason my levels have remained at close to 4000ppm despite a very heavy rain summer.