i live in Sacramento, CA. When I winterize, should I remove my SWG(IC40) clean it and store it and put a pass thru/dummy cell in or just leave it in place and turn it off. Either way I know I need to add bleach, since the SWG won't make chlorine when it gets too cold.

Pentair recommends removing the cell. None the less, as long as the plumbing has been drained, many people leave the cell in place without problems.

The pool is 3 years old and I've left the SWG in place in the past. Just wan't sure I was inadvertantely damaging the cell by leaving it in. Thanks for the advice!

I'm just east of Sac and the solar company that installed my swg recommended removing it, storing it and using Tablets or liquid chlorine over the winter.

Are you draining in Sacramento? or just setting the pool up for winter filtering?

I ordered a dummy cell from amazon for about $40 delivered and plan to install it once the water temp drops below 60 which might be this weekend given the weather we just had.

I'll be the guinea pig for leaving it in full-time. I winterize my pool but continue running the pump for the hot tub and didn't take it out last winter, but so far, no problems with the unit. It looks as clean as it was when it was new and I haven't yet had to acid wash it. I looked at my unit just last week and turned it off and starting to use pucks until I close the pool in about 3 weeks.

I don't drain the pool and have not removed the swg the past 3 years. I'll just turn it off when the temp gets to the point where it can't make chlorine, which is soon! Hard to believe I was swimming last week, alas it was the last time this year! My solar will not overcome the nightime low temps.