Defecting from team Stenner to RJ60+

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Sampo

Sampo

Gold Supporter
Aug 19, 2022
62
Southeast PA
Pool Size
34000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
After hearing from you guys about the endless benefits of SWGs, I decided it was time to get on board: I installed a CircuPool RJ60+ this weekend! My wife jokingly calls TFP “the pool cult” — so I guess this switch was the last inevitable step!

Up until now, I’d been a Stenner guy. For any future readers who are on the fence about that conversion, here were my personal pros and cons:

PRO for SWG:
  • Long term savings. You just can’t beat the $/ppm. Just ask @Newdude (proof here)!
  • Ease of adjustment. I’d discovered that my daily chlorine needs with the Stenner fluctuated more than I had expected. In practice, I ended up FAS-DPD testing at least every other day -- and making occasional small adjustments to the Stenner output. Though not hard, that involved both changing the settings on my wi-fi switch and then [annoyingly] converting the planned “run time” to fractional gallons of bleach (PoolMath really should do that automatically). I’m hoping that the SWG will give me a “sticker” chlorine level -- regardless of clouds or sun. But regardless, future adjustments are now even easier.
  • No more schlepping of bleach (well, at least less schlepping)! Last summer my WalMart ran out... just when I needed to refill the Stenner. With a SWG, I won’t have to worry about monitoring, finding, and hauling fresh bleach. The countless containers in the recycling bin also didn't seem to be so planet friendly.

CON against SWG:
  • The water is definitely salty. Sure, sure, the salinity is way less than the ocean — human tears, and all that. But there is no question that I can taste the salt. I’m still waiting on the critical feedback on this from my wife and kids!
  • Up front cost. This sucks. But the return on investment is a no-brainer.
  • I'm curious to see what happens to my pH trend. Things had finally stabilized this year (I was using way less HCl than last season, probably now that my plaster is fully mature).

The DIY installation went smoothly, except for one hiccup: the two pipes on my pad that I’d eyeballed as parallel were not. So my last two PVC 90s didn’t fit! But once I converted those to four 45s, I got enough play to make the connections (and maybe also reduced the head loss).

I gave myself a “bonus” connection for a Stenner port proximal to the SWG cell -- in case I decide to pump acid in the future. But for now, my existing "bleach Stenner" is still connected distal to the SWG (ready for the cold weather or a SLAM).

For future improvement, I might rethink the power source. For now, my SWG is connected to the "Aux Relay 1” on my Jandy VS pump. That means that I need to run my pump at 1725 RPM or more to keep the relay active and the SWG powered. But that was the easy/safe solution to get started.

Anyway, the “RJ" is running and the hydrogen gas is happily bubbling out of my returns!

"CYA later!"

Sampo

Before vs after pictures below.
Screen Shot 2024-05-06 at 4.35.44 PM.pngScreen Shot 2024-05-06 at 4.35.53 PM.png
 
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Congrats, you will like it. I did the same, stenner, then SWCG. I too kept the stenner and use it in the spring and fall when water temps fall and the SWCG stops working (I close late and open early).

SWCG will not have an impact on pH rise. Manage your TA and your pH rise should be manageable.

PH TA Relationship - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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Ha ha! It’s 3,800 ppm by drops just now. I slightly overshot my target. Though RJ panel claims only 3,200.
 
Sampo said:
After hearing from you guys about the endless benefits of SWGs, I decided it was time to get on board: I installed a CircuPool RJ60+ this weekend! My wife jokingly calls TFP “the pool cult” — so I guess this switch was the last inevitable step!

Up until now, I’d been a Stenner guy. For any future readers who are on the fence about that conversion, here were my personal pros and cons:

PRO for SWG:
  • Long term savings. You just can’t beat the $/ppm. Just ask @Newdude (proof here)!
  • Ease of adjustment. I’d discovered that my daily chlorine needs with the Stenner fluctuated more than I had expected. In practice, I ended up FAS-DPD testing at least every other day -- and making occasional small adjustments to the Stenner output. Though not hard, that involved both changing the settings on my wi-fi switch and then [annoyingly] converting the planned “run time” to fractional gallons of bleach (PoolMath really should do that automatically). I’m hoping that the SWG will give me a “sticker” chlorine level -- regardless of clouds or sun. But regardless, future adjustments are now even easier.
  • No more schlepping of bleach (well, at least less schlepping)! Last summer my WalMart ran out... just when I needed to refill the Stenner. With a SWG, I won’t have to worry about monitoring, finding, and hauling fresh bleach. The countless containers in the recycling bin also didn't seem to be so planet friendly.

CON against SWG:
  • The water is definitely salty. Sure, sure, the salinity is way less than the ocean — human tears, and all that. But there is no question that I can taste the salt. I’m still waiting on the critical feedback on this from my wife and kids!
  • Up front cost. This sucks. But the return on investment is a no-brainer.
  • I'm curious to see what happens to my pH trend. Things had finally stabilized this year (I was using way less HCl than last season, probably now that my plaster is fully mature).

The DIY installation went smoothly, except for one hiccup: the two pipes on my pad that I’d eyeballed as parallel were not. So my last two PVC 90s didn’t fit! But once I converted those to four 45s, I got enough play to make the connections (and maybe also reduced the head loss).

I gave myself a “bonus” connection for a Stenner port proximal to the SWG cell -- in case I decide to pump acid in the future. But for now, my existing "bleach Stenner" is still connected distal to the SWG (ready for the cold weather or a SLAM).

For future improvement, I might rethink the power source. For now, my SWG is connected to the "Aux Relay 1” on my Jandy VS pump. That means that I need to run my pump at 1725 RPM or more to keep the relay active and the SWG powered. But that was the easy/safe solution to get started.

Anyway, the “RJ" is running and the hydrogen gas is happily bubbling out of my returns!

"CYA later!"

Sampo

Before vs after pictures below.
View attachment 570650View attachment 570651
Click to expand...
Nice work although I'd recommend you support the far end of the SWCG install as it looks like a lot hanging unsupported.
 
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Sampo said:
I’m hoping that the SWG will give me a “sticker” chlorine level -- regardless of clouds
Click to expand...
Sorry but it's the same. Today and tomorrow are different, while mostly adhering to the general theme of this point in the seasons daily loss.

But. You set it to match the high loss days and the cloudy days provide wiggle room FC, aka running hot.

You can drive yourself nuts micromanaging it, as it sounds you did with the stenner. Don't look at it as 'too much FC', look at it as 'enough FC for today'. If it's also enough for tomorrow and half the next day, so be it.

I pull the reigns on mine when I see a teen. Sometimes that's a 17. :ROFLMAO: It all depends how closely I was watching.
 
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Sounds good, @Newdude —your advice hasn’t let me down thus far. I’ll let the RJ rip and wait for the sun to burn off anything extra. After all, anything less than SLAM is still safe to swim.
 
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Sampo said:
I’ll let the RJ rip and wait for the sun to burn off anything extra.
Click to expand...
Something happens. Every dang last time. Big storms, unusually high UV days. kids don't get out of the pool for 5 hours at a clip..... there's 2 kinds of kids..... pee-ers and liars.

I caught my cell off 7 or 8 times last year after heavy rains. If it hasn't mixed well when the 12 hour self check happens, it throws a low salt error and doesn't try again for 12 hours. (With mine anyway).

But yeah. The closer you run to minimum, the closer you need to watch it so a little wiggle room is never going to hurt and given enough time, you'll need it one way or the other.
 
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Sampo said:
I like this term way better. SWG seemed so stupid since it doesn’t make salt.
Click to expand...
We've had this debate before and while nobody is wrong, IMO they do it with everything else so it's only fair to do it here too.

A portable generator makes electricity from gasoline or propane and they're commonly referred to as gas generators or propane generators. They generate neither gas or propane. So.
 
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Newdude said:
But yeah. The closer you run to minimum, the closer you need to watch it so a little wiggle room is never going to hurt and given enough time, you'll need it one way or the other.
Click to expand...
I thing that’s the advantage of the SWCG. Since the marginal cost of another ppm is almost free, there’s less pressure against running it a bit “hot”.
 
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Sampo said:
The water is definitely salty. Sure, sure, the salinity is way less than the ocean — human tears, and all that. But there is no question that I can taste the salt. I’m still waiting on the critical feedback on this from my wife and kids!
Click to expand...
You aren't supposed to drink the pool water - especially after the kids have been in for a while. :poke:
Seriously, an adult beverage pool-side is MUCH better.

What salt test kit are you using? Add it to your signature. Or if you have the TP-Pro Salt, change what's in your signature.
3800 ppm is a bit high. Hopefully with dilution from splash out and any draining do to heavy rains will bring it down to 3000-3200 ppm. Mine is at 2900 ppm right now, generating and there is no salt taste (I don't drink mine but had my wife and grandkids check 😱).
 
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+1. I run 2800 to 3200 when reasonably possible with such a wide variance of the test.

We all *start* to taste it at 3000 over here. Just a little, but it's there. Everyone has different sensitivity though.
 
Newdude said:
+1. I run 2800 to 3200 when reasonably possible with such a wide variance of the test.

We all *start* to taste it at 3000 over here. Just a little, but it's there. Everyone has different sensitivity though.
Click to expand...
When I did a full drain and refill several years back, I tested the salinity - it was over 4000 ppm and I was using liquid chlorine at that time (no SWG). Between my fill water, liquid chlorine and muriatic acid, the salt level had risen that high in four and a half years. Again - no SWG and no salt was added, just what is in the fill water and what is in the liquid chlorine and muriatic acid.
Mind you, I live in the desert southwest, we don't get much rain and have a high evaporation rate.
 
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