Precautions before adding SWG?

[divaofsongs]

Split by moderator from HERE. Please start your own threads for your own questions. Thanks, jblizzle

I know this thread is older but I didn't want to start a new thread for this question so I am hoping someone can help me with this, and, as of today I decided I am going to donate to this site because I have found it to be invaluable to me over the past 2 months as I have had my pool built.

My question.......We are at the end of our pool build, they are putting the interior Ultra Poz finish on either today or tomorrow and filling with water at that time. When we first ordered the pool from the builder, they never asked us if we were going to ever switch to SWG, so I am assuming they built it with traditional chlorine in mind and we will start with traditional chlorine start up by the pool company but my doctor has recommended I use a SWG because I have MS and very sensitive skin, so we ordered the Hayward automation with SWG and Aqua Connect to be installed next week. We can just not use the SWG part of it, but we want to use it because of my medical condition. My concern is that we are having acrylic lace and acrylic faux flagstone put on the concrete in about 2 weeks from now. Will the salt water affect the acrylic coating we put on the concrete? If so, how long will it normally take before we need to have it re-coated due to salt damage? Also, should I request them to put on a certain type of sealer?

I live in AZ and with my solar heater, I will be using the pool year round so if we go with the SWG, we will use it year round. It will only be for me and my husband, no children, and we will rarely, if ever, splash the water around much, lol, so I don't know if that matters at all. I read somewhere that the salt would deteriorate my house and everything, which I find very hard to believe.

Other than the acrylic coating on the concrete, are there any other worries or things I should take into consideration before installing the SWG? We will have concrete decking and landscape rocks in the yard with the pool, no live vegetation at all, typical Phoenix, AZ hard landscaping, for obvious reasons.

 

[PAGirl]

Re: Salt water/chlorine vs just chlorine

I know this thread is older but I didn't want to start a new thread for this question so I am hoping someone can help me with this, and, as of today I decided I am going to donate to this site because I have found it to be invaluable to me over the past 2 months as I have had my pool built.

My question.......We are at the end of our pool build, they are putting the interior Ultra Poz finish on either today or tomorrow and filling with water at that time. When we first ordered the pool from the builder, they never asked us if we were going to ever switch to SWG, so I am assuming they built it with traditional chlorine in mind and we will start with traditional chlorine start up by the pool company but my doctor has recommended I use a SWG because I have MS and very sensitive skin, so we ordered the Hayward automation with SWG and Aqua Connect to be installed next week. We can just not use the SWG part of it, but we want to use it because of my medical condition. My concern is that we are having acrylic lace and acrylic faux flagstone put on the concrete in about 2 weeks from now. Will the salt water affect the acrylic coating we put on the concrete? If so, how long will it normally take before we need to have it re-coated due to salt damage? Also, should I request them to put on a certain type of sealer?

I live in AZ and with my solar heater, I will be using the pool year round so if we go with the SWG, we will use it year round. It will only be for me and my husband, no children, and we will rarely, if ever, splash the water around much, lol, so I don't know if that matters at all. I read somewhere that the salt would deteriorate my house and everything, which I find very hard to believe.

Other than the acrylic coating on the concrete, are there any other worries or things I should take into consideration before installing the SWG? We will have concrete decking and landscape rocks in the yard with the pool, no live vegetation at all, typical Phoenix, AZ hard landscaping, for obvious reasons.

You will get better answers if you go ahead and ask your question is a new thread.

 

[mooveebuff]

I don't know for sure, but I don't think you have to have any worries about the SWG having a negative effect on the acrylic surfaces. I promise you it won't destroy your house or your yard or all that other garbage that gets spewed around out there. I just had my deck refinished with acrylic lace, and I didn't use any special sealers or anything.

One thing for sure....make sure you wait at least 30 days after plaster before adding salt. I waited almost 2 months just to be safe.

The only realistic concerns I've ever heard about using a SWG is if you have any kind of soft natural stone as your coping or on your water features. Even with that, if the stone is properly sealed, I don't think it would be that much of an issue. The other would be backwashing if you have a sand or DE filter. I've read that it can harm vegetation you have planted in the area, but I don't know for sure myself.

I've had my system for about 3 years, and I haven't had any problems as a result of using it. Hopefully someone smarter than me who's had a SWG longer has more feedback for you. Good luck!

 

[jblizzle]

I will say that all the native trees and plants around where all my backwash goes sure do not seem to mind the DE and salt water.

 

[divaofsongs]

I don't know for sure, but I don't think you have to have any worries about the SWG having a negative effect on the acrylic surfaces. I promise you it won't destroy your house or your yard or all that other garbage that gets spewed around out there. I just had my deck refinished with acrylic lace, and I didn't use any special sealers or anything.

One thing for sure....make sure you wait at least 30 days after plaster before adding salt. I waited almost 2 months just to be safe.

The only realistic concerns I've ever heard about using a SWG is if you have any kind of soft natural stone as your coping or on your water features. Even with that, if the stone is properly sealed, I don't think it would be that much of an issue. The other would be backwashing if you have a sand or DE filter. I've read that it can harm vegetation you have planted in the area, but I don't know for sure myself.

I've had my system for about 3 years, and I haven't had any problems as a result of using it. Hopefully someone smarter than me who's had a SWG longer has more feedback for you. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice on waiting a month, I had no idea I had to wait that long. I don't mind waiting, I would rather be safe than sorry so I will likely wait 2 months as well. I am having acrylic faux flagstone on 900 sf of decking in about 3 weeks from now, so that will give it 5 weeks to cure, or whatever it is that acrylic does. I am so naive to pools, I am absolutely clueless, hence the reason I joined this fabulous community. I have learned more in the past month about pools, than I have in my entire life.

I read one article that said the entire back of my house would be destroyed and start to disintegrate. I started thinking, hmmmm, there are over a million SW pools around, I am sure by now I would have seen photos of these disintegrating houses, lol, that would be a sight to behold. Scare tactics only work when one is uneducated about the matter. I chose to research and educate myself before making the decision and I am pretty confident I made the right one, just haven't come across anything yet about the acrylic.

I even emailed my pb and confirmed that the warranty would not be voided by the use of a salt water pool. They said, absolutely not, and I got it by email so I have proof. LOL. From what I understand, about 25% of their pools are salt water with the Hayward automation system included. I believe they use the system I just bought, the AquaPlus, which comes with the salt cell for about $1100 on Amazon. To me it was a no-brainer, automation AND salt water with the salt cell included for $1100? I could not pass it up because it was almost like buying automation and getting salt water system free, or vice versa, since a salt water system is around $1000 and so is automation. I ended up getting the Aqua Connect system as well, this allows us to control all the devices like water feature, pump, lights, etc. with our Smartphone or computer and the pool service company gave me an excellent deal for the AquaPlus system with SWG and Aqua Connect....... $1500, installed! See, no-brainer!

 

[mooveebuff]

I will say that all the native trees and plants around where all my backwash goes sure do not seem to mind the DE and salt water.

I was curious about that. I have a cartridge filter, so I don't backwash, so that was one I couldn't speak to.


@divaofsongs - That is such a fantastic deal! I paid $1,000 just for the salt system/installation and no automation. Definitely a no-brainer!

 

[kimkats]

diva is going to all of our "shopper" when we need or want something. We will just tell her what it is and turn her loose! LOL

Kim:cat:

 

[bmoreswim]

Yeah, Kim is the enabler and Diva the shopper.