Help with placement of Intellichlor unit in plumbing. Pics included

[Bobby_m]

In reading the instructions, I understand it's best not to install the cell upstream of the heater due to the increased concentration of chlorine the heater will be exposed to. That makes sense. That takes a lot of options away so I'm at a loss now. I have no clue why the return line leaves the filter at 2" and reduces down underground before it gets to the heating input at 1.5". If I install it just after the heater output, the unit will have to be upside down due to how the flow switch is installed. Now I see that's one downside to a cell unit that has all the diagnostic readouts rather than in the power unit. I guess in a pinch, I can live with it being upside down. Option 2 would be to plumb it into the line where I have the flex hose bypass that used to go through the booster pump for the polaris that we don't use anymore. Any problem with the chlorinated output only returning on that single line? The return from the heater splits to three returns. Any other ideas? I'd appreciate it.

 

[cowboycasey]

Welcome to TFP

SWG's need to be installed after everything else, they create a gas and you don't want that in your filter or heater so your 2 last choices are the best..

Here is the issue you might run into using that bypass, you will have less flow going through your SWG and it may shut off with low flow...

you should have no issues installing it that way, just like this picture... they used a valve to adjust flow but really is not needed unless you have a very powerful pump..

Hope this helps

 

[atttech-2]

Is there room to cut the 1.5 elbow on the heater output just before the pipe goes vertical down to the ground and go horizontal for the cell? You can then go vertical and T off to feed the returns and old Polaris port. My picture editing skills are not as good as yours

 

[Bobby_m]

Welcome to TFP

SWG's need to be installed after everything else, they create a gas and you don't want that in your filter or heater so your 2 last choices are the best..

Here is the issue you might run into using that bypass, you will have less flow going through your SWG and it may shut off with low flow...

you should have no issues installing it that way, just like this picture... they used a valve to adjust flow but really is not needed unless you have a very powerful pump..

Hope this helps

The line coming out of the heater has that tee where it reduces down to 1/2" flex tube to hit the booster pump but then it opens back up to 1.5" to go back to the pool. If I were to use this branch, I'd cut out all the reductions and use the full 1.5" PVC. In that case the pressure from the pump will split, one leg travels about 15 feet to the pool and then branches off to three return ports. The other leg goes through the SWG and goes 1.5" PVC all the way to the pool to one return port. I think about half of the total water would run through the SWG if I go this route.

 

[Bobby_m]

Is there room to cut the 1.5 elbow on the heater output just before the pipe goes vertical down to the ground and go horizontal for the cell? You can then go vertical and T off to feed the returns and old Polaris port. My picture editing skills are not as good as yours


View attachment 47986

Thanks
atttech-2 this is an option I hadn't been able to visualize. I think it solves my problem so I'm probably going to do it that way. One other idea I had and I wanted to see if you had any pros and cons for is the following picture. Tee off the main 2" coming from the filter, hit the SWG then immediately reduce down to 1.5" to meet up with that dedicated polaris return. The existing heater loop and return to the three split off returns would remain untouched. I think the only downside to this would be that about half the water would flow through the SWG. The other issue is that I would have to reach over the SWG to reach the skimmer box, but it's only an occasional thing. Feedback? Which way is better?

 

[cowboycasey]

that would work just fine with a 3 way valve you could adjust how much went to your SWG and how much goes through your heater, just so you know your heater also has a minimum flow rate so when using it they both may need adjusted ...

 

[atttech-2]

If you have a 1 or 2 speed pump I would say do whichever you think will work best for how you view / access the equipment. However you have a VS pump you want as much of the flow going to the cell as you can so that you can use the lower speeds and still keep the cell form going into a low flow alarm. I saw a post not too long ago where someone with a VS pump was having to run it as if it were a 2-speed to keep the cell happy kind of a bummer after spending the extra money on a nice pump.

 

[Bobby_m]

I finally figured out that the flow sensor in the IC40 can be spun around 180 degrees so I was able to neatly tuck it in on that vertical return pipe coming out of the heater. I also hard piped the jumper to that other return that the booster pump used to use. Thank you for engaging with me on this project. I really appreciate it especially since I'm a noob on the forum.