When do you run the SWG?

[mrodgers]

Still digging and waiting for pool to arrive, so just trying to read and gather as much info as I can before the pool is ready to start up....

I have the common model Intex that I usually see listed, CS8110? It's the one with the copper ionizer (I will disconnect.) One thing I can't find is when you run the SWG, during swimming or over night.

I have read that sometimes people state they run filters at night and not when people are swimming. We've always ran them while swimming with the smaller pools.

I at first thought you wanted to run the SWG over night and not when people are swimming. Then I got to thinking that it would be better to be producing chlorine during the times it is being used up as in when the sun is hitting the pool or there are people in the water.

A coworker mildly researching SWG said he read that you shouldn't be running the SWG when people are in the water.


One other question which I think I know the answer to, but want to be sure. I assume the SWG system and the pump/filtering system are plugged in separately, ie, you do not plug the filter/pump into the SWG and it is controlled by the SWG. If that is correct, then I need a timer as the SWG will automatically run again 24 hours after the first time it is run? If timer is needed as I assume, then amps for a pump would probably be great enough for a heavier duty timer and not a cheap one you can get at Walmart? The filter pump will be the Intex 2650gph cartridge, but next year we would upgrade to a sand filter.


One non-SWG question is, since Wifey works at Lowes and can pick the stuff up while working, can anyone tell me how many legs the Intex 22' round pool has so we can pick up some pavers for under the legs? I want to get everything ready since it isn't feasible to be just running around the corner to get this or that when you live an hour away in the middle of nowhere from anything and everything.

Thanks again folks!

 

[JasonLion]

It is purely a safety issue and depends on what brand/model of equipment you have. Nearly all of the Intex equipment I have seen is meant to be turned off while people are swimming. Check your product manuals. All of the higher end products have all of the safety features required to allow them to be left on while people are swimming, but most of the Intex stuff does not.

 

[mrodgers]

Thank you once again JasonLion.

As to now my question being what safety factor? (electrical/water or the chlorination process itself..) After adjusting my google search terms, I found another thread here from exactly a year ago which asks this question. It seems it is the safety aspect of electrical/water combination.

So, beings that I would be wiring up a GFCI outlet sometime this week, would it still be unsafe to use while being in the pool if plugged into a GFCI outlet? I see so many videos of DIY fountains on Intex pools using Intex SWG and pump/filters, it seems that many people either don't heed the warning or it is deemed safe when using a GFCI outlet. Else, what would be the use of putting in a DIY fountain if the kids can't be in the pool when it's running .

Hmm, for the record, I've never thought of it as one would assume a filter for a swimming pool manufactured by the very people who manufacture swimming pools and we have always ran the various sized filters on various sized smaller pools since the kids were little. Been running an Intex pool with the cartridge filter/pumps for about 10 years now, all running while we/kids were in the pool even while plugged into a normal but old covered outlet (non-GFCI) mounted on the wall at the back porch door..

I will be wiring up a new GFCI outlet though sometime this week before the pool gets here.

 

[JasonLion]

It isn't clear to me why Intex doesn't always get the safety certification required, it might be some technical reason or it might simply be the cost of getting all their different models certified. Some of their equipment has the certification, so obviously they know how to do things right. If there is some feature required for certification actually missing there is a risk, but it is not necessarily a large risk.