What is E.C.O.?

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schertzy82

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May 6, 2012
100
Peoria, IL
I think my Intex SWG is on its last legs. Keeps displaying low salt even though the cell has been cleaned and my salt level is around 3300 ppm. This will be its 5th summer. The cheapest one on Amazon is the newest model and it has Electrocatalytic Oxidation (E.C.O.) What on earth is that? It has its own electrode and cable running to it, just like the copper model has. Here is the manual's description:

"The Electrocatalytic Oxidation is an advanced oxidation process. When direct current is applied to the electrocatalytic electrodes, water will be discharged to generate "hydroxyl radicals." The hydroxyl radical is a powerful oxidant which oxidizes organic contaminants and destroys bacteria and algae. Hydroxyl radicals in combination with free available chlorine provide the strongest and safest pool water sanitation."

Sounds like it's producing some kind of oxidizer, which I thought chlorine did anyway. Are there any downsides to this like copper and ozone have? If I get this model, should I use this fancy new E.C.O or should I unplug the electrode like I did with the copper? Or should I just fork over an extra $15 bucks for the copper model? Any thoughts?
 
You can get a replacement cel for your current unit on the Intex website for $68 plus shipping.
 
I was wondering about the ECO feature also. Based on some searches I did a couple weeks ago when I first saw it, it makes some kind of hydroxyl radicals that are good oxidizers. Hopefully someone who actually knows what they're talking about will come along and fully enlighten us all.


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I'd say it's a marketing trick. ECO is the process of turning salt water into chlorine gas, hydrogen gas and hydroxide. This is the ECO reactions that occurs in an SWG cell -

2 Cl- + 2 H2O. --> Cl2 + H2 + 2 -OH

chloride + water --> chlorine + hydrogen + hydroxide ion (hydroxyl radical)

At one electrode, the chloride ion (as in sodium chloride) is oxidized into chlorine, ie, it's oxidation state is raised from -1 to 0. At the other electrode, water molecules are split into hydrogen and hydroxyl ions. ChemGeek's posts in The Deep End have the more detailed electrochemical reactions in them.

So I'm not sure exactly what Intex is getting at here. Do they actually have two electrodes? Are they coating them differently? Do they still have the Cu electrode? Are they just trying to sound fancy and charge people more? Hard to say just looking at sales literature.


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In the previous post, the negatively charged hydroxide ion (OH-) is not the same as the uncharged hydroxyl radical (OH•). A regular saltwater chlorine generator does not produce many hydroxyl radicals.

If they are using a boron-doped diamond electrode, then it isn't a marketing gimmick and it would produce a larger number of hydroxyl radicals that are strong but short-lived oxidizers. It's fine to leave that electrode installed.

However, I find it surprising that they can offer this at such a low price since such electrodes are pricey (though Pro Aqua from Austria has lower cost electrodes). It could instead be the case that they are using uncoated titanium electrodes that would largely produce oxygen gas and only a limited number of hydroxyl radicals. These uncoated titanium electrodes would also produce a small amount of chlorine, but not nearly as much as the regular titanium electrodes that are coated with ruthenium oxide (or sometimes a mix also with iridium oxide and titanium oxide) that lower the activation energy (overvoltage) for chlorine production.

I'll bet that they aren't really using boron-doped diamond electrodes and are stretching the truth with regard to hydroxyl radicals. If that is the case, then it's not that useful and is just increasing aeration of the water and therefore the rate of pH rise.

This link gives specifications for various Intex systems where the E.C.O. 7110 outputs 5 g/h chlorine (0.26 pounds chlorine per 24 hours) and the E.C.O. 8110 outputs 12 g/h (0.63 pounds chlorine per 24 hours). Since that chlorine output is similar to earlier systems, I don't think their ECO electrode is producing any significant amount of chlorine. I'd leave the electrode in unless we find out with certainty that it is just producing oxygen gas and not significant amounts of hydroxyl radicals.
 
I haven't actually seen it, just pictures online and a description from the online manual. There does appear to be a separate electrode for it, at the outlet end. No mention of copper in the manual, so they must have gotten rid of that and replaced it with the ECO. It does sound like a marketing trick to me, but I'm just wondering if the unit will still output enough chlorine with the ECO unplugged if it's essentially doing the same thing as the cell. Did they perhaps just split the normal cell into two pieces and try to market it as a fancy new technology or something? Strangely, this model is cheaper than the previous one, at least on Amazon it is. Haven't checked Walmart or Target or other stores. Should I just get this model and run it as-is if it's basically the same as a normal SWG cell? I was mainly concerned if the ECO has any negative side effects, like the copper and ozone models do.
 
Ah, thanks chem geek. You just answered my previous questions. Ok it sounds like I can just run it without worrying about the ECO or unplugging it. If the only negative is pH rise, then that's not a big deal. I'm constantly lowering my pH anyway due to my SWG and my water's very high TA.
 

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