I don't understand people who don't get SWGs

[poolnoobgrandma]

We just returned from 6 weeks away. pH is a little high, FC is perfect, CC 0.
I have two friends who each did a very expensive pool renovation, and each didn't add a SWG to their setup. They pay a service. One friend said she isn't swimming yet, because her previous service guy was AWOL, and the new people "shocked the pool and I can't go swimming for 4-5 days." They both said the SWG was too much money.
I just shake my head.

 

[Texas Splash]

I just shake my head.

It can be mind boggling, but to each their own I guess. At least you learned your lesson.

 

[markayash]

We just returned from 6 weeks away. pH is a little high, FC is perfect, CC 0.
I have two friends who each did a very expensive pool renovation, and each didn't add a SWG to their setup. They pay a service. One friend said she isn't swimming yet, because her previous service guy was AWOL, and the new people "shocked the pool and I can't go swimming for 4-5 days." They both said the SWG was too much money.
I just shake my head.

I debated hiring a “ pool guy” but when i checked they around $225 a month plus chemicals. I was lucky and got my Edge40 for around $850 so easy sell. Paid for itself in 4 months.
Like you we are sometimes gone for 2 or 3 weeks and use to worry, not any more.

 

[jamesey]

 

[an1vrsy]

In ’99 we had our first pool built, Pentair equipment, single speed pump maybe it was a 2 speed. Neighbors all came over when finished and we had a pool party. Great pool party. I thought I knew it all. Initially I was a chlorine jug lugger, pool store convinced me an in line puck feeder would serve me well. I added it, $$$.

My neighbor, keep up with the jones‘ type neighbor, wants to put in a pool. Shows me all his marketing brochures, he wants to add something called a salt water generator. I said what’s that? Not for me, chlorine pool for me. (I didn’t know it all). Every 5 years I’d drain and fill. Pool store said, your water is old, you need to drain it. I didn’t have a test kit, relied on pool store advice, $$$.

Fast forward to 2018, after another drain and fill for “old“ water and terrible water line scale. I researched what pool chems for a new fill are needed and discovered TFP. Bought a test kit and became a chlorine jug lugger again. Sold that house. Moved to Las Vegas, built a pool with a SWG.

Las Vegas neighbors, yes neighbors, puts in pools. All asked me questions, one even did an owner build. Not one of them put in SWG, all puck feeders.

 

[generessler]

It's the same way of thinking that goes into buying on credit and making minimum payments. Paying up front to get the best deal happens only in an alternate universe.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

20+ years ago we got our first AG pool, I knew nothing except the pH needed to be checked, you need stabilizer and obviously needed chlorine. I used cal hypo mostly and had an IG puck feeder as well. Pool care was easy but then someone told me about bleach. So I did some internet research and found the original site that spoke of the BBB method and learned a lot. Back then a SWG wasn't really a thing especially for an AG pool. I switched to bleach since it was cheaper than pool store chlorine and used the Trichlor feeder for vacations.

Time passes and I had the routine down pat and it was easy to maintain. My last pool gets taken down and 3 years goes by and we decide to get another pool. TFP is now the dominant site for the BBB method plus SWG. I planned on the same old method I used because it worked very well but now bleach (actually all pool chemicals) is much more expensive and when I added up approximately how much it would cost me in chemicals and now SWG is a viable option for AG pools I went with it. The fact that I only have to worry about liquid chlorine on opening and SLAMing if needed is wonderful. What was easy hopefully just got way easier! I also don't have to worry about going on vacation and coming back to a green pool.

People get used to things and stick with it to be on autopilot. The TFP method is not the norm especially when people go to the "experts" and are given the "correct" info. I once went to a pool store because my CYA was at 100 and asked how to reduce it and was told that that's where it should be. Luckily I knew better but a lot of people don't.

 

[dfwnoob]

Pool care wasn't hard for me; I already work from home and thanks to my fiance's career at the time, we rarely took long vacations so the jug lugging wasn't that big of deal for me. I started out of the gate with the TFP method, so adding a little chlorine and acid here and there didn't bother me too much.

Then came the first week long vacation we took, and having to scramble to buy a floater and expensive chlorine tabs in the midst of a supply chain shortage. Then came the ridiculously high and ever-increasing electrical costs for my single speed 2 HP pump. Then came the $7-10/gal liquid chlorine. Economic factors more than anything else forced my hand into a VSP and SWCG. The benefits of being able to take vacations and not jug lug are just additional perks to me.

That said, I have no desire to return to daily LC additions.

 

[Newdude]

I'm as big of a fan of SWG there is, but evenso, that doesn't make the funds available.

I'm currently dealing with a similar quandary with an inefficient furnace and leaky windows. Even with interst on a loan, the ROI is there. That sound logic, however, doesn't make it any easier to pull the trigger when the existing furnace and windows function to their abilities. It's a much larger scale than a SWG, but the concept is the same. Do we have stuff that's more important than saving heating costs long term, say, a new vehicle to replace the 10 year old one needing expensive repairs as everything fails at 175k miles, or should we just bite the bullet on the windows/furnace ?

Or can I not afford the next SWG after a new car, windows and/or furnace ?

Whattayagonnado?

 

[SJPoe]

There is also an upfront cost involved. Not everyone has a couple spare grand laying around
I have a single-speed pump, which I don't really want to run all day (its noisy and old). If I did run it all day, it would cost me another $100/mo just for the pump.
Liquid Chlorine for me last year was around $3.50/gal. This year its about $4.50.
I use probably 1 gallon every other day, so I'm lookin at maybe 4 gallons max a week across the season.
5 month season, call it 80 gallons = $400 at the high end. Call it $600 for hassle factor.
A new SWG ($1500) + a new pump ($1500) + installation ($1000 (lol - recent thread !) = $4000.
Even if I get a budget pump and do the work myself, it's $2000
If I skipped the pump, and paid the extra $100/month, its a wash...and worse after the first season
So my best case 'payoff ' realistically 4 seasons
If I go for the 'better' pump and I wasn't handy...7+, and I'd probably need to replace the cell at least once, so probably closer to 9..

Now, I'm looking at doing it more because I'm sick of lugging jugs of Chorine around, although that's close to the only exercise I get these days. I expect the local price of LC is going to keep going up, and it looks like there are some VSP pump options that are much more reasonable price wise, but on purely financial basis, I can absolutely see why some people choose not to

edited : because I didn't calculate my current pump cost properly, and now my argument to upgrade the pump with my wife just became a whole lot more compelling

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I'm as big of a fan of SWG there is, but evenso, that doesn't make the funds available.

I'm currently dealing with a similar quandary with an inefficient furnace and leaky windows. Even with interst on a loan, the ROI is there. That sound logic, however, doesn't make it any easier to pull the trigger when the existing furnace and windows function to their abilities. It's a much larger scale than a SWG, but the concept is the same. Do we have stuff that's more important than saving heating costs long term, say, a new vehicle to replace the 10 year old one needing expensive repairs as everything fails at 175k miles, or should we just bite the bullet on the windows/furnace ?

Or can I not afford the next SWG after a new car, windows and/or furnace ?

Whattayagonnado?

Really think about not going with too high tech furnace and AC. Getting a single stage high efficiency furnace and AC is probably your best bet. Spending the money on 2 stage or multistage may not pan out the way they want you to believe it will. Also, having a system that just turns on/off will be much simpler to troubleshoot and fix when the time comes.

My single stage furnace has 2 pressures and one (?) went bad and the tech was confused, personally I think he wasn't a good tech but that's another discussion. He replaced both. I had the blower motor go bad, called another company and they were able to get it running without a special motor. And my circuit board went bad and I was able to replace it. I would have done the other 2 repairs but it was in the winter and we needed heat, may not have been able to get the furnace repaired as quickly with a higher end furnace.

As far as windows, I replaced mine with vinyl new construction windows but would recommend going with Anderson or Pella as I think they're constructed better. I haven't had any issues in the 12-15 years we've had them but what happens latter on. I will say the vinyl windows at the time were much cheaper than the other 2 I mentioned.

 

[gkw4815]

I just discovered a chlorine supplier in the Houston area who sells LC for $3/gallon. A bit of a trek from my house, but if I were comparing vs ~$3k for a professionally-installed SWG, it would've been tough to take the plunge.

Having said that - I installed my SWG myself, total cost around $1200, the ROI is much better and I'm loving the convenience.

My pool was originally built with a SWG in the mid-90s, the previous owners removed it when it failed (!) and switched to tablets. Plumbing for the new SWG was a piece of cake as there was already a "loop" in place to accommodate a cell.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I just discovered a chlorine supplier in the Houston area who sells LC for $3/gallon. A bit of a trek from my house, but if I were comparing vs ~$3k for a professionally-installed SWG, it would've been tough to take the plunge.

Having said that - I installed my SWG myself, total cost around $1200, the ROI is much better and I'm loving the convenience.

My pool was originally built with a SWG in the mid-90s, the previous owners removed it when it failed (!) and switched to tablets. Plumbing for the new SWG was a piece of cake as there was already a "loop" in place to accommodate a cell.

For me the cost of a SWG vs chlorine last year was the factor to get the SWG. My wife questioned why are we going the SWG route and it was mostly financial and a little to make life easier. When regular bleach was $2.50 a gallon it was OK but at over $5 a gallon that's something else. Add in the cost of tricolor tabs for the week or so we go on vacation was (is?) crazy high. With bleach being expensive and now having additives in them, it's hard to get plain old bleach. I notice the Walmart by me starts phasing out liquid chlorine by mid summer, Home Depot and Lowes stores it outside so bleach was my go to. I never used pool chlorine back then since bleach was readily available.

A big plus of having a SWG is not having 4 to 6 gallons of bleach sitting around waiting to be used. But while we were doing it, it wasn't that big of a deal.

As far as cost of the SWG, yeah that factored in as well. I couldn't justify buying an IG one for twice the cost of the AG one even though it may last longer.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Really think about not going with too high tech furnace and AC. Getting a single stage high efficiency furnace and AC is probably your best bet. Spending the money on 2 stage or multistage may not pan out the way they want you to believe it will. Also, having a system that just turns on/off will be much simpler to troubleshoot and fix when the time comes.

I went with high efficiency variable speed compressors and air handlers. As well as had all of my ductwork changed to properly sized ducts. The price was not cheap, but the comfort level that it provides is beyond anything I have ever experienced. I do not hear any of my equipment running. I never hear the air moving through the vents and I barely feel it coming out of them. The air handler runs almost 24/7 at 30% minimum to keep the air moving through the house. No significant temperature swings when the thermostat kicks on and off. It maintains almost a constant temp. It is honestly the way that HVAC should be. No noise, just pure comfort.

I say that just to say that for some, comfort is worth the money. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Sorry, getting off topic.

--Jeff

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I went with high efficiency variable speed compressors and air handlers. As well as had all of my ductwork changed to properly sized ducts. The price was not cheap, but the comfort level that it provides is beyond anything I have ever experienced. I do not hear any of my equipment running. I never hear the air moving through the vents and I barely feel it coming out of them. The air handler runs almost 24/7 at 30% minimum to keep the air moving through the house. No significant temperature swings when the thermostat kicks on and off. It maintains almost a constant temp. It is honestly the way that HVAC should be. No noise, just pure comfort.

I say that just to say that for some, comfort is worth the money. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Sorry, getting off topic.

--Jeff

When you got the money to spend on that stuff, go for it.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

When you got the money to spend on that stuff, go for it.

I never said I had the money.

I got lucky and had a buddy who does HVAC, so I got it for about half of what it would have cost. It was a steal and I probably would not have done that had I not had that option. But now knowing how nice it is, I'm not sure I could ever go back.

--Jeff

 

[Chuckiechan]

We just returned from 6 weeks away. pH is a little high, FC is perfect, CC 0.
I have two friends who each did a very expensive pool renovation, and each didn't add a SWG to their setup. They pay a service. One friend said she isn't swimming yet, because her previous service guy was AWOL, and the new people "shocked the pool and I can't go swimming for 4-5 days." They both said the SWG was too much money.
I just shake my head.

Some people are just unwilling to learn the system and put in the effort in the beginning of the season, and their world is composed of two tests: free chlorine and Ph. Set up is "X" bags of salt and the tub of conditioner the clerk put in the cart. As long as no one is complaining, all must be good!
(I have a know it all neighbor who burns through acid by the gallon. TPF, Pool Math, didn't make a dent in his head.)