Intellicenter Scheduling, Pump Speed and SWG

[nrobfd_pl]

Didn't want to start another thread, but didn't want to hijack someone else's. I'm still learning and have received so much fantastic help around here. This might be the best place on the internets.

I have been running my pump at 1200 rpm for most of the day. Now that I have enough salt, my SWG is up and running, to get enough flow I have to increase the pump speed to 1800 rpm to get the green flow light.

What I'd like to do is have my schedule as follows running the SWG at the percentage it needs to produce enough chlorine:
12:00 AM - 12:15 AM - POOL LOW
12:15 AM - 1AM - POOL (SWG ON)
1AM - 6:15AM - POOL LOW
6:15 AM - 7AM - POOL (SWG ON)
7AM - 12:15PM - POOL LOW
12:15 PM - 1PM - POOL (SWG ON)
1PM - 6:15 PM - POOL LOW
6:15 PM - 7PM - POOL (SWG ON)
7PM - 12:00 AM - POOL LOW

Obviously, this won't work because the pool circuit needs to be the lower speed. And, the SWG won't function on another circuit because the filter pump relay powered off when the pool circuit isn't running.

Would my schedule work if I instead changed "Pool Low" to an Aux circuit and wired the SWG to its relay? Essentially, I'm trying to run my pump at the lowest possible speed for most of the day, while still allowing the pump to run long enough at the higher speed for the SWG to do its job.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Rob,

If you are trying to make something that is very easy, very very hard, you have succeeded

With a heater, 1800 RPM is a little high but not much.

What is your goal? What is the point of turning the cell on and off so often?

I am confused?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Rob,

Most pools use 2 to 4 ppm of FC per day. So let's use 3 ppm as our target..

Your cell will increase your FC by .4 ppm per hour when run at 100% output. To make 3 ppm of FC you will have to run the SWCG for about 7.5 hours. Note this is at 100%, It does not make sense to me to run at 100% as you have no way to increase the output if needed. So, 50% is more reasonable, but that means you will have to run the SWCG for about 15 hours a day.

The simplest thing to do is to run 24/7 and then you can reduce the SWCG's output.. Unless you have some really high electrical costs in your area, it should not cost much more to run 24/7 as it would to run 15 hours a day.

Running at a lower speed that does not turn on the SWCG, does not do much for you. In general, if the flow is so low that your cell will not work, then your skimmers won't be too effective either.

Does all the water leaving your heater go through your cell, or is some of it siphoned off to run something else, like a water feature?

You could also add a heater by-pass, which would probably allow you to run at 1200 RPM or lower.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[an1vrsy]

We have essentially the same size pool and equipment. You have Pool Math logs attached. So you have Pool Math, using Pool Math > Effects of Adding, you are adding FC with SWG on at 100 percent for just 3 hours. That will yield 1.2 ppm FC. Even with an autocover that is an extremely low addition of FC for your pool. The FC/CYA chart displays that a CYA of 40 with a SWG isn't recommended. However, if so, your minimum FC is 3, target is 5 - 7.

Over the last month, you have fallen below minimum a few times. Looking to set up your SWG schedule for only 3 hours a day, as mentioned in post #1, is really setting yourself up for algae to get a foothold. In most cases, pools will lose 2 - 4 ppm FC a day. With an autocover, I have one, I still add a little chlorine all day. My percentage is set to 25% which yields FC 2.3 ppm. I am at FC 9 ppm, CYA 70 so I need to turn my percentage down or even off for a few days because of my autocover.

 

[Newdude]

+1 with Jim. My SWG works at 1200 and even below but I like the look of the water at 1500 so I just run 24/7 there.

This year 10 of 24/7 for me, and it's heavenly. I rarely have to adjust anything and to be honest, it kinda feels nice to be needed the few times I do.

If it's as simple as adding a bypass, I'd go that route. What is the wattage at 1800 ? 1200 is usually around 120W.

 

[nrobfd_pl]

Everyone,

Thanks for the responses. Genuinely helpful. Yes, I’m just trying to lower the electric usage. But 1800 rpm is 300 watts so might be unnecessary.

I think the increased speed made me nervous because in the fall the pool guy (who cared for the pool for the few weeks we owned it before closing it) had me run our old pump constantly. His bad advice wasn’t cheap.

@an1vrsy I am working on the chemistry, just added 4lbs of cya. And trying to figure out the runtime & percentage

@Jimrahbe thanks for calling out my tendency to over-complicate and over-engineer .

 

[nrobfd_pl]

If it's as simple as adding a bypass, I'd go that route. What is the wattage at 1800 ? 1200 is usually around 120W.

I have a bypass plumbed in and have an intellivalve but haven’t fully set it up yet. At a couple places, the instructions for Pentair’s auto bypass didn’t seem to match with what my intellivalve was doing.

 

[Newdude]

And trying to figure out the runtime & percentage

Always aim/goof high. There's leeway up to SLAM above target level and next to none below target level. I dialed my new SWG/pool in at a 10. Once I proved it was maintaining it, I walked away and let it continue.