SWG conversion in pool with natural stone

[swreeder70]

Greetings,

My pool is 9 years old and I am considering adding a SWG system. When it was built, the pool builder was anti SWG, he was old school. The pool has been fairly trouble free as pools go, but dealing with liquid chlorine has always been a pain. The amount of plastic jugs and the constant fiddling with a liquidator (hoses, valves and connectors wear out constantly) has led me to find a better way.

Enter SWG. My question is this safe for the stone in my pool. The coping around the pool and the spa, are Texas Blue Lueder, which is a soft limestone. The waterfalls, that run several times a day are also from natural texas stone, presumably some kind of limestone.

So with this type of natural stonework, is it safe to convert to SWG or should I continue to work with liquid chlorine?

Images for reference

 

[Newdude]

Tell ya what. For $30, buy a K1766 and test your salt. Every gallon of 10% adds 11ppm salt in your 15k gallons. How many have you added in 9 years? You're likely at or over 'salt pool' levels, which are only 10% of seawater.

Or, let's say, it's somwhow only 2000 ppm and salt pool levels are 3200. It's way easier to accept the switch when you know the ocean is 35,000 to the SWGs 3200.

 

[Texas Splash]

I have a soft flagstone coping around our pool. Not even close to the durability or harness of other stones. Even still, the water has shown no effect on it. I waited 7 years and only had to add a few bags of salt to get started. I say go for it.

 

[Jimrahbe]

70,

Have you noticed any wear and tear in the places where water flows over the stone now?

If not, you will not notice any with a saltwater pool.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[swreeder70]

Jim,

No only thing we’ve ever had is some calcium build up due to hard well water that we have been able to keep under control and has not been an issue.


Now the next question for everyone, what brand of SWG? Being everything is Pentair on the pool, Should I go with their power bank and cell? Or are there other alternatives or better choices?

 

[Jimrahbe]

70,

I'd go with an IC40 and power center, as it can be easily integrated into your IntelliTouch.

You always want a cell that is at least 2 x the volume of your pool, which is why I picked the IntelliChlor IC40.

We do not recommend any of iChlor models.

Do you have ScreenLogic? If so, when you add a SWCG, you will get a control page like this one on your PC.


View media item 1963

If you do not want to control the cell using your IntelliTouch, then any brand will work for you.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[swreeder70]

Thanks for the info, I do have intelliTouch and screen logic system that I use. From what I am reading on the Pentair site it looks like I only need the Cell, the power center appears needed for a standalone deployment.

 

[Jimrahbe]

70,

The IntelliTouch came with and without an internal salt cell power center. I doubt you have the internal power center, so I suspect that you will need it.

If you look inside your cabinet, if you have a salt cell power supply you will have two transformers. A small system transformer and a large cell transformer.

You need to check it out before moving forward.

Here is an EasyTouch pic for reference... (Disregard the colored lines, the pic was originally for something else..)

EasyTouch Power.jpg

• Jimrahbe
• Jul 21, 2018

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[swreeder70]

Only one transformer in my panel. I may research some other brands before I go down the Pentair path. They have a pretty pathetic warranty if you DIY install the product.

 

[Jimrahbe]

70,

Up to you, but I never buy anything based on the warranty, which has zero to do with how long they last, or the quality of the product.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[swreeder70]

Agree, but every Pentair product I haven’t had the best luck with in my pool. Two of three LED lights, defective circuit boards, Controller defective circuit board and one of the variable pumps also went out. All between 6 and 24 months. If doing DIY Install, Pentair cuts the warranty to 60 days.

 

[Jimrahbe]

70,

Wow,

I DIY installed two complete systems... EasyTouch with IC40 and IntelliFlo pump and nothing 'failed".. The cells ran out of chlorine, but one was almost 10 years old and the other over 8 years before the cells died.

Almost all LED lights have a life span of about 5 microseconds..

It sounds like you took a lightning hit.

That said, I just recommend what works well for me, but I can certainly see your side of it..

Whatever works for you... works for me..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[proavia]

Almost all LED lights have a life span of about 5 microseconds..

Sad but true - especially based on the price.

 

[Magiaone]

I can tell you the water fall has seen wear and tear from the salt pool. Had a sealing guy quote $1000, said I could just replace the stone for cheaper. SWG does eat at stone. My coping isn't bad but I do have sand in the Polaris cleaner and rocks eroding.

 

[Jimrahbe]

I can tell you the water fall has seen wear and tear from the salt pool

Mag,

You 'assume' it is the saltwater.. How do you know that the slight salt level in your pool is causing the issue and not the rock itself?

The grand cannon river is not saltwater, yet it sure has eaten the rock away.

And, the ocean is about 10 x more salty then any pool and yet our coast line still has plenty of rock.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Magiaone]

Rock guy said he sees it with all the salt water pools he works and repairs.

 

[reggiehammond]

Rock guy said he sees it with all the salt water pools he works and repairs.

I have an inordinate amount of flagstone on my property. I can tell you the stone near the pool wears out just as bad as the stone in my front yard.

It's not the salt, it's the water. Every pool is a "salt" pool - it's just that those of us with a SWCG figured out how darn nice it is to harness that salt for good use!

 

[swreeder70]

Starting my conversion this weekend to a salt pool. Pool was at 1400PPM for salt and I added 4 x 40lb bags of pool salt. Bumped the level up to 3400. I’ll test again tomorrow, as I will be plumbing in and wiring up the salt cell.

 

[pjt]

is it safe to convert to SWG

Test your water with a K-1766 and let us know your current salt level. It might surprise you. My previous pool used LC and I had a Liquidator too. My salt level was 5,000 when I tested it, far above the salinity range for SWG operation.

 

[generessler]

If you mouse over my picture (with granddaughter), you can see my pool. 16 years old. Had a broken SWG when we bought it 3 years ago. I got it working, so we are into the 3rd season. Sandstone coping and deck. Spill-over spa that runs 24/7 at a trickle. There is a very, very small amount of flaking of the spillway, noticeable because the flakes sit on the bottom until I net them. The stone looks great. Certainly no salt stains, which my neighbor cites as the reason he stays with LC. Absolutely no regrets about using the SWG so far.