SWG vs. chlorine -- any reason NOT to do it?

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Jimrahbe said:
mp,

Where did you get the 2300 number??? Pentair cells operate between 2800 and 4500... You want to try to be in the middle of this range..

Thanks,

Jim R.
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I thought I saw 2,300 as a recommended number.

The midpoint of your numbers is 3,650.

That would be 672 Lbs of salt, right?
Where do I get a over 1/3 of a ton of salt?

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mknauss said:
I would think you would want to add some chlorine throughout the winter. Would not take much. I assume you do not winterize, such as drain and blow out the lines? If you do, then that changes things. I run our system about an hour each day during the winter. We never have freeze issues though the pump turns on at 35F for protection.

You should not have to SLAM in the spring if you have no issues in the fall. You would simply raise your FC to your target level based on CYA (which you would increase to 70 or so if using a SWCG) and start your SWCG.

Take care.
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I do have to winterize the pool. Draining and blowing out the lines is a yearly event.
Even with insulated mechanical building, the temps do drop to well below freezing over the winter.
 
Any big box store carries salt. You can use water softener salt, just be sure it has no additives. Usually about $5 per 40# bag.

If you close to that extent, be sure to follow this Pool School - Closing an In Ground Pool

You should not have to SLAM when you open in the spring if you follow that guidance.
 
To answer your SWG question - my pool has been extremely easy to maintain with the SWG (even with the grandkids swimming in it almost daily). Once I go the pool up and running and balanced last spring, it was almost too easy!
 
It is easy once the water is balanced and there isn't anything extra in the water consuming the chlorine.

This pool needs to be balanced and SLAMMED in the spring before starting up a SWG. There will be more trouble with the chlorine demand when the CYA is high due to the SWG needs. You need to SLAM BEFORE raising the CYA.

Get a Taylor K-1766 salt test to determine how much salt is in the pool and then only add enough salt to raise it to 3500.

Your savings will not be realistic because you are using more than 5X's the chlorine that you should be using. This will be fixed with the SLAM and proper balancing afterwards. The SWG will make it easier to keep the water balanced if you ask me once the chlorine demand is fixed.
 
Comments that salt water pools erode stone coping are not supported by evidence. Poor quality stone, flaky types of stone, or long-term low pH are the usual culprits. Note that all pools have salt, often 1000 to 2000 ppm ppm salt (one non-SWG pool recently mentioned here on TFP was 2600 ppm). A SWG needs around 3000 to 4000 ppm, while the ocean is around 35000. There's no hesitation to use stone around homes near the ocean, where airborne salt spray would be subjecting stone finishes to salt year-round.
 
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Judging by that picture of your pool and the measurements I'm coming up about 27k gallons. Which is a big difference from 20k. Since it's not a custom shape you should be able to ask the manufacturer exactly how many gallons it is.

That doesn't account for your high chlorine usage, but it's not helping you out either.
 

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The only extra thing I would mention is don’t underestimate the acid demand with a SWG, I converted my pool at the start of this summer, and seem to need to add 1/2 gallon of acid every 2 days... I was not expecting that.
 
Kchinger, mfg says 22,000 gal - depth is 3.5 shallow end to 8' deep end.

Mario - I switched an old pool to swg last year and LOVE it.

With that said, reach out to your autocover mfg, ask about the rail material and its corrosion resistance, be sure its bonded, and ask mfg if there is any special coating you can apply to optimize corrosion resistance in swg environment. It may already be clear coated, likely is aluminum, etc., but its worth asking in advance.

Swg does increase the conductivity of water, and sometime can increase odds of galvanic corrosion. This can be offset by retro-fitting any minor elements to better materials - eg there are coated handrails etc. than can retrofit for longevity. Inferior steel can corrode and all grades of steel are not equal. There are also spray marine corrosion protectants that can be used on mechanicals...its worth asking autocover mfg if there are parts of te winding mechanism this can be coated with. An ounce of prevention goes a long way.

SWG is awesome. Every pool has salt anyway, usually 50-70% of the salinity of SWG, but every extra year you get out of your gear is worth a bit of preventative planning ;)
 
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