Considering Salt - Have questions

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LivelyOasis

LivelyOasis

Bronze Supporter
May 19, 2020
96
Spring Texas (North Houston)
Hello,

My pool info is in the sig, hope that helps kick this off. My wife wants the feel of salt, and I like the consistency it provides for levels. With that said, I have the following questions:

My controller does not have the SWG option - is there a way to add this or should I just use an AUX port to control an external - is that possible???
My pool has river rock waterfall and pool borders... Whats the best way to seal these, as I imagine salt erosion will stain the white plaster (previous owner replastered with white - jerk lol but its new as of last nov)
If not going with Pentair to match / somehow add the SWG controlling features - what system do you recommend, I want an oversized unit but thats difficult to find above 60k gallon systems.

Ideas? (pic of pool and surround is in my initial introduction post.) Please ask for any needed information.
 
An EasyTouch can control an IntelliChlor IC60 cell. Once you connect it with it's digital cable to the ET RS-485 port you will see the options. The IC60 is not 2X but close enough.
 
LivelyOasis said:
Hello,

My pool info is in the sig, hope that helps kick this off. My wife wants the feel of salt, and I like the consistency it provides for levels. With that said, I have the following questions:

My pool has river rock waterfall and pool borders... Whats the best way to seal these, as I imagine salt erosion will stain the white plaster (previous owner replastered with white - jerk lol but its new as of last nov)

Ideas? (pic of pool and surround is in my initial introduction post.) Please ask for any needed information.
Click to expand...
You should be good go. I never sealed anything when I put my SWG in 15 years ago and I have had no erosion to my rocks or plaster. To give you a sense of perspective the salt concentration in a SWG chlorinated pool (3400) is half of that of your tears (7000) and 10 times less that sea water (34000).. You probably already have a salinity of 1000 or so in there now. If you have had no issue with your rocks at this point, I doubt adding a bit of salt to your water will do anything else.

BTW your wife will Love how easy a SWG chlorinated pool is on the skin. My daughter has very sensitive skin as well and it has done wonders for her. Putting in a SWG was the best thing I ever did.
 
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FYI: You don't need to get a saltwater chlorine generator to have a saltwater pool. You can add salt at any time. Of course, you will love the SWG due to the reduced pool maintenance. The "saltwater issues" you listed are both myths.
 
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You can control any brand salt generator system with your automation so long as you have an extra relay. You do lose the ability to set % power remotely but this doesn't change much after you get the unit dialed in. I use a 3rd party because I DIY the installation and do not want the warranty jeopardized at all. Most majors reduce for DIY and I think warranty is very important for salt cells. If you go with a major brand just make sure you comply with their requirements for a full warranty installation. Power the relay for the salt system from the load side of the pump to be sure you have extra protection to ensure you don't run when the pump is off.

Chris
 
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ajw22 said:
An EasyTouch can control an IntelliChlor IC60 cell. Once you connect it with it's digital cable to the ET RS-485 port you will see the options. The IC60 is not 2X but close enough.
Click to expand...

My EasyTouch does not have the SWG board / Intellichlor relay fuse etc. Does it have the ET RS-485 serial port you are talking about? if so, where? This would be the ideal setup for me.4

Also just found out the relay's are not in the correct order and I plan on taking one of the relay's outputs and moving it to the main panel this piggy backs off of (guy installed the patio sockets / fan to the relay, no reason for that in my use case).
 

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Does anyone have any experience with this unit? Price seems quite nice and I like the modular approach allowing you to replace only whats needed when needed.

BLUE WORKS IntelliChlor Power Center for Salt Chlorine Generator Systems (US Version) and BLPT 60 Cell (520556) for 60K Gallon Pool

If I only need an output from a relay, rather than controlling everything, I considered this approach.
 
I do not have any experience with this generic Pentair but my experience with the company is that their products generally lack any documentation in the box, the warranty may not be what was advertised, contacting them may be difficult, and replacement parts may have to come from China. Blue Works has the same owners (or US representatives) as the LemonPool and CrystalBlue brands which is why customers sometimes receive those brands as replacements.
 
chlorinatorpro said:
I do not have any experience with this generic Pentair but my experience with the company is that their products generally lack any documentation in the box, the warranty may not be what was advertised, contacting them may be difficult, and replacement parts may have to come from China. Blue Works has the same owners (or US representatives) as the LemonPool and CrystalBlue brands which is why customers sometimes receive those brands as replacements.
Click to expand...

This is good information, thank you. At 1/2 the cost of a IC60 system to start, I could replace the whole system again and be ok with it. I don't usually care about brand names and their prices unless its 100% worth it. IE: my antacid can not be generic, otherwise it sucks, but my migraine pill is $300 each brand name, and $150 each generic, but the generic works just the same to me, making it worth it.

In research, it looks like I would need more parts to control the IC60 output - but even above it's said it wont be touched enough to care. I would need a comport expander since my port is used for the remote screen logix adapter, plus the power controller, plus the unit.

It seems pentair and blueworks are the only 60k gallon residential systems that I can locate. Unless someone knows a better option or a reason to steer clear of the Blue Works, I may go with it to get the ball rolling since I don't need to seal the river rock.
 
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LivelyOasis said:
Does anyone have any experience with this unit? Price seems quite nice and I like the modular approach allowing you to replace only whats needed when needed.

BLUE WORKS IntelliChlor Power Center for Salt Chlorine Generator Systems (US Version) and BLPT 60 Cell (520556) for 60K Gallon Pool

If I only need an output from a relay, rather than controlling everything, I considered this approach.
Click to expand...
There are a lot of 3rd party suppliers of salt systems and I have no experience with this one. I have no real bias for or against them. I would strongly recommend that you evaluate more than $/# of chlorine though. All manufacturers have failures of their cells in the first couple of years and this is expensive if it's not warrantied. Look at Circupool it's more expensive but it comes with a 7 year warranty. Blue Works unit has only one year. Also Circupool's unit produces 50% more chlorine for the same size pool. What's that all about? A company that operates this way isn't getting one penny from me. But that's a personal choice for me. If you go this way please do let us know how it works out.

Chris
 

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setsailsoon said:
There are a lot of 3rd party suppliers of salt systems and I have no experience with this one. I have no real bias for or against them. I would strongly recommend that you evaluate more than $/# of chlorine though. All manufacturers have failures of their cells in the first couple of years and this is expensive if it's not warrantied. Look at Circupool it's more expensive but it comes with a 7 year warranty. Blue Works unit has only one year. Also Circupool's unit produces 50% more chlorine for the same size pool. What's that all about? A company that operates this way isn't getting one penny from me. But that's a personal choice for me. If you go this way please do let us know how it works out.

Chris
Click to expand...


Hi Chris,

Thanks for the reply, I just looked at the CircuPool system as recommended, They had a ton of fine print on their 7 year warranty, similar to the warranty on the IC60 knock-off. BLW warranty says "7 years=2 years full+ 5 years pro-rate" for the "Blueworks BLPT 60K Gallon" so it is a 7 year pro-rate similar to the Circupool, but looking at the ~300 cell replacement cost even if it goes bad every two years, the cost savings from chemicals eliminated = $12.5 / month. I spend more than that as it is. Im not biased, and ultimately want to know someone's first hand experience before I would make a decision.

The Blueworks puts out 60g/hr which is 0.132277lbs. 0.132277x24hr is about 3.1746 Lbs a day of chlorine. (I hate math but had to find out).
The RJ+ from Circupool is 3.1 Lbs / day also from all the docs I can find.

With that said, do you run Circupool? How has it been for you? Any failures or experience with their customer service?
 
LivelyOasis said:
Hi Chris,

Thanks for the reply, I just looked at the CircuPool system as recommended, They had a ton of fine print on their 7 year warranty, similar to the warranty on the IC60 knock-off. BLW warranty says "7 years=2 years full+ 5 years pro-rate" for the "Blueworks BLPT 60K Gallon" so it is a 7 year pro-rate similar to the Circupool, but looking at the ~300 cell replacement cost even if it goes bad every two years, the cost savings from chemicals eliminated = $12.5 / month. I spend more than that as it is. Im not biased, and ultimately want to know someone's first hand experience before I would make a decision.

The Blueworks puts out 60g/hr which is 0.132277lbs. 0.132277x24hr is about 3.1746 Lbs a day of chlorine. (I hate math but had to find out).
The RJ+ from Circupool is 3.1 Lbs / day also from all the docs I can find.

With that said, do you run Circupool? How has it been for you? Any failures or experience with their customer service?
Click to expand...
That's weird, maybe this is a different unit. It's on Amazon for $879. The brochure says 2.1 #/day and Amazon lists a 1 year warranty. Yes, I do have a Circupool and I'm happy with it so far. A lot of people on TFP have had good experience with them but that's the case for major brands and others.

Hope this helps.

Chris

1590114293586.png
 
setsailsoon said:
That's weird, maybe this is a different unit. It's on Amazon for $879. The brochure says 2.1 #/day and Amazon lists a 1 year warranty. Yes, I do have a Circupool and I'm happy with it so far. A lot of people on TFP have had good experience with them but that's the case for major brands and others.

Hope this helps.

Chris
Click to expand...

I see where the confusion is, and with any 3rd party or warranty paperwork its hard to decipher. I never rely on Amazon. I had emailed the tech team for Blueworks - they answered with the information provided as well as on the following pages:

Specs: 60g / hr production for the 60k kit - Salt Chlorinator BLPT

1590154848789.png

Warranty:
2 Years Full + 5 Years Prorate for BLPT60 60k unit: Salt Chlorinator BLPT

1590154946502.png
 
ajw22 said:
J20 on your board is the RS-485 port. You have one 4 wire cable connected to it and you can connect another to it.

See page 20 in https://www.pentair.com/content/dam...em_Load_Center_Installation_Guide_English.pdf
Click to expand...

This is good news, I thought I may need the comport expansion module, however looking at the expansion module it appears it just is a splicer that has only traces connecting the yel/grn leads for multiple devices. Creating a DIY expansion would be super easy for me, as I have a ton of old telephone splicers that is on a board (bridged terminal board, 8 sets of 4 pins that are linked) so it would expand the RS-485 to up to 7 devices, which I wont need but is useful info and saves me $60~
 

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