Deciding between Intellichlor IC-20 and IC-40

[AW139]

30,500 L (8000 gallon) fibreglass pool, currently using liquid chlorine. This is the first year I have had this pool, and I definitely made a mistake by not installing a SWG during installation. Oh well.

Next season I’m going to install a SWG, but I want make sure that I’m getting the right unit. I currently have a Pentair Variable Speed pump running at low RPM 24 hours a day, with a bump in speed for a few hours. I’m looking at either the Pentair IC-20 or IC-40.

If I choose the IC-20, I would need to run the unit at 30% to produce about 3 ppm chlorine. Right now my chlorine demand is around 3.5 per day. Is there any benefit to choosing the IC-40 to increase the life of the cell? With the IC-40 I lose the ability to make fine adjustments to chlorine output since the unit is only adjustable at 2-4-6-8-10-20-40-60-80-100 percent outputs. According to the Pool Math app, each 10% output level would be about 2 ppm FC on the IC-40. With the bigger unit I might have to keep switching outputs to maintain constant FC.

 

[mknauss]

If you don’t have automation, I would suggest getting a Hayward Aquarite or Circupool swcg.

 

[AW139]

If you don’t have automation, I would suggest getting a Hayward Aquarite or Circupool swcg.

I don’t have, and right now don’t plan to have automation. Any particular models that you can direct to towards? Thanks.

 

[mknauss]

Are you near the US border and willing to use a Mail Drop? Circupool RJ30 would work well.
In Canada, the Aquarite from Hayward. A T9 or T15.

 

[AW139]

Are you near the US border and willing to use a Mail Drop? Circupool RJ30 would work well.
In Canada, the Aquarite from Hayward. A T9 or T15.

Having a look at the Aquarite. I like that it’s finely adjustable down to the percentage. In that case I might as well get the bigger cell, considering it has 50% more chlorine production over its life for only a 14% increase in price.

Any reason to not go with a SWG that has 5 times the rated capacity of my pool?

 

[mknauss]

Any reason to not go with a SWG that has 5 times the rated capacity of my pool?

Not operationally.
You may or may not get all the life out of it before some other issue causes it to fail.

 

[AW139]

Not operationally.
You may or may not get all the life out of it before some other issue causes it to fail.

I just took a peak at replacement cell costs, and there actually isn a decent difference in price between the T9 and T15. I ran the numbers, and the savings aren’t much over the life of 2 cells. If the bigger cell were to fail early, it would actually end up costing me more. Even with the 25k gallon cell, I would still only run around 25% output.

Thanks for the help. This has helped clarify some things.

 

[Newdude]

A 20k unit would be 2.5X your pool volume and with such a short and mild season, it's borderlining on overkill. That's as high as I'd go for you, unless the price was right on a larger model.

For example, an IC40 has a sale that make it the same price as the IC20, or the circupool 30 is the same price as the IC20. Then, by all means go larger.

 

[AW139]

A 20k unit would be 2.5X your pool volume and with such a short and mild season, it's borderlining on overkill. That's as high as I'd go for you, unless the price was right on a larger model.

For example, an IC40 has a sale that make it the same price as the IC20, or the circupool 30 is the same price as the IC20. Then, by all means go larger.

Makes sense to me. I’ll keep my eyes open for a deal.

I’m going to finish off the season with liquid chlorine, and then install the Hayward Aquarite 25k when I open the pool in the spring.

The amount I have learned over the past two months alone thanks to TFP is staggering. You guys here really are helpful.