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I know how it goes. I worked at a company that offshored a piece of hardware that was the source of constant support trouble because it would regularly fail. When I inquired why we didn't switch suppliers I was told by management it was because this supplier was $5 cheaper than others. When I...

In my case it was about 3.2 ± 70%. I wasn't so put off by the initial lack of output. Even the best products have a problem here and there. What put me off was how I was treated when I reported the issue. When I first reported it the agent was snide and dismissive, asking me things like "how...

I had the RJ-60 PLUS model advertised as producing 3.2 lbs per day, but my unit struggled to produce 1 lb. per day. My IC60 easily outpaces it by a factor of 2, and they were similarly priced. I also had other problems with the unit. The collars that came with the unit would not thread on the...

Some people here, myself included, have reported trouble with the CircuPool units not producing nearly as much chlorine as advertised. For quite a while I chalked it up to something about my pool, but then I got a Pentair IC60 and it does produce as advertised. That's just my experience. There...

A Pentair IC60 cell can easily be had for $1,350. Over its 10,000-hour rated life it should generate the equivalent of about 1,000 gallons of 10% chlorine. At the current chlorine prices everything it makes after the first 1,500 hours is free chlorine. $1.35 a gallon equivalent prorated cost...

Reasonable is relative. If I still had to use LC I would be spending about $170 per month on LC during the warm season, which runs about May - November here. That's enough to lease an inexpensive car. Even at $2,000 an SWG pays for itself in a little over a year. Everything after that is "free,"...

Thanks to everyone. From all the threads I read I gathered that it had to be connected to a commercial automation system. I didn't see any threads about connecting directly to a pump and SWG. Has anyone done it that way?

I just don't like how badly the clock in the IntelliFlo drifts. It's surprisingly bad even when compared with the mechanical Intermatic. Within a couple of weeks it's off by more than a minute. That's 50-cent Alibaba clock level of accuracy. I have $20 digital watches that drift by less than 10...

OK. I think I was just confused after reading the excellent write-up about using it with existing Pentair automation. I'm not clear about connecting it directly to individual pieces of equipment. Do you need a USB-RS485 converter for each piece of equipment or is it more flexible in that all the...

I don't want to generate chlorine every time the pump runs because: 1. Spa mode 2. My chlorine demand is stable and addressed by a fixed schedule. I often run the pump at other times while cleaning, for extra skimming on windy days, swim parties, etc. As for the DIY controllers: I am not...

Thank you for the references. It occurs to me that I won't be happy with a relay since it will activate the SWG any time the pump is running rather than sticking to a fixed schedule. I really need some timer that controls both pump and SWG so they can never get out of sync or have issues after a...

My flow switch is triggered even at 1000 RPM, so I don't have to go through that exercise of having different speeds. My only concern with long pump run times is exorbitant electricity prices in the afternoon, which can run $0.65/kWh. Small changes add up. Even an extra 30 minutes of pump run...

I can't control the run times very accurately since I have no automation. The only thing controlling the SWG is an old Intermatic mechanical timer. The best I can get is about ±15 minutes. That's how I've been doing it currently. I was hoping to make it a little less of a pain that setting the...

It seems like all I would have to do to interact with the IntelliChlor is attach a serial cable and issue 0x0F02500000620F03 to query the status. If I get a 0x0F0200010000130F03 back I know I'm cooking with fire. Then to set the output to 55% (for example) I send 0x0F02501137AA0F03 and look for...

I will have a heater eventually, but it's a promising option. I sure hate all the wires and boxes on the wall of my house next to the pad. The sun is going to destroy them in short order. Not to mention it just looks tacky. As far as "talking" to the IntelliChlor via serial, are the settings...

That looks pretty interesting. At first glance it looks like I should be able to install that on a Raspberry Pi and interact with it via WiFi on my LAN.

Thanks. Looks like you have to install a temperature sensor to use the IntelliConnect with the IntelliChlor, even though the IntelliFlo and the IntelliChlor already have temperature sensors.

As we all know, you can only adjust the Intellichlor's output by 20 percentage points at a time using the controls on the cell. This is proving to be difficult. I am not willing to spend thousands more just to gain finer control of the cell, so I have been exploring my options. I'm wondering...

I'm willing to experiment if I can find some kind of confirmation that it's not likely to cause damage. Citric acid is far more effective on calcium scale than vinegar. I don't mean citric acid as in squeezing a lemon into the SWG, I mean preparing a solution from a powder.

Thanks. I had read that, but I didn't see anything about citric acid.

Does anyone know about the affinity of citric acid for ruthenium? Citric acid really goes to work on calcium deposits and seems not to affect things like aluminum negatively the way hydrochloric acid does. I can descale faucet aerators in two minutes with a citric acid solution. I was trying to...

6 hour runtime on my 21,500 gallon pool is enough to keep FC at 6, and I'm in hot sun for at least 10 hours a day. But that is with an IC60.

That and the price of the rare earth metals used in the plates has more than doubled in price over the last year.

What does chlorine cost in your area? Around here it's $4.98 per gallon of 10% from Home Depot and $5.49 from Lowe's. Bleach is even more expensive, even at Costco. At those prices I burn through $4 - $5 a day during swim season and about half that in the off season, depending on chlorine...

On the plus side: at $400 one of those cells has paid for themselves in about 80 days in my pool at today's chlorine prices.

I learned last night how sensitive the CYA test is to small variations. I had tested my pool a day or two previously at 60 CYA and added 3 lbs CYA. After it dissolved and circulated for a while I tested at ... 60 CYA. Wut? So I got my graduated cylinder out to get some precision and used that to...

I always enjoy experimenting with pushing the envelope of efficiency. If I can accomplish my objectives for $1 less, I'll do it. I factor in lots of variables, such as operational expenses, prorated equipment cost, and cost avoidance. I'm an analyst by profession, so it comes naturally 😁 If I...

I was able to finagle the Intellichlor horizontally in my plumbing with a little bit of work, and even managed 12 inches of horizontal run before the SWG. I wired it to my old Internatic pump timer and put the dogs on it so that it will turn on and shut off with a little bit of offset from the...

Thanks for the reminder. I have a pH meter I can use during SLAM if need be.

The Hasa chlorine I get from the local pool store is labeled 12.5% but I've tested it to be as high as 17%. I think they fill it pretty strong to account for losses.