Hayword Aqua Rite?

[N7GTJ]

My Eco-Matic is dead and I was wondering if the Hayword Aqua Rite 40k unit was any good. The Eco-Matic lasted about 2 years and I was hoping to find something that lasted longer and will still be in business when I need to replace the cartridge. The pool supply store said it was one of the better units, but they are there just to sell what they have.
So anyone have any luck with these?

 

[jagfan]

My Eco-Matic is dead and I was wondering if the Hayword Aqua Rite 40k unit was any good.

I sure hope it is because I just had one installed last Friday!

 

[stoner51]

A friend of mine has an Aqua rite. I just purchased one about a month ago. I asked her if she did any maintenance on hers and she said "what, No I just run the pump, check the salt." I told her it said to inspect and clean every 3 months for peak performance, "well how to you do that", I told her I would show her. Then I wanted an estimate on where to start out running the chlorinator, "what is your chlorinator set at?" "oh I just leave on 100 or sometimes 90"
She has had the cell for going on 4 years, no maintenance, 32000 gal pool.
So I bought one because I figured I should get much more cell life out of mine, considering it is set on 18 now.
I did it myself easy install. I did have to add some calcium to my pool and did so with the cell on through the skimmer and I believe it gunked up the electrodes so I cleaned it and we are going fine.
hope this helps
steve

 

[jagfan]

Stoner51

Wow, she certainly is lucky - 4 years set at 90-100 and no maintenance! Wonder if she checks her chlorine level?

I've had mine a week today and so far I haven't added anything but some stabilizer. Started out with the unit set at 50 and have monitored my chlorine level daily. It's now set at 18 and my pump runs 8 hours a day.

Did you purchase one of those cell stands to clean yours? They look like they'd make the job easier.

 

[Strannik]

most of the SWGs are designed to run at 100% all the time

it's just that it's not needed in most cases

 

[mickey4paws]

I also just got an Aqua Rite. From what I've heard, it's supposed to be a very good unit. Starting tonight, we will start using it (we just went through a Baquacil to chlorine conversion). For those that have these, what salt level do you keep it at? Right now ours is at 3100 ppm but I think that's too low since it's recommended here to have it around 200 ppm above the optimal level.

 

[jagfan]

The control box on mine shows a salt level of 2900. The test with the strips came out to 3180. From what the experts on the board say, the strips are more accurate.

 

[JasonLion]

The strips are +-200 and most of the salt meters in SWGs are +-400, so those numbers (2900 & 3180) are the same as far as the tests are concerned.

 

[mickey4paws]

Very interesting, thanks, Jason. I just ordered some test strips. The pool store test was 3100 and my panel shows 2900 but it's only been on a day. I'm thinking we need to add another 40 lb bag but I'll wait and see what the panel shows tomorrow.

To N7GTJ: Until 6/7/09 Hayward/Goldline has a $75 rebate on the 40K Aqua Rite (needs to be postmarked by 7/6/09). Mine came with the form but I think you can download it from Goldline:

http://www.haywardrebates.com/rebateforms.aspx

 

[N7GTJ]

I found that the Hayward will show 2900 for the first 24hrs from the factory. That at least what the sticker on it said. After the 24 hrs, mine showed the salt level at 3500. I set it to super chlorinate the next day just to see if it was running ok. So far so good. I set it to 50% and will see where the chlorine level comes to this weekend.
Yes, I got the cleaning stand. Our water here is so hard I had to clean my old SWG every 2 weeks. It would plug up solid.