SWG systems that will work at lower flow rates

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floridaguy

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May 27, 2008
3
Florida
I have a 12,000 gallon pool in Central Florida that I am interested in switching to a SWG system. The concern that I have is that I use an Pentair Intelliflo pump that I run 24 hours a day at only 1,230 RPM. I don't have the GPM equivalent for that as it doesn't show that on the display of my model. My guess is that I am moving about 20 GPM or so at 2 PSI (measured 40 GPM on the discharge with no back pressure). I run it this slow since it meets my filtration needs just fine and the pump is only using 140 watts at that speed. That's 3.36 kWh/day or 102 kWh/month which is less than $10/month here in electricity. I have a 10kW solar system and try to keep my bill at net zero in all but the summer months so that is my motivation for the slow (and thus highly efficient) speed. Even without the solar system, it is just good practice to use as little energy as necessary to accomplish a task.

Anyway, when researching SWG systems several years ago I discovered that most of them will not operate at low flow rates. Do any of you know what the typical minimum flow rates are for the common SWG systems these days? Do you know of any of the systems that has lower flow rate requirements than others? I would like to avoid turning up the pump speed just to accommodate a SWG system.

Thanks for your thoughts.

David
 
The Hayward Swimpure/Aqua Rite systems work well in lower flow situations. Lowest of all the major systems if I'm not mistaken.

You still may have issues at 1230 RPM though. Bumping it up a few hundred RPM for 8 hours a days or so to get the salt system going probably isn't going to put a big dent in your electric.
 
Tiffani,

My Pentair IC40 runs well at 1,200 RPM. Others here run theirs as low as 1,000 RPM.

The exact flow rate will depend on your plumbing and filter. My filter pressure is about 3 PSI.

Jim R.
 
My Pentair IC40 will run at 900 rpm with occasional flow errors as the filter gets dirty. It runs at 1100 rpm with no flow errors ever, no matter how cdirty the filter gets. The pump uses 150 watts at 1100 rpm.
 
This is good news. I've never seen anyone else around here (where I live) that has figured out that it is far more efficient (and quieter) to run the pump longer at these slow speeds so I'm glad to read that there are others that are doing the same (and therefore don't think I'm crazy)! I now wish that I would have made the switch to SWG two years ago.

Considering that it is especially important to avoid adding additional restrictions into the piping system with already-low flow rates, I would like an SWG that is as free flowing as possible. It appears that a product like the Pentair IC40 referenced by Jimrahbe does that. The Circupool SJ-40 that appears highly rated on Amazon appears to be much more restrictive. Any thoughts there?

BTW, I am not Tiffani Ainsworth as it says on my post footer. My account was set up in 2008 and I think that something got mixed up with my account and Tiffani's somewhere along the way. I'll have to see if I can edit that name out of my account.

David Jensen
 
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Sure David, that's what they all say... :cool:

I've only seen a couple of brand name SWGs, and internally they looked about the same, restriction wise. I doubt that there is any major differences between any of them, that would matter all that much.

I like my IC40, but the down-side is that if you do not have Pentair Automation, the output can only be adjusted in 20% increments. Not a major issue , but something that you should know beforehand.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Autopilot models support 20 gpm, and read of people running down to 15. I am about to get mine (controller for Total Control so I can add ORP/PH control next spring - the Pool Pilot Digital is same basic controller) and will replace my pump with vs one to run 24 hours/day so I can adjust down to the lower rate.
 

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The CircuPool SJ and Jandy Aquapure SWG's require higher flow rates than all the other brands. CircuPool RJ units require less flow than the SJ units.

Hayward, AutoPilot, Pentair and CircuPool RJ should all work fine with the lower flow rate that you want to use.

Pentair will most likely require automation to control the output if you plan on running 24/7, as 20% is the lowest setting for the output without automation.
 
Hayward, AquaRite, SwimPure, Goldline (all the same unit sold under several names) is the one most poeple report as working well in low flow situations. The minimum rpm will vary depending on your plumbing, type and size filter and even if the filter was recently cleaned.

In my system it works well at 1300 rpm, I run 1400 just to be sure. Many others report 1000 rpm as working dependability in their system. If you use the T-15 you could generate all the chlorine you need in a few hours. So, even if you had to boost your speed it would only need be for a couple hours a day.
 
The Jandy Aquapure requires a 40 GPM flow which is higher than most. I also have a Intelliflow pump which gets there at just about 1400 rpm. One of the advantages of the pump we have is that you can program the cycles, so I do 6 hours at 1500 rpm (290W) for the chlorine generating, and 18 hours at 750 rpm (100W) which gets me the turn overs and makes sure the SWG cell is not staying on without flow going through it.

Hope this helps.
 
i could run my hayward at 1500rpm, my first pentair ic40 at 1900rpm and now my newer ic40 at 1700rpm. just get the best brand and schedule your run time around that. you dont need to run 24/7.
 
AKStrong said:
The Jandy Aquapure requires a 40 GPM flow which is higher than most. I also have a Intelliflow pump which gets there at just about 1400 rpm. One of the advantages of the pump we have is that you can program the cycles, so I do 6 hours at 1500 rpm (290W) for the chlorine generating, and 18 hours at 750 rpm (100W) which gets me the turn overs and makes sure the SWG cell is not staying on without flow going through it.

Hope this helps.
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Based on your post it reads like you are depending on the flow switch to turn the SWG on and off. If so that is not recommended for safety reasons.
 
great topic : I have a Jandy Aquapure EI and @ 40GPM I cant seem to get the Low Flow indicator off : Planning to turn mine in for a low flow option
Any updates since we are now in 2018 ?
thanks
 
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