struggling, want opinions

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bdrex28

bdrex28

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Silver Supporter
Jun 7, 2016
250
Frisco, TX
Ok, so I've gone through the search function, but I was hoping for an informal poll.

We're in Dallas, originally had thought we'd go just typical Chlorine with Traditional means by using the trouble free method.

Now, I'm seriously considering the IC60 and just going with a SWCG.

give me those opinions.

We are using Travertine Tile and Coping, all other equipment is Pentair; VS pump, easytouch 8 with intellitouch, Clean and Clear Plus 520 filter, etc.

So, recommend SWCG or traditional Chlorination method without the SWCG?

Thanks!
 
Brian,

I think you will be hard pressed to find anyone that has a SWCG who would be willing to go back to manually putting chlorine in their pools.

I personally believe that for easy of use, having a SWCG, or a Stenner, is the only way to go.

I recently came back from a 21 day vacation and all three of my pools were still Chrystal clear. The only thing I did was have some non-pool neighbors made sure that the water was kept full.

Your setup is already perfect for the addition of an IC60.

Jim R.
 
There is a lot of talk about salt being harmful to soft stone, particularly the flagstone that is common in the DFW area. Earlier this year there was an extensive thread on the subject and end result was no TFP forum member posted any clear examples of stone degradation that could be attributed to the use of salt water in their pools. There were examples of weathering (some extensive) of soft stone, but just as many came from non-swg pools as swg pools, and location where they occurred seems to have no relation to salt exposure. Given all that our best advice for softer stone is to use a good sealer and reapply every year or two.
 
I have a SWG and I love not having to add chlorine. It took me a while to dial in the right output where my chlorine would stay at the right level. At first it always was too high or low. Now I practically forget about, it's like it is on auto-pilot. One thing to keep in mind. What you don't have to add in chlorine be prepared to be adding acid. My Ph rises very quickly. I am adding acid every other day. Almost a gallon a week. I have heard that salt water pools make it more difficult to maintain Ph. That has definitely been my experience. With that said I would still go with a salt water pool. We like the way the water feels versus a non salt pool.
 
SWCG, hands down.

Side note - my pH rose for the first 2-3 years, over a gallon of MA a week (not really a big deal). Then with the same TA (~60), the rise has slowed to a crawl in year 4. Maybe a gallon of MA a month now.
 
Like Isaac-1 said, the big concern seems to be potential damage to stone coping/decking from the salt. You hear stories of some PBs refusing to do both SWG and travertine - you have to pick one or the other with them. If you google the issue, most of the travertine sellers include disclaimers about SWG and potential damage. You can find pictures online of what the potential damage looks like. But on the other hand, like Issac-1 said, there seem to be very few flesh-and-blood owners who have actually experienced noticeable problems that could be linked directly to SWG (or at least very few who will admit it).
 

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Just throwing it out there, I know I have read to go bigger on your salt cell if you can, but IC40 would probably be more than enough for your 18k gal pool.

I would make sure your PB won't put up a stink if you use Salt. A lot of PBs I met with pretty much bashed the idea of putting in Salt water system.
 
SWG!! Adding bleach daily will get old and you will need something to handle the times that you are on vacation or life happens and you can't get to it.

I have a very similar setup equipment setup (just a little smaller) And don't let anyone talk you out of the IC60. I wish I had the 60. I could run the pool for 4 hours at 90% to fill the demand of my pool. With the IC60, you will be able to run the pump for 4hrs at 90% if you are loosing 2PPM a day. See the chart.

 
mgmoore7 said:
SWG!! Adding bleach daily will get old and you will need something to handle the times that you are on vacation or life happens and you can't get to it.

I have a very similar setup equipment setup (just a little smaller) And don't let anyone talk you out of the IC60. I wish I had the 60. I could run the pool for 4 hours at 90% to fill the demand of my pool. With the IC60, you will be able to run the pump for 4hrs at 90% if you are loosing 2PPM a day. See the chart.

Click to expand...

Lol, wasn't necessarily talking him out of IC60, just commenting on what I have read in the past. You could be right.
 
I'm soooo glad I went with a SWCG system - against the advice of every PB in interviewed! For me, I don't have a huge network of friends who could/would step in for pool water test checks during those life happenings that can't be avoided. I was able to have hip surgery without any worries. (the only life interruption I've had in the last year or first year of pool ownership) The water doesn't aggravate my asthma as 'bleached' pools do (of course, none of those were TFP pools), and the feel of the water is lovely. The acid usage was pretty high even through part of this spring. Then along about month 10 of the pool being filled, the pH really stabilized. In fact the levels all chems became very stable (except with torrential rains!!). Now I add maybe 20 oz of MA every 10-18 days depending on the weather. I checked my salt cell at about month 10, and it looked brand new thanks to using the TFP method of maintaining the water.

I have honed and filled travertine coping and tumbled travertine decking. It's only been a year, so I can't give you any longevity reports. So far, so good. I've read that if you get a good amount of rain, that helps keep accumulation of salts at bay. We've had plenty of rain during this swim season, but when we have a drought summer, I plan to quickly hose down the deck after big swim splash-outs or every so often. I'm just not worried about it. I don't think you'll regret getting the SWCG system.
 
gocubs418 said:
Lol, wasn't necessarily talking him out of IC60, just commenting on what I have read in the past. You could be right.
Click to expand...
Lol, i had not even read your post. . All good.
mgmoore7 said:
SWG!! Adding bleach daily will get old and you will need something to handle the times that you are on vacation or life happens and you can't get to it.

I have a very similar setup equipment setup (just a little smaller) And don't let anyone talk you out of the IC60. I wish I had the 60. I could run the pool for 4 hours at 90% to fill the demand of my pool. With the IC60, you will be able to run the pump for 4hrs at 90% if you are loosing 2PPM a day. See the chart.

Click to expand...
 
Some really great posts here and I thank every single one of you!

We decided to do the IC60, in the end only cost us about $400 more to do that over the traditional chlorine. I originally was to get the FNS 60 DE Filter but after talking to some others here (BDavis and dvpool) decided to switch over to the Clean and Clear Plus 520. That actually saved me $175 because they don't have to run a backline to the street now.

Now, what I don't know is do they keep the RB320 when I switch to the IC60? I wouldn't think so right? Because that's an automatic chlorine/bromine feeder and I wouldn't need that. Is that correct?

So, that should leave us with the following equipment:

Easytouch 8 with Screen Logic 2
3 Paraglo LED in pool
1 Paraglo LED in spa
1 36" Sheer and 2 12" sheers on back wall
3 bubblers on tanning ledge
1 bubbler in spa
Pentair Intelliflo VS 3.0HP
Pentair CCP 520 Filter
Pentair Racer with 3/4HP pump (may switch out to a robot , can't decide to do now or later)
Pentair Mastertemp 400k
Whisperflo Booster for water features
Pentair IC60 SWCG
Now, I just need to decide on keeping the Racer or upgrading to a Dolphin or something similar.

Love these forums, thank you so much for the help....


Last decision is we know we are going to do Tumbled Travertine in Versailles, going to use Nysa. We're also doing 12" x 24" tumbled coping with bullnose also in Nysa. What we can't decide is if we're going to do the same on our spa, firepit and backwall in split face or go to contrasting color. We talked about Silver Travertine. The problem is we have Oklahoma Flagstone on our porch and I don't know if that would be too much clash even though they aren't really near each other....
 
Dump the rainbow. Its not needed.

Dump the racer. I bet the cost of the cleaner, pump and plumbing evens out to the cost of a robot. A robot will use considerably less electricity which will end up paying for itself.

The SWG is a no brainer.
 
bdrex28 said:
thank you Jim.

What is your decking? Are you using travertine or what? It seems your equipment is VERY similar to ours.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but at my house I have a concrete deck and some kind of man-made white coping. No Flagstone or Travertine, so that won't help with your decision.

I'm a pretty firm non-believer in the theory that a SWG and stone can't coexist..

Jim R.
 
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