AutoPilot Total Control Question

[igsmith]

First time poster. Am building my second pool. First was a 20x40 gunite pool with an AutoPilot SWG and an automatic pool cover. Found myself constantly battling pH. ALso, salt wreaked havoc on the automatic cover. Sold that house (and a bunch of future headaches, i think)

Now building an 18x44 outdoor gunite pool with no cover (SWG won out over cover). Saw the product literature for AutoPilot Total Control and thought it was the answer to my pH dreams.

So i have read as many of the posts as i can find on this subject and it seems like most people think that the right way to go for an outdoor pool if you want automation is a automated pH adjustor and a percentage-controlled SWG (because if you run your CYA at anything close to 50 or higher, the ORP is highly unreliable).

So the question is, should I buy the AutoPilot Total Control and disable the ORP right from the start and just use it for acid/pH adjustment and percentage based (manual) adjustment of chlorine? Should i buy it and see if the ORP works well enough and if it doesn't just shut it off? Or is there another, better combination of acid/pH control and SWG?

Thanks in advance,
Ian

 

[JasonLion]

First off, Welcome to TFP!

We can show you how to balance you levels so the PH is either completely stable, or only drifts a little. Take a look at this article in Pool School.

On the other hand, I have a Total Control system and I love it. It costs more and it takes more maintenance than a regular SWG, but I still love it. It can be very handy when your levels aren't balanced, since it will keep the PH under control almost perfectly. As for the ORP part, if you are a gadget freak and love playing with complex toys then by all means try out the ORP function. But if you just want simple, and have an outdoor residential pool, turn off the ORP and use percentage control along with PH automation.

Hayward now makes a similar system. I like the AutoPilot better, but if you are getting a Hayward automation system anyway there can be a significant price advantage to adding on their PH/ORP control module.

I wish someone made a PH only control system, without the added expense of the ORP portion, but I have never seen one for a residential pool. There are some commercial models like that, but they are so expensive that there isn't any point.