Oversized Salt Generator?

[denisbaldwin]

I went to the local pool store yeserday to get an education about salt chlorine generators. I wanted to stick with Pentair as my other equipment is all Pentair. The guy behind the counter showed me both the IC20 and the IC40 system and then asked how big my pool was. When I told him I had a 12,000 gallon pool, he said the most I'd ever want to put in is an IC20 as the IC40 "is way too big for your pool and will throw off your pool chemistry". How is that possible? Aren't there controls to dial back the chlorine production? Isn't it always better to buy bigger than you need so it puts less stress on the components and they last longer?

Seems to me that the IC20 and IC40 aren't that much different in price so I'd be more likely to get the IC40 unless there's a specific reason not to.

Denis

 

[Strannik]

it's not going to throw off your pool chemistry but you will lose the ability to fine tune it. for 12k pool i'd say 40 is a bit overkill. but yeah, it will last longer

 

[bk406]

As a rule of thumb, i think the idea that the bigger you get, the longer it will last since you dont have to run it as as long.
However, Stannick makes a good point about fine tuning. At some point you will lose the ability to fine tune the SWCG. If you had a IC-40 on a 10,000 gallon pool, it might be difficult to turn it down enough so that the pool isn't over chlorinated. You can always decrease the pump run time, but thats not what most people want to do. The pump run time should be set to optimally turn the water over once a day and keep the pool looking good, not as a control for the SWCG.

That said there are some options. For the Pentair, if you only have the cell with out and Easytouch or Intellitouch box, you can only control the "on" time for the cell in increments of 20%. However, with a control box, you can control the on time in increments of 1%. In that case, you wouldnt have any trouble with having a bigger unit.
I have an IC-40 on a 14,000 gallon pool, but I have an ET box. I will say that I usually set it on 20% and run the pump 12 hours a day and it keeps my FC right around 5 ppm.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Even if you got the IC60 it wouldn't throw your chemistry off.

We normally recommend that you don't greatly exceed 3 times your pool volume when sizing a cell, and of course you don't want to size it exactly either. So anything between 1.5x and 3x is fine. As said, the larger cell will last longer. While the IC40 is a little bigger than 3x your pool size, it's the one I'd recommend. And as BK said, if you go with one of the controllers you can adjust it as fine as you need it.

 

[denisbaldwin]

Cool! I planned on getting a controller eventually (for the lights, pump, IC, all of it) but that probably won't be until next spring. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't gonna cause a problem in the meantime.

 

[iPhone]

For my money and my opinion, bigger then needed is always better when it comes to SWGs. My rule of thumb is to always buy at least one size larger then what one needs.