New Pool Startup with Intellichlor IC40

[briansturgeon]

I have seen that Pentair sells passthrough cells for Intellichlor. My question is should this be used when our pool is completed for a while and use regular chlorine to protect the expensive cell?

What are the guidelines for this?

I just want to make sure that if I need something like that the PB follows that. I just like to be knowledgable of everything that should go on.

 

[JasonLion]

You can use a pass through, or just turn the SWG completely off for the first 30 days. There is no real risk to the SWG cell during startup. The only risk is to the plaster if you have plaster and add salt too early. With fresh plaster you should wait 30 days before adding salt. Without salt the SWG won't work, so best if it is turned off.

 

[XsAllOverIt]

From the manual: For a newly plastered pool use a spacer cell (P/N 520588) for 30 days to ensure all pool
debris has been filtered out, avoiding damage to the IntelliChlor. I also read somewhere that you should use the spacer during the winterization, BUT... my PB did not install a spacer, so I've had mine in all winter. We'll see how it fared this summer. Just out of caution, I will probably build a bypass in mine for the winters in the future.

 

[briansturgeon]

Will you just build a bypass out of pvc and use unions to put it in or something?

Our pool will be vinyl so I'm not sure if I really need to worry about it then in terms of debris hurting it.

 

[bk406]

Our pool will be vinyl so I'm not sure if I really need to worry about it then in terms of debris hurting it.

With vinyl, its not an issue. You can add salt and start making chlorine on day one.

FWIW, I've had my IC-40 hooked up, outside, thru 3 new england winters and never had a problem in the spring on start up. I don't even own a pass thru cell.

 

[susa]

after my new ig/plaster pool setup, I had ic40 initially powered on but it did not run due to autosense of low (below 500 ppm) salt since I used only liquids

all equipment was brand new and I rinsed the filter every two weeks, brushed daily

after 2 months, slowly started adding salt but had by this time already installed the voltage control relay which keeps the ic40 powered off when pump watts/rpm are low or pump is in control mode (always powered but running it's own programming and uses < 10 watts when idle).

inspected cell after 90 days and it is absolutely like brand new, not a spec of dust or any change in appearance since new install.

ic40 is now fully operational and runs 4 hours daily @ 20% (pump runs 10 hours most days depending on programming cycle). have purchased the pentair diagnostic wand so I can run timeseries and capture it's statistics and performance data.

so apparently with new pool startup, even with a plaster pool, there is no negative impact to ic40 even if it is powered on or off for the first couple months without proper salt level in water, just keep your filter clean and your cell will remain same.