SWG large enough for 52,000 gal pool

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tcm

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Apr 12, 2011
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Brookeland, Texas
We are about to build a 24' x 48' 52,000 gal pool with 7' spa. This seemed like a simple enough project until I started reading and researching. It seems like for every opinion about something to do with a pool there is one claiming just the opposite. My head is now spinning. Been reading on this site for a few days now and seems to be the best place for answers.

I have about 1000 questions as this will be our first pool. I try to research best I can before starting a new post, but haven't found any answers specific enough to my situaition.
I am pretty sure I want to go with a SWG system, but am concerned from what I am reading about needing a SWG oversized for the pool it is installed in. Would an IC60 be good enough for this size pool? Or I guess a better way of asking would be would it be economically worth it? My concern is how long the cell will last before it needs to be replaced? Will it be able to keep up with chlorine generation here in East Texas with 110 degree temps in August? Will I have to run it max output all the time, and by doing so does it shorten the life of the cell? Is it possible to run 2 smaller cells, if so is that a viable option?

Planning on FNS 60 DE filter, Pentair 3050 variable speed pump.

All input is welcome and appreciated.
 
TCM...just wanted to say welcome to TFP :wave:

I'll let the swg experts give you solid advice, but I see no reason why you could not run two chlorinators...but likely there may be comercial options that folks may be able to guide you to :goodjob: Good luck with the build and do come back to post pics :goodjob:
 
An IC60 would more or less work for your pool. On the hottest days there is some chance you will need to add a little extra chlorine manually. You might want to look into something like the AutoPilot CC-15 cell, a commercial unit which is also sold for larger residential pools, or think about using two SWGs in parallel. Running two units in parallel has some minor disadvantages, but works well enough.

SWG cells run for some large number of hours turned on and producing chlorine and then wear out. If you run them at a higher percentage, which is the percentage of the time they are turned on and producing chlorine, they don't last as many years, but they still produce the same amount of chlorine over their lifetime that they would have produced over more years in the smaller pool.
 
Due to an error, either in ordering or by the internet supplier, I have an IC-20 on my 40,000 gallon pool here in East Texas ... it has worked fine for 2 years ... I run it at 60% and have always produced enough clorine ... because I have a 20 ft negative edge I do run the primary pump on low speed 24/7 ... occasionally bumping it up to medium and occasionally running the water feature ...
 
There is certainly way more to consider then I ever Imagined when building a pool. I think this is more complicated than when we built the house three years ago. We have two to three more weeks before we start construction, and it seems all I do is obsess about this pool. The more I research the more I question which way to go. I like the PB builder we have decide to use they are super nice and very accomadating to my " I want to change this" calls. But sometimes I can't help but wonder why these changes I come up with were not suggested by them in the first place. On one hand I really like that they are not like a car salesman trying to push a bunch of unessasary options on me, but on the other hand I want to be sure the equipment I go with is plenty good enough to do the job. One example of this was the pump. Originally in my pool quote he had a whisper 2hp pump. There was no discussions as to any other options. Being the OCD person that I am, I searched the internet and came across the variable speed pumps and how much more efficient they were. I called and said that I wanted to go with one of those, and he agreed it was definitely a better way to go for not a whole lot more money. And I'm thinking well why didn't you offer that in the first place? I don't no why I seem to be so miss trusting of contractors, I guess because of the idiot that built our house every time you turned your back on him he tried to take a short cut to save himself a buck.

Anyway I am little OCD like I said, all I do is wonder about things like " is the plumbing going to be sufficient, is the pump going to be enough for pool and spa, flagstone or no flagstone, salt water or no salt water, is the filter big enough?" and on and on.

Thanks for any and all advice, and not limited to just my questions. I want to do this right the first time and not have any regrets.

Jason, I am curious as to how you run two salt cell in parrallel, and wht the disadvantages you mentioned were.
 
Putting two salt cells in parallel first requires plumbing them in parallel so they split the water flow evenly between them, that is the easy part. Then the only slightly more annoying part is that any time their settings need to be adjusted you have to adjust both of them. If you have an automation system, it will generally only be able to communicate with one of them, which means adjusting the other one manually from it's control panel. If you have both a spa and an automation system you need to disable the SWG not connected to the automation system when in spa mode.

Pool builders tend to go with a standard plan which they believe will make the most people happy in the short run. They are not usually concerned with long range issues, like saving electricity, as they will be gone before those issues become important. They also tend to assume, correctly in most cases, that the buyer is too overwhelmed to make detailed decisions about individual components. Often enough they would offer a pump upgrade as an extra cost item, but not all of them bother.
 
I see your point, but if it were me I would be more concerned with my customer telling someone a year later how great it is to have the pool and how easy it is to maintain, not "I regret ever getting a pool, the filter doesn't keep up with it, chemicals and electricity cost a fortune, I wouldn't get a pool if I were you" Because to be honest with you when we first made the decision to put in a pool we did not even consider these things as issues that would need to be dealt with. Although I was somewhat aware of the chemical and maintainance , I had know idea of all the different options out there. I feel like when I was a little kid and I wanted a dog really bad and my parents said "Are you willing to take care of it?" Although I said yes, I really had no concept of what taking care of it meant.
 
tcm, Not sure where you live but for me Texas is a miserable place in the summer without a pool! I waited about 2 years to long when I built mine! Had PB's come and give me quotes which were way overpriced and if I didn't tell them exactly what equipment I wanted they did ask either. Having owned a pool before I new what I wanted for sure, DE filter auto cleaner(polaris) and possibly salt cell. After about a month of interviews I decided to do it all myself! Alot more homework with permits and city reg's but in the end I saved myself $18000-20000!! Not really that hard to be honest, and I built exactly what I wanted not anybody else! The best thing I ever did if you ask me! I would recomend DE for sure and I would go with salt. This pool is so easy to care for!! Very little chemicals need to be bought at the pool store! And since I have found this site, I suggest the BBB method on here even less expensive and easier!
 

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I know what you mean, all last summer while I was outside working on my place all I kept saying was " Man it sure would be nice to have pool to just jump into right now" 100 degrees and 100% humidity you just about can't spend any time outside here in the summer. I wish I had the time and patience to do this myself also, but I just don't. That's my problem with contractors, they always want to do what's just good enough. And if you let that happen it seems like you always have regrets afterwards.
 
As Jason mentioned, running two in parallel can require some additional considerations. I would like to add to that. Running two in parallel will also require additional flow to meet the demand of two flow switches.

This pool will, IMHO, be best served with the Auto Pilot system. They have a version than can run cells in series and not require the additional flow that two in parallel would require.

If you are in-land from the coast, I am sure that if you have been there for at least a year, you already understand how powerful the sun is there.

Scott
 
The AutoPilot is not an automation system, just a SWG with an optional simple timer. It works just fine with an EcoTouch system except I don't think that you can adjust the SWG percentage from the remote.
 
The IC 60 will make up to 2 pounds of chlorine per day. This will give you 4.6 ppm of chlorine per day for your 52,000 gallon pool. To achieve this, you will need to run your pump continuously, which isn't a problem with a variable speed pump. I think that if you run the pump at about 50 gpm continuously and you are careful to manage the chemicals properly, you will not have any problems.
 
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