Salt Systems Comparative with Questions

[Sarahdog]

Compupool and Circupool are the same company. Rep. said both work the same, except Circupool has a slightly better warrante and will readout salt level. Rep. was less than helpful.

Compu & Circu both appear to have full plastic cases which will degrade in the sun. Hayward/Goldline have a full meta case.

Compupool does not accept conduit for wiring, the Hayward box does.

A known design flaw with the Hayward unit is that the MOVs eventually fail and need to be replaced. I have made this fix myself, simple and cheap. A fan can be added to the Hayward case for better cooling in extreme hot environments. Parts are also easier to get for the Hayward unit due to it's popularity.

The Autopilot units look nice, but price wise are quite high and full plastic cases? I am not understanding the value.

One issue that does not seem to be brought up in these SWG topics is flow rate. The Compupool cells appear to be more flow restrictive. Hayward's design appears to be about as good as you can get.


Q1 - Is the Compupool case full plastic?
Q2 - Does the Compupool unit have any know failure modes?
Q3 - I have a 2 speed pump. I run low sp. (40 gal/min) for 6 hours. My peak chlorine load is about 92oz of 6% bleach per day. Will a Hayward 1.45# rate cell be able to run that rate on a 6 hour cycle?

-- Craig

 

[Bama Rambler]

Welcome to TFP.

To me the issue of metal or plastic is moot. The UV inhibitors they have now make plastics last for many many years in the sun. Metal can rust but if properly coated it will also last many many years. That's a wash in my book. Metal transfers more heat to the internals in hot climates than plastic does but with good cooling design that's not much of an issue either.

It appears that you've made up your mind on a Hayward unit and there's nothing wrong with that. They are good units and if that's what you want it's not a bad decision.

The rating of the cells is over a 24 hour period. So it'll produce 1.45 lbs of chorine gas when ran at 100% for 24 hours.
92 oz of 6% equals about 6 oz of chlorine gas. (you can use the Pool Calc to get that) So you'd need about 4 hours at 100% to satisfy your demand. I'd personally go for the larger cell.

 

[Sarahdog]

Not to be argumentative, but Edited: to maintain required courtesy. Butterfly

Plastics even with UV stabilizers fog and crack. Take a look at any sand or DE filter housing that is 5 years old. Take a look at the fenders on a Honda Element or the clear headlight housings on cars. After 5 years, most start to degrade quite a bit. A five year old metal box can be painted. Pretty hard to clear up fogged clear plastic.

Metal housings conduct the heat in AND out better. As such, the plastic housing will insulate and trap the heat from the transformer more. In actual use, the control unit (transformer & circuit cards) will be at no lower internal temp than ambient external temp. Long haul, metal wins.

Two questions remain
Q1 - Is the Compupool case full plastic? Any metal heatsinks?
Q2 - Does the Compupool unit have any know failure modes?

I am not sold on the Hayward unit, but it is a very known product and level of quality and design.
No one seems to have torn open the Compupool and examined the construction quality.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Comparing plastic of headlights that are subjected to 70 mph wind, sand everything else on the road is comparing apples and oranges. The sun has nothing to do with fogging those. I have instruments with all plastic housings and windows, even buttons, sitting in the elements that are 10 years old and they're neither cracked or fogged. But that's enough about that.

The Compupool does have heat sinks.
We haven't had enough reports of failures to establish any kind of pattern.

Don't take my word for it, search around and see how many failures have been reported.