Switching to Salt Water -- variable speed pump question

[veggiebenz]

Hi,

My pool is about 3 years old, about 13,500 gal. I need to flush my water already because my Cyanuric acid is over 150. So while I'm at it, I thought I would switch to SWG, on the premise that there are some nice benefits (less or no chloramines) and few drawbacks (dupont has a stone treatment for my coping flagstone).

I've got two questions I'm trying to figure out, and they're not well documented.

First, I run a variable speed pump and unless the polaris is on, it is at very low speed, around 650 or so. I run it for 12-16 hours depending on time of year. So the question here is whether the low flow will be a problem with SWG -- I have read that some will not function unless flow is up to a certain level. I'm not sure how to approach this problem.

Second, I have a pretty decent Zodiac iAquaLink system to manage my pool through my mobile phone. I would like to leverage my investment here and get something that will work very well with the aqualink -- be able to set the variables through the phone etc. I presume this means a zodiac SWG is in the best position to help here, but I dont know exactly what integration exists so maybe the competitors are really no better or worse.

Any perspective on these would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

As far as the required flow rate, you may have to adjust the RPM to ensure that you have enough flow to activate the SWG ... likely will just take some trial and error. If you have to raise the RPM, then you can likely also reduce the run time. The SWG will produce the same amount of FC regardless of the flow rate of the pump as long as it is enough to activate the SWG. So, you will have to play with the run time vs. the SWG output %. With long run times, you will need a low output so that you do not raise the FC too high.

I am not sure on the automation aspect, so shall defer to others.

 

[veggiebenz]

Thanks Jason -- I'd like to keep the pump speed as low as possible on account of "pump affinity law" - much less power required for what I'll submit is a roughly equivalent water turnover.

Is anyone overriding the flow sensor and manually timing the SWG? The aqualink does let me set timing at a very fine grained level, even some pretty complex timings.

Thanks,

 

[JasonLion]

You do not want to override the flow sensor. The SWG requires a certain flow rate to work correctly, without that you can have serious problems, ie defeating the flow sensor can result in an explosion.

 

[jblizzle]

Also, lower rpm is not necessarily better. For example, the intelliflo seems to be most efficient at around 1000 rpm.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short

 

[ComputerGuyInNOLA]

Is all of your equipment Jandy? If so, you need to get a Jandy salt water chlorine generator. If I were you I would call Jandy and ask them about the compatibility of your current Jandy system with their current saltwater chlorine generators. Make sure they give you confirmation in writing. My Jandy system is completely automated and I can tell whether or not I have flow as well as the current salt level. I am sure that if their current SWCG system is compatible with your control system and pump they will guide you in the right direction. This will ensure that your SWCG works with your iaqualink.

 

[Aquatica]

You will need more flow to activate the swg. also at least with the hayward systems to get a correct salt reading you need to have these running at least around 1,500+ rpm. we run the VS's at around 1,800. this also works out good for the heat pumps.