SWG Newbie

[tcat]

Been running BBB for about a year now (new house, new to pools). I am either going to buy a Liquidator, or convert to SWG to minimize chlorine maintenance. Just curious about these questions:

1. What model/size for a 10-12K gallon pool?
2. How much electricity do SWG's use?
3. I run my pump 4-5 hours per day, is that adequate for SWG?

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[elwood58]

I would get an SWG rates for at least 30000 gallons. Rule of thumb is 2X your pool capacity. They use a fair bit of current to energize the plates, but I have not looked closely at the numbers since converting.

4-5 hours may not be enough during the peak temps. I have a 14K pool and run mine 10 hours during peak temps, but at 20 to 40% setting on the SWG. It may take some trial and error.

We have the Pentair Intellichlor IC40, and love it.

 

[RobbieH]

1. 2-3x the size of your pool, so one made for a 20k-30k pool.
2. I pulled this use from CompuPool's site:
CPSC24
Chlorine output: 1.3 lb / day (0.60 kg / day)
Running Cost: 240 Watt / 1 amp
Suitable for pools up to 30,000 gallons (120,000 litres)

CPSC16
Chlorine output: 1.0 lb / day (0.45 kg / day)
Running Cost: 160 Watt / 0.6 amp
Suitable for pools up to 20,000 gallons (80,000 litres)

3. Maybe, that's hard to say. Lots of variables such as your CYA level, amount of sun your pool gets, usage of pool, size of SWG, percentage SWG is set at... But mine won't keep it up in the heat of summer, but I have a large pool with lots of sun. I need to run my pump more than that in the summer anyway.

 

[linen]

1. What model/size for a 10-12K gallon pool?

We recommend sizing it 1.5 to 3 times the volume of the pool.

2. How much electricity do SWG's use?

As RobbieH said, not a ton, definitely less than a pump on high speed takes.

3. I run my pump 4-5 hours per day, is that adequate for SWG?

As was said, many variables, but 4-5 hours is not a lot of run time and without knowing more (like how much bleach you typically used per day at peak last summer) you would want to oversize the cell to closer to 6X which may not be realistic.

 

[tcat]

Thank you. I add about 12 oz/day of bleach in the winter, and 28-32 oz during the summer. Pool is 50% shaded 75% of the day. I probably spend $3-$5/week on Clorox. I was trying to compare that to EE use and salt required. I'm thinking the Liquidator may be the more economical way to go.

 

[RobbieH]

I've had both the Liquidator (LQ) and SWG. My pool was too big for the LQ to save me any time and wasn't sufficient to keep my FC level up over the periods I travel for work. With the LQ you are still toting bottles of bleach, so keep that in mind. Another downside of LQ is you have to keep your TA and pH in check, or you'll end up with an issue called "white stuff" for lack of a better term. With your 10,000 gallon pool, the good news for you is you should be able to go 2 weeks or more without the need to refill it. More good news for the LQ is you should not have pH swings like you do with the SWG, and no worry of salt etching if you have stone coping or deck.

If you compare the costs of plain BBB vs. BBB using SWG, they come out about the same over a 4-5 year period. Salt is CHEAP, less than $4 a bag at Home Depot, and you won't need a whole bunch given your size pool. Salt stays in the pool, you only need to add after significant numbers of backflushes, a pool leak (guess how I know this), or through a long time of splash out. It's like CYA, it's in the pool until it's removed physically.

Both the SWG and the LQ are a convenience thing and give you the ability to take a vacation without worrying about chlorine. SWG more convenient of the two. You still need someone to check skimmers while you are away, more so in the fall and spring.