Intex sand filter and SWG

[taylorjmt]

Hello everyone. Been lurking on the site for awhile and just now got around to registering so hopefully I can contribute!

So this year, we upgraded to the Intex Ultra 16'x48" pool and stopped using the dumb cartridge filters and went with the intex sand filter and swg. (man this filter seems awfully noisy) My question is, how are others syncing up the SWG unit and the filter motor? Seems like a big pain. Then, if I want to run the filter manually, say to vacuum, the timer loses its start up point. So I have to make sure to manually start the filter and built in timer, at the same time that the SWG is set to go on....

So has anyone modded their units to run at the same time? I'm thinking of putting in some kind of relay to the SWG unit, so it will switch on the pump at the same time. Would have been nice if the SWG unit had a switched outlet on and a manual switch for the pump unit!

 

[schertzy82]

Do you have the sand filter with the built in SWG or are they separate units?

 

[taylorjmt]

They are separate units. I may have just solved my own problem. I went and bought 2 outdoor timers. One for the filter, one for the SWG. What I've found so far is when you cut power to the SWG unit, and turn it back on, it defaults to however many hours it was set to run. For example. If you set the SWG to turn on at 8pm and off at 11pm, and you lose power at 5pm, when the power comes back, the unit will begin it's 3 hour cycle immediately. It loses the 8pm start time. So, if I put a timer on the SWG outlet, and set the unit to run for 12 hours (it will never run that long because the timer will shut it off first) and a timer on the pump, I can set the two to run at the same time, plus a few minutes before and after the SWG unit shuts off. If that makes any sense.

I will have to give it a couple days to make sure it's working. Plus, the timers have a manual switch, so I can turn the pump on to vacuum, backwash, etc, without messing up the schedule. Also, if the power does go out to the house, when it comes back on, both units will resume at the same time, they will just be off however long the power was out.

 

[schertzy82]

Well darn, I had discovered the exact same trick last year that you describe and you just robbed me of the pleasure of sharing it with someone. But yes, that is a great way to get around that pesky built in timer that defaults every time you manually turn the pump on. I'm doing the exact same thing with my SWG too. It's nice that it starts itself when plugged in (or switched on by a separate timer) and still retains whatever run time you previously set. If I may add one more thing, I would just set the SWG to whatever run time your pool needs rather than having the timer shut it off mid cycle because I think the unit does some kind of self cleaning cycle at the end. And I would program the external timer to shut it off several hours after the cycle is complete. That way if you get an error reading like "low salt," you'll have plenty of time to see it before the external timer shuts it off. Otherwise, if the unit were to malfunction during its cycle, you might never know until you have problems with your water. Kudos to you for figuring out the dual timer set up!

 

[taylorjmt]

Oh, that's a good idea, to have the SWG run for a set time and let it go through any self cleaning cycle. I have a question for you though. I had an issue when my timer would kick on or off, it would trip the GFCI on the filter cord. Now, in my case, I cut the cord and put a plug on the end and got rid of the cord GFCI and the problem went away...BUT, THE ONLY REASON I COULD CUT THE CORD IS BECAUSE MY CIRCUIT BREAKER IS GFCI PROTECTED. So I had 2 GFCI's and could safely get rid of the one on the cord. Did you have that problem?

My setup:

 

[schertzy82]

My pump does not have a built in GFCI, so I never had the problem that you describe. I do have everything plugged into a GFCI outlet though. About 2 or 3 times during the season it will trip for some reason, but sometimes they just do that because they are built to be sensitive (we are dealing with water and electricity after all.) So I recommend periodically just checking on it to make sure it's still on, though you will certainly be alerted to that right away if your pump doesn't turn on. If I had my pool set up for the season, I would show you pictures of my setup. But this constant rain in Peoria has thwarted me so far. Your setup looks good. I'm not actually sure what that self cleaning cycle does, or if it does anything significant for that matter, but I'd still rather have it complete its cycle rather than interrupting it.