Best SWCG to Buy given Existing Pentair Intelliflo VS Pump

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bedelliott

bedelliott

0
Jun 13, 2017
134
Austin, TX
Hello, I've found info here on this topic but the posts I was reading were 2-3 years old. My pool is in Austin but am mostly out of town and having friends feed & maintain my Liquidator is a headache so it seems SWCG might be the low-maintenance answer. I have a Pentair Intelliflo pump so I just figured a Pentair IC40 (19k gal pool so doubling the salt cell) was the logical choice, and with their automation so I could monitor things while out of town (program pump, watch salt cell's remaining life, adjust FC output, etc.). But then I talked to a few people that point me to Jandy's SWCG and say their automation will tie into my Pentair pump just fine, they say Jandy is top quality and better availability of parts & quicker/better on warranty work. Given this is 2-3 years later than what I read the comments on, what brand/system would you steer me to - all Pentair to keep integrated parts the same brand or mix & match is just fine? Maybe a different brand than Pentair or Jandy that's as good or better but without the premium of the brand name? Thank you so much!
 
With a simple pool, I don't see the need for automation. Run the VS pump 24/7 at low RPMs, install whatever SWCG you want and off you go. You'll need to maintain pH to avoid SWCG scale, so it's not 100% hands-off, but it's as close to that as possible. A few times a year, you'll either increase or decrease the production rate of the SWCG based on season, but other than that, having daily access via automation is just not something you'll use much.

Now if you're going to be gone more than a week, very frequently, then having the peace of mind of seeing if your pump has failed, or lost power, etc, might make automation make sense. But it's a pretty hefty premium $$ over just adding a SWCG.

I'm happy with my Circupool RJ60+ which would be a great fit for your pool as well.
 
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reggiehammond said:
With a simple pool, I don't see the need for automation. Run the VS pump 24/7 at low RPMs, install whatever SWCG you want and off you go. You'll need to maintain pH to avoid SWCG scale, so it's not 100% hands-off, but it's as close to that as possible. A few times a year, you'll either increase or decrease the production rate of the SWCG based on season, but other than that, having daily access via automation is just not something you'll use much.

Now if you're going to be gone more than a week, very frequently, then having the peace of mind of seeing if your pump has failed, or lost power, etc, might make automation make sense. But it's a pretty hefty premium $$ over just adding a SWCG.

I'm happy with my Circupool RJ60+ which would be a great fit for your pool as well.
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Thank you. Why run the pump 24/7, do you find you need to run that much for the SWCG to put out enough FC? My plan was to tie the SWCG to my pump so it'd kick on/off automatically at the same time. Agreed that pH still needs to be monitored, and do you add salt to the pool on occasion - does the SWCG tell you when it's low on salt or do you just get in the habit of testing for salts along with pH? Agreed about increasing/decreasing FC output based on water temp, and in the colder months when the water drops I suspect I'll have to manually dose my liquid chlorine. Yes, I'll be gone for more than a week most of the time, hence the "eyes on the equipment" might be helpful, but I see that Pentair's required power station is $5-600, so buying the automation component (that includes the power station functionality) is a little more, but hopefully not significant, we'll see. I'll check out the Circupool RJ60+, thank you for that rec!
 
bedelliott said:
Thank you. Why run the pump 24/7, do you find you need to run that much for the SWCG to put out enough FC? My plan was to tie the SWCG to my pump so it'd kick on/off automatically at the same time. Agreed that pH still needs to be monitored, and do you add salt to the pool on occasion - does the SWCG tell you when it's low on salt or do you just get in the habit of testing for salts along with pH? Agreed about increasing/decreasing FC output based on water temp, and in the colder months when the water drops I suspect I'll have to manually dose my liquid chlorine. Yes, I'll be gone for more than a week most of the time, hence the "eyes on the equipment" might be helpful, but I see that Pentair's required power station is $5-600, so buying the automation component (that includes the power station functionality) is a little more, but hopefully not significant, we'll see. I'll check out the Circupool RJ60+, thank you for that rec!
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Many of us run 24/7 at very low RPMs. My pump is using ~190 watts only, so it's very little electrical usage. By running all the time, my pool is always skimming (stays cleaner), always filtering, and making FC all the time (based on production %, of course.)

I only have to add salt if we have heavy spring rains and there's a lot of dilution, but that's usually only one time per year. Always test salt levels with K-1766 Taylor test; the SWCG readings are known to be less than accurate. SWCG have a pretty big range of acceptable salt level, so it's never anything I worry too much about.

I test pH weekly, and due to my high TA fill water, have to dose acid once a week all summer long. Empty robot basket, dump skimmers... Other than that, the pool is very hands off.
 
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Running 24 hrs on low speed will keep the chlorine generating all day 'round. This also keeps the water skimmed all day as well. If you plan to schedule your pump to run then remember that the VSP must be powered on it's own while the SWG should be on it's own timer that turns the SWG on after the pump comes on and turns it off before the pump turns off. You never want to risk having the SWG powered up while the pump is off. Scheduling the pump means you then need to adjust the cell to produce a day's worth of chlorine for the time it's running. Salt won't need to be added through the year unless you have a lot of splash out or you have to drain water off due to the amount of rain you get. Salt won't deplete but will be removed with water removal. If the cell tells you it has low salt but water hasn't been removed then the cell may need to be cleaned. If you keep your CSI between -.3 and 0 the cell should remain clean. In the winter you will need to test weekly to keep the FC up with liquid chlorine but it won't take too much. The SWG will turn off when the water is about 50 degrees.
 
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reggiehammond said:
Many of us run 24/7 at very low RPMs. My pump is using ~190 watts only, so it's very little electrical usage. By running all the time, my pool is always skimming (stays cleaner), always filtering, and making FC all the time (based on production %, of course.)

I only have to add salt if we have heavy spring rains and there's a lot of dilution, but that's usually only one time per year. Always test salt levels with K-1766 Taylor test; the SWCG readings are known to be less than accurate. SWCG have a pretty big range of acceptable salt level, so it's never anything I worry too much about.

I test pH weekly, and due to my high TA fill water, have to dose acid once a week all summer long. Empty robot basket, dump skimmers... Other than that, the pool is very hands off.
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The 24/7 idea is starting to grow on me, for continued skimming/pool cleaning, which the guests who stay at our house while we're away will appreciate. Problem is, I need to run my pump at about 1750-2000 to keep it primed it seems, which means I have a leak, so hopefully that's not underground and I can find that easily. So people run the pump 24/7 and have the SWCG on its own timer, or does that run 24/7 also? What if the pump stops? I suppose I could still wire the SWCG to the pump and run the pump 24/7, so then the SWCG will stop if the pump happens to stop.
 
The pump is incapable of turning power on and off to the SWG but some VSPs can have a relay board added to the pump to do that. I can't remember if it's Pentair or not. Your flow switch is also a backup in case the pump stops or you lose water flow for another reason. You really need to find your air leak so you can get your rpms down.
 
TinFoilHat said:
The pump is incapable of turning power on and off to the SWG but some VSPs can have a relay board added to the pump to do that. I can't remember if it's Pentair or not. Your flow switch is also a backup in case the pump stops or you lose water flow for another reason. You really need to find your air leak so you can get your rpms down.
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Yea, I think my pump has a relay for that, hopefully. What RPMs are more typical to run 24/7 at, 250? 500?
 
reggiehammond said:
With a simple pool, I don't see the need for automation. Run the VS pump 24/7 at low RPMs, install whatever SWCG you want and off you go. You'll need to maintain pH to avoid SWCG scale, so it's not 100% hands-off, but it's as close to that as possible. A few times a year, you'll either increase or decrease the production rate of the SWCG based on season, but other than that, having daily access via automation is just not something you'll use much.

Now if you're going to be gone more than a week, very frequently, then having the peace of mind of seeing if your pump has failed, or lost power, etc, might make automation make sense. But it's a pretty hefty premium $$ over just adding a SWCG.

I'm happy with my Circupool RJ60+ which would be a great fit for your pool as well.
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Looking at the CircuPool options and just spent 20 mins on the ph with them, but what led you to the RJ over their CORE series? The CORE has another yr warranty, larger cell they said and is easier install, but still easy to chg cell & bring inside if it freezes (which they recommend). All I know is what's on their site & what their sales rep said though, so what else should I know? It's also interesting that their units have a 15,000 hour rating whereas others I've seen (Pentair) are 10,000, that's quite a difference.
 

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TinFoilHat said:
The RJ series gives you granular adjustments to the SWG production where the CORE series is in 20% increments.
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Thank you, that's what I was about to look into, because if I'm oversizing this so I can run low (RJ60 for 19k pool) I need to ensure I can dial it down in the late fall/early spring, but I do get 8 hrs of sun on my pool so that'll help. Do these RJs shut down around 50-degrees? The sales rep said either 58 or 68, but the 68 sounded impractically high, so maybe it was 58, but that's still a bit high it seems.
 
mknauss said:
What part number?
The only Intelliflo that will accept a relay board is the Intelliflo 3. 011075.
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Mine is the 11018, so maybe it doesn't have a relay, but now I'm starting to get on board with 24/7 operation anyway, that seems to be the norm. Their estimated life expectancies of 10 or 15k hrs isn't many years if you run 24/7, but maybe if you're generating chlorine at the lower settings then it lasts a lot longer I imagine, because I hear people saying 4-8 years depending. I'm going to oversize this a fair amount (19k pool with a 3+ lbs/day SWCG like the CircuPool RJ-60+) so should be running on the low side.
 
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+1.

Go by production, and how much FC it will produce in its lifetime. Divide cost by total FC to get your cost per FC and use that as your comparison. For example, $1800 / 5000 lifetime FC = $0.36 per FC. That # you can compare to bleach or pucks or another model of SWG and it's apples to apples.

The same cell will last much longer at my house than yours if our pools were the same size. You have intense UV and a longer season. You'll use exactly as much more liquid chlorine too if you went that route.

And the same cell would last longer at my last house with lots of shade than it would at my new house a few miles away with blazing sun. You can't even compare the years gotten from a cell from the same area. Different brand cells on different size pools in different climates........ yeah. No. It'll last 2 to 15 years. Lol.
 
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Newdude said:
+1.

Go by production, and how much FC it will produce in its lifetime. Divide cost by total FC to get your cost per FC and use that as your comparison. For example, $1800 / 5000 lifetime FC = $0.36 per FC. That # you can compare to bleach or pucks or another model of SWG and it's apples to apples.

The same cell will last much longer at my house than yours if our pools were the same size. You have intense UV and a longer season. You'll use exactly as much more liquid chlorine too if you went that route.

And the same cell would last longer at my last house with lots of shade than it would at my new house a few miles away with blazing sun. You can't even compare the years gotten from a cell from the same area. Different brand cells on different size pools in different climates........ yeah. No. It'll last 2 to 15 years. Lol.
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The units give production in pounds of chlorine though, I'll have to look up how to convert that to FC. Or did you mean to look at the pounds along with the # of hours? That would be a simple way to compare, but maybe you meant something more granular.
 
Poolmath has effects of adding in the upper left menu. The lbs per day will populate FC per 24 hours. So unit X will make 10(etc) FC per day which you can divide to get the hourly production. Most units are rated for 10k hours, circupool for 15k hours, but take them with a grain of salt.

Then you have an estimate of how many FC the unit should produce, and be able to calculate the cost per FC.
 
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bedelliott said:
Thank you, that's what I was about to look into, because if I'm oversizing this so I can run low (RJ60 for 19k pool) I need to ensure I can dial it down in the late fall/early spring, but I do get 8 hrs of sun on my pool so that'll help. Do these RJs shut down around 50-degrees? The sales rep said either 58 or 68, but the 68 sounded impractically high, so maybe it was 58, but that's still a bit high it seems.
Click to expand...
My RJ60+ shuts down mid-50's or so. At that point, there's so very little FC demand that it's needing to do very little anyway.
In the winter, I'll throw a couple of chlorine tabs in a floater, or dose with liquid chlorine every week or two. When cold, it's very hands off other than leaf removal.
 
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