Circupool SWG Lifespan Issues

[Sandrat]

Water Geeks,

I bought a Circupool RJ 45 for my pool in 2012. I was swayed by the price, the (then) reviews, and the 7 year warranty.

The 45 is designed to handle a 45,000 gallon pool, mine is 26k. Also, my pool is only open from May through Sept. My thinking was that buying an oversized unit, running it at 60% or so, that only runs for 5 months, would give me a very long lifecycle, possibly exceeding the 7 year warranty.

I have had to replace the SWG unit every 2 years, in '14, late'16, and now, as I open my pool, in '19. The problem is that the L-shaped connectors that connect the titanium plates to the electric source get thin and erode. The plates themselves, stay perfect. The "head unit" has never had a problem. It's always the connectors.

Obviously, the current issue occurred last season. I didn't notice it until I opened the pool this year. Before you ask, when the pool is closed, the electricity is shut off at the breaker- the unit is never energized when shut down.

The people at Discount Salt Pool have always agreed to prorate the warranty and sold me a new unit each time. This year, the service has not been so great, as I am still waiting on an answer. I am (somewhat) confident that they will prorate yet another SWG unit, but it seems like the warranty is overstated, and maybe the units are designed to fail. The people at DSP always say it's my water balance, but I guarantee you that nobody watches the saturation index closer than I do. If it gets out of balance, I correct it quickly.

My question is this: Have any of you had similar operational or warranty issues? I'm not here to bash DSP or the Circupool product, but if this is a common issue, then maybe I should buy a different brand and replace the Circupool, instead of spending another couple hundred dollars on a SWG unit that will need to be replaced again in '21.

I have attached a few photos to show the current failure. You can see that some of the connectors are gone or are razor thin, while others are thick and healthy, as original.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[needsajet]

Wow, that's seriously disappointing!

I guess if it was me, I'd probably be changing brands. I've only seen anything at all like that when the person acid-washed their cell, but have not seen anything similar otherwise. Maybe post up your pre-winter test results and we can see if there's anything that stands out, but I doubt it. Was this damaged detected each spring?

 

[Pool_Medic]

Still not sure why so many flock to no name knock offs. The top three make reliable effective warrantied salt systems.

 

[mknauss]

I am sorry to hear that. There have not been problems reported such as yours by other members.

@circupool

 

[MSI]

I have used Circupool for past 4 plus years. Initially I purchased 60 k unit for 36K pool. The unit did not work properly and had to get it replaced twice. The second time they downgraded the capacity stating that they will send a 60k unit once they get it. The problem was with the cell and also with the LCD display. Never received refund for replacing it with cheaper unit nor did I ever heard back even after several calls. Eventually gave up. They are great to talk to and are very helpful and polite to you but that is where it ends. I will never buy from Discount Salt pool again. I guess you get what you pay for.

 

[ajw22]

For whatever reason the RJ cells are not working with your pool environment. I don't know why you want to repeat doing the same thing that is not lasting for you. I would look at Pentair or Hayward cells. I like Pentair and they have a 60K cell.

 

[xycosse]

Well, I just ordered my circupool yesterday and it hasn't arrived yet. Can't say this is something I wanted to read. Circupool overall highly recommended on this forum.

 

[Pool_Medic]

I will reiterate that the top three make great systems, now these other off brands are sourcing their goods from the same overseas manufacturers. While it appears they should be the same, most times these plants tweak one or two minute things to raise profits or the vendor specifically asks for tweaks to in turn lower the costs. Aqua Rite has been around for a long time, Hayward bought them out years ago. Their cells are top quality as are their controllers. Simple to operate and great customer service. The rare units had issues with over heating thermistors, but I’m told that has been rectified by Hayward in their newer models.

Take a chance on one expensive single purchase to save 25-35%? Not me.

 

[needsajet]

Just a quick note that the saturation index is not related to metal corrosion. Acid washing without rinsing (if the acid contacts any external parts, or if the cell is stored after acid washing) could cause the problem. I replaced a different brand last year where the owner had acid washed and not rinsed off the outer parts of the cell. Water quality aspects that can affect metal are saltiness and excessive acidity.

Glad to hear they replaced the cells pro-rata so at least your chlorine cost is still competitive. Hopefully they back you up again.

 

[Fuldo]

Sandrat,

I installed a RJ30 in mid January and I'm very disappointed to hear of this problem and see the erosion that has occurred with your units. The only good news is that nobody has yet mentioned a similar problem with their unit.

Your profile mentions that there's an in-line chlorinator used for supplementing chlorine and/or CYA. I'm wondering if that chlorinator is maybe upstream of your SWG cell and perhaps the high concentration of something from the tablets is maybe the cause of the erosion. Where is your in-line tablet chlorinator relative to the SWG cell?

 

[Sandrat]

Sandrat,

I installed a RJ30 in mid January and I'm very disappointed to hear of this problem and see the erosion that has occurred with your units. The only good news is that nobody has yet mentioned a similar problem with their unit.

Your profile mentions that there's an in-line chlorinator used for supplementing chlorine and/or CYA. I'm wondering if that chlorinator is maybe upstream of your SWG cell and perhaps the high concentration of something from the tablets is maybe the cause of the erosion. Where is your in-line tablet chlorinator relative to the SWG cell?

It is downline of the salt cell.

 

[mknauss]

How close is the chlorinator to the cell? Is there a check valve in the system anywhere?

 

[xycosse]

Mknauss, I'm not OP, but is a check valve in the system a problem for SWG? Installing mine soon, so just wondering why you were asking. Thanks.

 

[mknauss]

If only a SWCG, no check valve is needed. If there is a trichlor chlorinator in the system, then you need a check valve because the highly acidic trichlor can bleed back into the system, when/if you use trichlor.

 

[needsajet]

I hope the OP reports back on the questions. That corrosion is significant and it would be helpful for OP and others if we can pin down the reason.

 

[Pool_Medic]

Check valves are recommended.

 

[Sandrat]

UPDATE:

To answer the inline chlorinator question, it is RARELY used, and was inline when I converted to salt and is DOWNLINE of the SWG cell. I left it there as a chlorine backup, if I needed it, and is handy for adding things like CYA (a stocking). Trust me, this is not a factor.

SWG Cell: After asking the Discount Salt Pool (DSP) phone tech for a "supervisor", I got a return call from a guy who listened to my history and repeated issues with cell failure. After conversation, he agreed to send me one of his units as a loaner, if I would ship mine back so he could take a look at it, and make some inexpensive repairs (inexpensive= far cheaper than the cost of the replacement cell that they were going to issue under the warranty). I felt that was fair, and agreed to to this.

I received his loaner cell today, and will ship mine off for repair. What is important to note is that his loaner cell has a different design than my previous cells. If you'll notice in the attached photos, each titanium plate extends out to a tab that is bent 90 degrees, then spot welded to the busbar. My cell, and every cell before it, had a separate, L-shaped bracket that connected the titanium plate to the busbar (see photos in original post^^). This L-shaped bracket was what was corroding and failing. My guess is that the manufacturer has identified this as a weak point in the construction of the cell, and has improved newer units.

As I understand the 7 year warranty, it is on the original unit and components only, and decrements each year. IF they replace a cell, the new cell has a 1 year replacement warranty against failure, but after year one, falls back to the original purchase date. So, if you are out 6 years, like I am, your 2 year old cell only carries a 20% warranty as does everything else in year 6 of your SWG unit.

The guy at DSP said he'd try to repair my cell with some "beefier" components. We'll see what he is able to do. I'll repost with photos after I receive the repaired unit.

A message to new buyers: Remember that my unit is an RJ Classic, I bought it originally in 2012. They don't sell these new, anymore. The new Circupool units have a totally different design than mine does. I would like to think that if this L-bracket is a common weak spot for them, that they would have redesigned it.

 

[bmoreswim]

Thank you for posting those photos for comparison. It definitely looks like they have replaced a weak link in their product with those "L" brackets.

I'm glad they are making an effort to get you some additional life out of your most recent cell. Then when it goes, you'll have a new design to move up to.

 

[Fuldo]

Very interesting and informative, thanks for the follow-up and offering to update us when your unit returns. Although I own a new RJ30 I know nothing about their older units and I'm glad you mentioned that the old RJ classic isn't the same design as the newer RJs and probably has the updates you saw on the loaner unit.

I found two things about your hardware intriguing:
1) There are two sets of contacts and bus bars, one for each polarity. Four plates including the outer two are one polarity and the three plates in the center another. Of the four plates, the two outer ones are connected directly to the bus bar and the two inner ones on your original unit were connected using the L brackets that eroded away. The outer connections look pristine, that's probably a good sign that newer units with all direct connections will be durable, at least in that area.
2) The three plates on the other polarity appear to be connected with similar L brackets but those brackets and connections don't appear to be eroded. I find that very strange. I wonder if polarity matters and if the older RJs don't switch polarity each "cycle" like the present ones do, otherwise I'd think all L brackets would have eroded.

 

[Sandrat]

FINAL UPDATE: The owner at DSP called to say that my unit could not be repaired. He offered to let me keep his loaner without charge, since I'd had such bad luck with the units. He did say that they changed manufacturers of the cells due to some potential quality issues a couple of years ago, and thought that maybe I'd received the older units. His loaner does have a different construction, eliminating the weak link between the head and the titanium plates.

The loaner (now my keeper) is installed and working flawlessly. At this point, if my unit needs to be replaced, I WOULD buy from DSP again. I feel they treated me fairly.