Considering SWG - installation question

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nismo4224

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Jun 29, 2020
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Hey all, this is my first post after following this forum since last summer. We purchased our home in 2018, this is our second summer of pool ownership. I've recently started considering switching to SWG as an alternative to my daily liquid chlorine routine. I can't imagine myself continuing to use this method of chlorination year after year moving forward. After reading all the forums here and researching online, I'm really liking the Circupool Core 35.

I have two specific questions, one plumbing and one electrical related. For the plumbing, I have one vertical 17" pipe and one horizontal 12" pipe available. I believe the manual says minimum straight pipe needed is 11". Despite having this minimum on the horizontal pipe it would be safer to install vertical. Are there any cons to having it set up vertically?

Now for the electrical. I definitely don't want to rely on the flow sensor as my primary failsafe. I have zero experience in electric work so my options are either hire an electrician to wire the SWG directly to my Intermatic timer controlling the pump or purchase a separate plug in type of timer since I do have a GFCI outlet available. Is there any downside to the latter? I would set the plug in timer to coincide with the Intermatic timer. Worst case scenerio I can think of is a power outage or GFCI tripping which would make the SWG not turn on. I would pick up on that doing my pool chemistry checks. Anything else I'm missing or any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
 
If you've already got the intematic timer, wiring the SWG would be very easy. You just run the power cable through a punch out in the intermatic box and wire it to the load side of the timer. There are generally 4 screws left to right. Screws 1 and 3 are for the line side which gets constant power. Variable speed pumps would generally be wired to these 2 screws since they have their own timer onboard. If you have a single speed pump, chances are that it is wired to screws 2 and 4 (the load side) which is controlled by the timer. You would just connect the SWG to the load side as well and then set your timer how you like.

Installing your SWG cell vertically or horizontally really doesn't matter. Also, you can put the flow switch before or after the cell as well. If you put it after the cell, you can count the cell as part of the straight pipe needed.
 
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Just to clarify, the core series have an integral flow sensor and is not separate. If your plumbing pad is highly exposed to the elements and all day sun you might consider a unit that has a separate control unit that you can place in a more protected area. As others have mentioned, connecting the swg to the same timer as the pump is acceptable. If you are not comfortable with electrical wiring an electrician could do this for a reasonable fee. I mounted my RJ series vertically due to space limitations. The edge manual does not specify horizontal or vertical installation so it would appear either is acceptable.
 
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DeanP66 said:
If you've already got the intematic timer, wiring the SWG would be very easy. You just run the power cable through a punch out in the intermatic box and wire it to the load side of the timer. There are generally 4 screws left to right. Screws 1 and 3 are for the line side which gets constant power. Variable speed pumps would generally be wired to these 2 screws since they have their own timer onboard. If you have a single speed pump, chances are that it is wired to screws 2 and 4 (the load side) which is controlled by the timer. You would just connect the SWG to the load side as well and then set your timer how you like.

Installing your SWG cell vertically or horizontally really doesn't matter. Also, you can put the flow switch before or after the cell as well. If you put it after the cell, you can count the cell as part of the straight pipe needed.
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Thanks for the info! My timer looks like it has 2 wires on each screw 1-4. I've attached a picture. If it's as straightforward as you say I wouldn't mind getting it done myself. I just have no clue which wires from the Swg would go where. Also the Core series comes with a plug for an outlet, if I were to hardwire it to the timer how would that work. Sorry if these questions are basic, electric has never been my thing.
IMG_20200701_171214.jpg
 
I just did this install a few weeks ago. I used the RJ-60plus with a larger Intermatic box -- hardwired.

Is there a GFCI nearby? I don't see any space for jumping off that box. What else is do you have off the box?


I will add that once you get everything setup, you will not regret SWG. The water feels much better and chlorine management time is close to nill. It's refreshing to check chemicals and see the numbers haven't moved much.
 
If the second item that is wired on the 2 and 4 terminals is a heater you can move those to 1 and 3 since the heater has an on/off switch built in. Then wire the SWG to 2 and 4 along with the pump.
 
To hard wire you would have to cut the plug end off and remove the insulation enough to attach to the terminals in your timer. You will most likely find a black, white and green wire inside the outer insulation. The Core manual states that the controller will work with either 120 or 240 volt applications. For 120 black would be hot, white neutral and green ground. For 240 volt the black and white would go to line 1 and line 2 and green to ground. It looks like there are already two devices connected to the load side. Do you have another device controlled by the timer other than the pump?
 

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Thanks for the replies. It seems much less daunting after somewhat understanding the layout of the wires. Im attaching a picture of my whole setup, hopefully that helps.

Seems like 1 and 3 are coming from the circuit breaker box seen in the picture above the covered GFCI outlet. The white wires on 1 and 3 look like they are connected to the back of the screw on the far left under the green ground wire. 2 and 4 have the heater wires, the other pair of black wires on these screws look like they're coming from underground. It might be from the circuit breaker in my house which has a pool circuit (in addition to the circuit box in this picture).

The second covered box beneath the circuit box is an on/off switch for the light in the pool that we never use.

IMG_20200701_171049.jpg
 
nismo4224 said:
For the plumbing, I have one vertical 17" pipe and one horizontal 12" pipe available. I believe the manual says minimum straight pipe needed is 11". Despite having this minimum on the horizontal pipe it would be safer to install vertical. Are there any cons to having it set up vertically?
Click to expand...
I see what looks like a tab feeder in your pool setup. You can take that out if your are figuring out where to put the SWG.
 
The second pair of wires on terminals 1 and 3 power the timer clock motor. As others have mentioned the heater does not need to be on the timer. The heater has a flow switch and will not run if there is not significant water flow. Running the pump, heater and swg on the switched side of the timer is possibly too much load. If you just move the heater wires to 1 and 3, the swg and pump could be controlled by the timer on terminals 2 and 4
 
Hootz said:
The second pair of wires on terminals 1 and 3 power the timer clock motor. As others have mentioned the heater does not need to be on the timer. The heater has a flow switch and will not run if there is not significant water flow. Running the pump, heater and swg on the switched side of the timer is possibly too much load. If you just move the heater wires to 1 and 3, the swg and pump could be controlled by the timer on terminals 2 and 4
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Makes sense. So is it not a problem to have 3 wires in screws 1 and 3? Or would I have to pig-tail as someone mentioned earlier? Lastly, with the SWG ground wire in the mix I would have a total of 4 ground wires in the wire nut, is this ok to have? Thanks so much, this has been a tremendous help.
 
The clock wires are spade terminals so you can put one each of the other two wires on opposite sides of the screw on 1 and 3; those wires are hot from the breaker and not controlled on or off by the timer. You can just add swg ground where the wire nut is, may have to use a larger wire nut.
 
Awesome, I'll give it a go myself. Yes, the chlorine feeder is a stand alone unit with no electric component to it.

In your guys experience should I wait til after the fall to purchase the SWG? Do they drop in price during the off-season much? I already have enough chlorine tabs for the rest of the summer, CYA in my pool is at 50 so I figured finishing off this pool season with chlorine tabs will bring my CYA to where it needs to be for salt and possibly get a good deal on the swg.
 
Yes prices tend to drop toward the end of the pool season. If you have the time to watch for the price changes then that sounds like a perfect strategy.

We posted at the same time.
ping said:
Overall the SWG's are increasing in price, not going down and the warranties are being reduced.
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Yeah season to season they are going up... but within the span of a season they tend to go down as they need to get rid of the years stock. I think you can purchase during that small window.. but don't wait for next season to buy.
 

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