Contemplating going SWG... salt cell suggestions

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Thanks. Where is the best place to purchase the RJ salt cell? I am shooting for the RJ30 but if the price difference isn't that bad I will spring for the RJ45. Going to leave my 2HP pump as is for now and replace it with a VS when it dies.
 
When I need salt I use water softener salt. Normally from Home Depot. Just be sure it is plain. No additives.
Do not use Clorox brand pool salt. Many reports of that salt staining pool surfaces.
 
With an 11000 gallon pool I think the RJ-30+ is more than enough for you, even with a single speed pump.

The $10 upgrade sale is a bit confusing in that it’s not really a $10 price difference between the RJ-30+ and the RJ-45+.

You can upgrade to an RJ-30+ from the RJ-20+ regular price, plus $10, so the total cost for an RJ-30+ would be $879. Upgrading to an RJ-45+ from the RJ-30+ regular price, plus $10 wold be $979. So you’re looking at an extra $100.
 
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djdonte said:
I was planning on putting the cell where my inline chlorinator is now. Is there any reason I would want to keep my inline chlorinator? I only currently use it for vacations or bumping up the CYA in the summers. Also, what do you guys use to test for salt? I am guessing there is already a bit of it from all the bleach. I read some pool school articles but didn't see much on that.
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Putting the cell where in inline chlorinator is currently is the logical place. And I doubt if you will need it again. A floater does work if you do even need to use a tab or two again for some reason. I had a fit trying to get my new Circupool Universal 40 to fit. I think the cell the the same length more or less. As long as you end up with 8.5" or better for a "vertical kit" install when you are done it will work. If you are going to go completely horizontal, then you need 24" The cell and connector (at least on the Universal but I think the others are the same) is 16". You can put the flow switch on a vertical and the cell on a horizontal, or whatever. I confirmed with DSP it's fine to mix and match and even use the cell as part of the 12" you need for laminar flow in the flow switch. (Meaning the flow switch needs to be away from the filter at least 12")

The Taylor K-1766 is the preferred kit for testing. It is a pretty cool little test. It turns yellow like OTO on the chromate indicator, then it turns a cloudy white and yellow when you add drops of silver nitrate measuring 200 PPM at a time until it suddenly turns a brick red color. That is your reading. There is very little ambiguity with this test.

I was pretty surprised that my pool, after only 8 months of using liquid chlorine was already at 800 PPM of salt according to the K-1766. I may have had a couple of hundred PPM from the fill water (I suppose I should check some day) but, if you play with pool math you will see that sodium hypochlorite adds more salt than you'd think. So definitely check it before you add salt.

I bought the maintenance kit from DSP and that got me the bypass cell, cleaning stand.......and..... phosphate test strips..... I figured that I wold get salt test strips like pictured on their site... I almost didn't get the K-1766 because of that.. I am now glad I did.

Good luck... it's a fun toy so far.. I should have mine on line next weekend. I just didn't quite get it all together last weekend.
 
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Oh, by the way, I will comment on salt. I don't quite get it but there has been a run on pool salt locally, so I had to pick up a bag or two at a time.. I threw in one bag of Diamond Crystal briquette water softener salt. Worked fine. One bag of Diamond Crystal Solar Crystals water softener salt. Worked fine. One bag of Morton pool salt. Worked fine. Two bags of Diamond Crystal Pool salt. Worked fine. And finally one bag of the off brand pool salt that Lowe's sells. It also worked fine-- this one seemed to dissolve the fastest. My favorite was honestly the Solar Crystals water softener salt, then the Morton Pool Salt, then the Diamond Crystal Pool Salt, the Lowe's brand one.. and finally the water softener briquettes. But all worked and were completely dissolved within hours and mixed in within two days. the first four bags I checked levels after two bags at a time and then I did it one bag at a time for the last two bags.. six bags is what Pool Math calculated and I ended up pretty much spot on with the calculations.. so go slow at the end....

Avoid Chlorox branded pool stuff in general, especially the salt... and you'll be fine.

Edit: The cheapest is the yellow bags of briquette type water softener salt from Wal-Mart at $5,.67 a bag here. The Solar Crystals are next at the low sixes and the pool salts are about $7 a bag.. so you'll overspend by about 5-6 bucks in total if you do pool salt. Home Depot was the most expensive place, and Wal-Mart was the cheapest.
 
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Rattus Suffocatus said:
Putting the cell where in inline chlorinator is currently is the logical place. And I doubt if you will need it again. A floater does work if you do even need to use a tab or two again for some reason. I had a fit trying to get my new Circupool Universal 40 to fit. I think the cell the the same length more or less. As long as you end up with 8.5" or better for a "vertical kit" install when you are done it will work. If you are going to go completely horizontal, then you need 24" The cell and connector (at least on the Universal but I think the others are the same) is 16". You can put the flow switch on a vertical and the cell on a horizontal, or whatever. I confirmed with DSP it's fine to mix and match and even use the cell as part of the 12" you need for laminar flow in the flow switch. (Meaning the flow switch needs to be away from the filter at least 12")

The Taylor K-1766 is the preferred kit for testing. It is a pretty cool little test. It turns yellow like OTO on the chromate indicator, then it turns a cloudy white and yellow when you add drops of silver nitrate measuring 200 PPM at a time until it suddenly turns a brick red color. That is your reading. There is very little ambiguity with this test.

I was pretty surprised that my pool, after only 8 months of using liquid chlorine was already at 800 PPM of salt according to the K-1766. I may have had a couple of hundred PPM from the fill water (I suppose I should check some day) but, if you play with pool math you will see that sodium hypochlorite adds more salt than you'd think. So definitely check it before you add salt.

I bought the maintenance kit from DSP and that got me the bypass cell, cleaning stand.......and..... phosphate test strips..... I figured that I wold get salt test strips like pictured on their site... I almost didn't get the K-1766 because of that.. I am now glad I did.

Good luck... it's a fun toy so far.. I should have mine on line next weekend. I just didn't quite get it all together last weekend.
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Thanks for the measurements.. I was about to call and ask about that. I and going to measure when I get home but I think I am going to have to go with the vertical kit. Don’t think I have 24” if slack in that run. I am also leaning towards the RJ30+. On the maintenance kit, how often do you need to clean the cell? I thought the plus models are self cleaning?
 

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Wee hoo! Another Salt convert! Looking forward to seeing how it goes!

I'll concur with others.. sell the chlorine feeder on Craiglist.. you won't need it anymore. Also, consider using this as an opportunity to tweak your plumbing. If there is anything you have been wanting to redo, now is the time since you will have your fingers stuck together with PVC cement already.
 
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djdonte said:
Thanks for the measurements.. I was about to call and ask about that. I and going to measure when I get home but I think I am going to have to go with the vertical kit. Don’t think I have 24” if slack in that run. I am also leaning towards the RJ30+. On the maintenance kit, how often do you need to clean the cell? I thought the plus models are self cleaning?
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Yeah, I wish they would put ALL of the dimensions on their site (or on Circupool's since they are the same company) because I would have sent them one less dumb e-mail than I did. I also would have had everything ready to go before I bought the cell from them. But they have responded to my e-mails..

Overall it's not difficult but there is a bit of work involved. I can see why they came up with the Core, it would be simpler if it would have fit but I don't think it would have.
 
Rattus Suffocatus said:
Yeah, I wish they would put ALL of the dimensions on their site (or on Circupool's since they are the same company) because I would have sent them one less dumb e-mail than I did. I also would have had everything ready to go before I bought the cell from them. But they have responded to my e-mails..

Overall it's not difficult but there is a bit of work involved. I can see why they came up with the Core, it would be simpler if it would have fit but I don't think it would have.
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I called and he said I could get away with less if I put the flow switch elsewhere, like after the pump, but I didn't want to cut up any more pipe, so I went ahead and got the vertical install kit for convenience.
 
The maintenance kit is a plug and a stand for my specific cell. You will use a different one for the RJ plus. The unit should indicate when it is needed, if you keep your water good and CSI slightly negative "not often" is how often. The cells reverse polarity every time they pulse on and off and that helps keep calcium scale from depositing on one side of the cell and not the other. That I think is what you mean by "Self cleaning"... it helps but remember the cells themselves need to be replaced every 4-7 years depending on the model... they do wear out over time. In theory, it's still cheaper over time than hauling bleach.
 
djdonte said:
I called and he said I could get away with less if I put the flow switch elsewhere, like after the pump, but I didn't want to cut up any more pipe, so I went ahead and got the vertical install kit for convenience.
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Yes, you can mix horizontal and vertical, and before and after the cell. It's maybe not clear from their manuals. It wasn't for me. Especially when running a variable speed pump. You do need to get the flow switch at least 12" away from the filter. Their vertical kit looks nice. It's what I basically decided to end up replicating myself, but because I didn't know the exact dimensions when I bought I thought I would be able to fashion up a horizontal install which-- when I got it all--- would have been too Rube Goldberg. I had to go vertical in the end anyway.. Their kit is nice because it will install a little tighter than what you can build yourself out of standard parts. I wish I would have bought it. Price is about a wash for what you'd pay for the fittings at Home Depot or Ace as well.

The cell itself with the fittings, at least for the Universal 40 which is what I bought, is 16".. so figure 18" if you move the flow switch elsewhere. the flow switch is 4".. so figure 6" needed. That's 24" so the math works!. But you need 18" in one axis and 6" in the other if you were to do it that way. Versus about 8.5" for the whole thing with the vertical mounting kit.

I swear when I was trying to figure it out that I started to go into the fourth dimension! :)

Enjoy.
 
djdonte said:
I called and he said I could get away with less if I put the flow switch elsewhere, like after the pump, but I didn't want to cut up any more pipe, so I went ahead and got the vertical install kit for convenience.
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In all honesty, you wont be able to layout the design in detail ahead of time, unless you are really good at rendering 3-D in your head and you know what kind of play in the PVC connections are.. So don't try to think ahead too much or you will end up in the 4th or 5th dimension ;) But dry fit everything before gluing.. but it sounds like you may be comfortable doing that. I was able to get a very clean layout using 45's instead of 90's. But that was me.
 
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You could probably do it with all the dimensions that I have provided. The connection length needed on 2" PVC is 1" into the couplings. You could make your plan and then remember to cut out 2" for the flow switch and 14" for the cell......But I agree it's easier to play Tinkertoy with it than try to do it on paper and in your head. Buy a full 10' piece of 2" PVC if you can, you'll definitely waste quite a bit playing around with configurations. If you want to paint your PVC like I had to match what is there already, making extra couplers to throw out with overspraying paint is needed too.
 

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