Going to convert to SWG - need some feedback to ensure I don't miss anything

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opto_isolator

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Jul 7, 2014
36
orlando fl
Yet another pool owner that plans on switching from LC to SWG! So reading here I am looking to take advantage of the deals that Discountsaltpool has and buy an RJ-60+. My current setup is as follows:

  • In ground ~12,000 gallon pool
  • In central FL west of Orlando
  • Have a Pentair Intelliflo pump that is connected to a Pentair solartouch controller to control the solar heating panels that are on the roof.
  • An electronic Intermatic timer that runs to control a Stenner pump for chlorine injection
So to do this I am planning on re-purposing the Stenner pump for acid injection if I can fit another breaker in the panel. It appears that I need to add another intermatic timer, and connect the RJ-60+ to that to control when it's on and off? My pump runs 8 hours a day, from 10 AM to 6 PM. It runs at low speed from 10AM - 4PM, then switches to high the remaining 2 hours. The solartouch controller increases the pump speed whenever the solar is activated, and returns it back to the program once it is completed.

I am targeting getting the RJ-60+ for a couple of reasons - to oversize for life, as well as to ensure I don't have to run it all the time.

Anything I am missing or that I should be paying attention to? I am assuming that for winter I will have to remove the cell and put a bypass cell in place and use tablets? The temperature here gets down into the 40's and night sometimes.
 
The RJ-60+ is way oversized for your pool. It’s one thing to oversize the SWG, but that’s kind of over the top. An RJ-30+ would be more than enough for you and if you really wanted to go big you could do an RJ-45+, but I think you’re probably just wasting money on the RJ-60+
 
Fair enough - but I see folks running their pumps 24x7 here - I don't do that and don't plan to do that. This would be my first SWG so I was thinking of getting the 60 so I didn't have to run the SWG for the entire 8 hour pump run time. Wouldn't that work or would that not be ideal?
 
On a 12000 gallon pool the RJ-30+ will create 5ppm of chlorine running for 8 hours at 100%. The RJ-45+ will create 6.7ppm running at 100% for 8 hours and the RJ-60+ will create 10ppm of chlorine running at 100% for those 8 hours.

Even with the RJ-30+ you should be able to run it for less than 8 hours and have no problems meeting your chlorine demand.

But that said, I’m not sure there’s really a benefit to running it for less than 8 hours. People with single speed pumps like to be able to meet their chlorine demand with a short pump runtime to save power by not running the pump for too long. But a lot of people who have variable speed pumps run their SWG at a low percentage 24 hours a day.
 
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I played with the calculator - to make sure I am understanding what I am doing:

I enter SWG, enter 3 for the value for the 60, enter the percentage of time I want it to run during the 8 hours I run the pump for, correct?

According to the pool school charts - I should be targeting 5ppm of FC, at about a CYA level of 70 - right? If I play around with the calculator assuming what I entered above was right, the RJ-60+ would need to run 4 hours at 100% to produce 5ppm of Chlorine - am I correct in my understanding of this?
 
That’s not quite right. You’re using the calculator right, but you didn’t get the amount of chlorine you need to generate right. Just because you want to target 5ppm of chlorine doesn’t mean that your pool will use 5ppm of chlorine a day. You need the SWG to make as much chlorine as your pool uses in a day. That number can vary based on how much the pool is used, the CYA level, and how much direct sun it gets, but for a typical pool 3ppm per day is on the high side of average. 4ppm would be pretty high.

If you make sure that your SWG can generate at least 4ppm of chlorine during your pump runtime then you should be in great shape.
 
Actually, if this is not a new pool and one that you’ve been maintaining then you should already know what your daily chlorine demand is or you can figure it out. If you know how much chlorine you’ve been adding each day then you can figure out how many ppm of chlorine you’ve been adding each day. You just need your SWG to generate that amount of chlorine each day.
 
Awesome - thanks for explaining that to me. Yeah, I have the Stenner pump setup to inject the right amount right now. I'll have to review the settings but putting that into perspective I could run the 45 for 50% and generate 3.3 ppm. That may be the best solution, at the sales prices they have now.
 
opto_isolator said:
Awesome - thanks for explaining that to me. Yeah, I have the Stenner pump setup to inject the right amount right now. I'll have to review the settings but putting that into perspective I could run the 45 for 50% and generate 3.3 ppm. That may be the best solution, at the sales prices they have now.
Click to expand...
YES! that sounds about right. This is what I do.. I figure out how long I need to run my pump to have my SWG at 50% for a given CL demand. In my case about 5.5 hrs, and then 50% is my starting point. If I need more chlorine, say after a pool party or hot day, I turn it up. If I see the FC is going up due to mild weather or whatever, I turn it down... the point being I have some leeway in adjusting the chlorine output to fit the conditions.
 

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I notice that the install manual says that the controller is outdoor rated, and says not to install in a sealed enclosure. How has everyone that has purchased these protected them from the elements? The sun can be pretty brutal here in FL, and I imagine over time could cause some issues (not to mention the torrential rain we sometimes get).
 
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