I've heard that they are great for the more southern states, but perhaps not as much here in PA as we move towards fall. Any logic to this?
How does SWG do in cooler climates?
- Thread starter anthonypool89
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Depending on your model SWG stops producing below between 50 and 60 water temp. But who's swimming in those temps. During the swimming season my SWG is great (Lancaster County). Certainly not going to trade it for handling liquid chlorine daily because it stops producing in cold weather. Go for it!!!
As the air temperature drops, so does the FC demand and i turn my unit down to match every other week or so.. 40%, 20%, 10%, something in the single digits, off.
Depending on your model SWG stops producing below between 50 and 60 water temp. But who's swimming in those temps. During the swimming season my SWG is great (Lancaster County). Certainly not going to trade it for handling liquid chlorine daily because it stops producing in cold weather. Go for it!!!
Lancaster, huh??? We're nearly neighbors!! So how much (and what type of) salt are we talking about and where do you put it? I just posted a picture of my equipment pad on this thread since there's a possible question of how much room is needed.
I assume there are no issues with the white water mold, etc. that I've been referring to under a SWG system?
Are you getting any rain out there? Dry as a bone here in Berks.
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I came across this: As an example, a 20,000 gallon pool with a current salt level of 500 Ppm would require 501 lbs of salt. That's a lot of salt! My water conditioner takes about 4 40-lb. bags at a time, so we're talking a bit more than that, although my pool is nowhere near 20k gallons. I also read that it could be incompatible with various heaters. Could that be a problem with my heater. What about the metal filter tank? I'm hearing that with sand filters (as in like a few hundred pounds worth of sand) you have to dispose of it somewhere. Not real big on that. So how does it work with the salt? How often do you have to keep adding it? Does it ever have to be dumped and replaced?
The SWG is the last stop after the heater. You have a nice long pipe there, its probably too close to the feed pipe for the heater so you would just put 90s in and raise that piece a few inches for the right clearance.
Salt comes in 40 lb bags from home depot, the hardware store or the pool store. They are $5-$8 each depending on the brand and what style. You would need between 5 and 8 bags for your sized pool. As long as its pure salt without additives (iron and whatnot), it works and the only differences are the size of the salt chunks. Slightly bigger (half a marble) water softener style chunks take a few hours longer to dissolve, but they work just the same.
Salt comes in 40 lb bags from home depot, the hardware store or the pool store. They are $5-$8 each depending on the brand and what style. You would need between 5 and 8 bags for your sized pool. As long as its pure salt without additives (iron and whatnot), it works and the only differences are the size of the salt chunks. Slightly bigger (half a marble) water softener style chunks take a few hours longer to dissolve, but they work just the same.
Is there some salt absorption through the skin? Just wondering. We now use Potassium Chloride instead of salt in our conditioner (dietary salt restrictions). This is all quite interesting and might be a nice compromise between going full-on chlorine and where I'm at now with biguanide.
OK... last stop after the heater, so somewhere the generator (how big are they?) would require a pipe that, as you say, makes a 90, comes up and then attaches to the SWG which....what....free stands on a base like my filter and heater...or must attach to a post, etc.? Then from the SWG the pipe continues on to the return lines - which is seen in the pictures (capped off at the top). I'm not totally clear on what you're indicating by "probably too close to the feed pipe for the heater".
Howdy neighbor. After the initial salt "seeding" I put roughly 4 to 5 40lb bags per season. Mainly due to adding water my Golden Retrievers carry out when they swim. I just buy pool salt at the local Agway.
I've been trouble free since discovering TFP!
Dry as a bone out here. Brief rain yesterday but grass still turning brown.
Good luck with your conversion to SWG. It's nearly set it and forget it!
Edit: oh and the water has a "silky" feel to it. A number of friends commented on that.
Dump it in the deep end and use brush to help it dissolve.
Wait...just read something else that indicates you add the salt right to the pool water??? Really?? I'm trying to picture doing this and envision these chunky pieces (if they're anything like what I used to add to my water conditioner) just sort of sink to the bottom. We're talking a fine-grain (like normal) salt I presume?? When you first add it, can you swim right away? I really need to keep reading more on this - it's very interesting and presents a tempting option.
Yep just dump the bags in the deep end and brush to dissolve. Some say turn off the SWG while you do this.
Dump it right in and mix it up occasionally while it dissolves. The swgs are about 14 inches long and attach inline on the pipe. They are fatter than the pipe so you may not fit perfectly between your 2 pipes and it would just get bumped a hair higher but still follow the same direction. The controller for the unit gets mounted on a post nearby. Mine has a 10 ft (?) Cord on it so you have alot of leeway as to where it can go.
LOL....too much. So then electrolysis converts the chloride ions into chlorine. The (chlorine) residual sanitizes, and then I'm reading that once "used up" it changes back to chloride (how??) and the process starts over again. Pretty funky. So how often does salt have to be added? Does it pose any harm to the plaster or other surfaces / equipment?
Sounds like this is a job for the local pool company which I'd really prefer not to use since some work they've done for us nearly turned into a disaster. May have no choice though. Doesn't sound like something I'd prefer to tackle myself.
Mix it....as in....just stir it around like with a pool brush? I use a kayak paddle during the winter if I adjust the pH - just to agitate the water while adding pre-dissolved pH chemicals.
It only needs to be added to 'treat' any regular water that is added to the pool. Either by rain or hose after evaporation. One inch at a time isn't noticable, but over the course of the summer you may need to add a bag. Usually its mostly at startup in the spring. I get at least a 1/3 water exchange from the rain and people with solid covers still drain their pools enough to have to add some too.
And yes, your pool brush works great to stir it up. You could use the paddle and go all witches cauldren on it for fun if you wanted.
*edit* the salt sits on the floor so the paddle, while funny, isn't going g to work
Takes me about 10 min tops to brush to dissolve. Don't just leave it on the bottom.
Fun churning the water around with the kayak paddle during the winter with the cover partially pulled back. Haven't gotten to the lake for any kayaking past few years, so at least the paddle gets some use.
I'm assuming the biguanide -to-chlorine conversion process is still the same whether or not one is planning to use SWG? Or would the procedure be different in some way? In either case have to get the baqua out of the water. Just wondering since, ultimately we're not talking about using liquid chlorine with SWG...which I suppose brings up another question. IF the salt happens to not generate enough chlorine to maintain adequate sanitizing levels, must you then add some liquid chlorine, or just more salt?
How about the pH? Just watched a video that indicates SWG tends to raise this (?)
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