I Love TFP But...

[revitup]

Makes sense

No yo-yo effect. I run my ss pump during the day while we’re using the pool. My SWG level is dialed in where the fc is replaced as it’s used. When shut down at night it, of course, does not change from sundown to sunup.

 

[Dave1096]

Perhaps but I’m not burning through chlorine. I maintain 5-7 ppm daily. Every third day I add about a half gallon.

If I was adding a gallon per week that wouldn't be bad at all. I was closer to a gallon every 2.5 days, sometimes more. It's not uncommon for us to have 10+ swimmers at a time.

 

[markayash]

Yeah, it took me about seven years to make the change. Fortunately for me, I did it just before COVID hit. Perfect timing.

I also bought mine in early 2020 with a robot. But was hoping I didn’t regret dishing out all that money if we lost our jobs . But worked out

 

[markayash]

...I have no idea how those without a SWG do it. I couldn't use mine for the first 30 days after plaster, so I was manually dosing with liquid chlorine as many of you do. It wasn't the worst thing in the world, but man do I LOVE the convenience of my SWG these past few weeks. No more dragging dozens of chlorine bottles around, measuring/ pouring, filling my recycle bin up, driving from Walmart-HD-Lowes trying to find the one that has liquid chlorine in stock that day. The only downside I've noticed so far is I have to make more of an effort not to get complacent with my pool and still check my skimmers and measure ph daily.

I've seen some comparisons on here of SWG first cost vs. total cost of liquid chlorine over a time span. For me the convenience of a SWG alone sells itself. I wouldn't ever be without one.

Wait until you go on vacation for a week or 2 and come back to a clear pool and your FC is the same

 

[markayash]

One of the biggest inconveniences for me with LC was the constant yo-yo'ing between the upper/lower limits of my range... nice and high after an addition and near the low end 24 hrs later or especially after having alot of swimmers in the pool. Now with my SWG I stay consistent pretty much all the time and could probably get away with just checking my FC 1-2x per week. Nothing against using LC, if I didn't have a SWG that's what I would use, and it wouldn't be THAT bad. But after making the switch...what an improvement of convenience.

Good idea to keep a gallon on hand. Never know when you might need it

 

[cowboycasey]

The biggest problem has always been the up front cost of the SWG.. It does cost the same as buying LC but you pay it all up front.. That is a lot of money for some and I completely understand.. I wish they could sell SWG on a loan or monthly payment.. I think everyone would get one if the cost was the same for LC or SWG every month..


hmmm, TFP loan program??

 

[Sunnydaze]

I don't really mind adding chlorine daily. I work from home so it's easier than most. I get my chlorine from Walmart and I usually grocery shop there anyway so it's not an extra trip for me. I probably will convert to salt in a season or 2 though.

 

[Pv2]

I had a crappy intex generator for the last 5 0r 6 years (can't see my sig while posting LOL) . it died this year and now I am a little more impressed with what it was putting out when it worked. I always had to supplement most of the hottest part of the summer but it would be like a cup or so every day or two. whew! I am dumping a lot more than that in there now. I too am waiting and trying to decide on SWG or liquid dispensing system. hope prices and availability return to normal eventually.

 

[Dave1096]

I had a crappy intex generator for the last 5 0r 6 years (can't see my sig while posting LOL) . it died this year and now I am a little more impressed with what it was putting out when it worked. I always had to supplement most of the hottest part of the summer but it would be like a cup or so every day or two. whew! I am dumping a lot more than that in there now. I too am waiting and trying to decide on SWG or liquid dispensing system. hope prices and availability return to normal eventually.

Maybe your last SWG worked but may have been a little undersized for your pool? I'm still playing with mine trying to figure out optimum operation, but I love everything it has to offer so far.

 

[markayash]

I had a crappy intex generator for the last 5 0r 6 years (can't see my sig while posting LOL) . it died this year and now I am a little more impressed with what it was putting out when it worked. I always had to supplement most of the hottest part of the summer but it would be like a cup or so every day or two. whew! I am dumping a lot more than that in there now. I too am waiting and trying to decide on SWG or liquid dispensing system. hope prices and availability return to normal eventually.

As much as I love my SWG it would be hard for me to spend $1600. $850 was a year long decission

 

[willygee]

SWG someday..LC 1.59/gallon 10.25% ACE hardware bulk..2.5 gallons last 2 weeks here in central fla. Screened enclosure helps. Half a minute every two days is easy maintenance. I can see some definite advantages with SWG esp if we go on vacation.

 

[markayash]

SWG someday..LC 1.59/gallon 10.25% ACE hardware bulk..2.5 gallons last 2 weeks here in central fla. Screened enclosure helps. Half a minute every two days is easy maintenance. I can see some definite advantages with SWG esp if we go on vacation.

Nice, if that all your using bring it to SLAM level if your going to be gone for a while

 

[magiteck]

I agree that low chlorine is a recipe for disaster, but my own experience with my solar cover is a reduction of chlorine loss way beyond half.

When bad weather is in the forecast I bring my FC to shock level (SLAM level), put the cover on and turn off my heater. Four days later I lost about 4ppm…. It may be the unique conditions of sunlight exposure and type of cover, but it is impressive how much it preserves my FC.

If you are staying on top of it, and testing frequently then I am THRILLED that the pool gods smiled upon you with a very low chlorine demand / need. That’s awesome.

If we see something we are obligated to point it out. And your low demand stood out like a pink neon sign. Lol.

I similarly have super low FC loss with my (blue) solar cover on. Especially when the pool temps are close to 80 or below.

As an example, 3 days ago I was at 5ppm, and added 36oz of 12% to get to ~ 7.5.

It’s been cooler the past few days and the pool was covered. Today I tested at 4.5. So that’s about 1ppm loss per day covered.

Obviously this assumes NO organics brewing in the pool, and we’re not talking about high sun days.

But for me, when the weather is really nice, I’m using the pool every day and so adding LC daily is no hassle. When the weather is not so good, I can dose high’ish and then just leave it covered for 2-3 days and not really have to do anything.

Once you know your pool, and your environment, it’s not so bad doing things manually. But if I lived somewhere warmer where I could use my pool more than 12-16 weeks out of the year I’d want to go SWG.

 

[derekm]

Although I'm now retired and have more time, I've been running without a SWG for 28 years and have no plans to get one, as it's something else to break down. A few bottles of regular bleach are always on the grocery store list in summer, and we're going there several times a week anyway. As part of my morning routine I roll off the solar cover, test the chem, walk around the pool pouring in the required amount of bleach, usually half a bottle if it's been cloudy, or a full bottle if it's been sunny, rinse the bottle in the pool if empty, and I'm done. On cloudy or cold days I leave the solar cover on, and chlorine use is very low. Empties go into a recycling bag. Only takes a few minutes, and testing daily lets me adjust any water issues before they get out of hand.

 

[Pv2]

Maybe your last SWG worked but may have been a little undersized for your pool? I'm still playing with mine trying to figure out optimum operation, but I love everything it has to offer so far.

I'm sure it was undersized, almost everything Intex is undersized, though it was the largest they offered at the time.

 

[jseyfert3]

Dosing liquid hasn’t been a huge hassle for me. I live about ten minutes from Menards and I’m there decently often. If not I can swing by on my way home and it only adds the time I’m there to my commute. They’ve always had 12.5% in stock for $3.99/gallon through the swimming season.

This year what I’ve been doing is buying more. Got about four and a half 4 gallon boxes in my basement right now.

I do want a SWCG, but it’ll happen once I upgrade my Intex equipment. I’ve got one for my hot tub and it’s great to be able to ignore it for a couple weeks and the FC is right where I want it when we want to use it.

 

[Dr_Data]

We just converted a few days ago to SWCG. Turned it on at 50% and the next day it was clearly working... The FC when we turned it on was 6.5. The next day it was 8.5. So we've dialed it down to 35% and I'll go check in a minute where we are at.

 

[markayash]

We just converted a few days ago to SWCG. Turned it on at 50% and the next day it was clearly working... The FC when we turned it on was 6.5. The next day it was 8.5. So we've dialed it down to 35% and I'll go check in a minute where we are at.

To be the biggest difference with a SWG I’d water feel.
get out feeling clean vs sticky