My Concerns about switching from tabs to a SWCG

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twilk

twilk

Member
Sep 23, 2019
16
Brenham, TX
I thought I would post my concerns about a SWCG. I am on the fence about switching to a SWCG from Tri-Chlor tabs.
The tabs have been working fine, CYA has been hanging around 60. I am seeing the battle lines between TFP and the PB's.
Most of the PB's I have spoken with about a SWCG want to steer me away from adding one. They offer a list of reasons from equipment damage to damage to coping and any other metal near the pool. Any damage would slow to manifest it self and with such low salt levels compared to the sea I just don't see the concern. I believe most folks on this site back SWCG's wholeheartedly. Hence my dilemma. Am I overthinking this? Why such a strong dislike from the PB's? I am thinking with my pool it could be years before the CYA gets to a point where I need to drain some water. My VS pump only runs four hours a day @1750 rpm. I am thinking of cutting it down to three hours. Based on calculations pool turnover would happen in less than two hours with my setup. Then the concern of how much longer I would need to run the pump with a SWCG to get my chlorine levels right. t is just driving me nuts, comments would be much appreciated.
 
T,

I suggest that you ask them to show you some damage.. We have yet to see any pics of damage that would prove the cause was saltwater.. We hear plenty of stories, but no proof. And... most of the stories start of with... "My brothers wife knows a lady down the street who had nothing but trouble with her saltwater pool..."

I have three saltwater pools and none of them has had any type of damage at all, much less damage due to the saltwater.

I believe that the main reason that pool builders do not like saltwater pool is because of the call backs. Most pool owners do not know how to care for a saltwater pool and just assume you turn it on a walk away.. Just not true.. I think when a pool turns green when using tabs, most pool owners do not think this is an equipment problem, so they do not call the pool builder... But... with a SWCG, when the pool turns green, the pool owner assumes it has to be an equipment problem, so they start calling the pool builder. Since most pool builders do not really understand how to analyze why a SWCG pool has turned green, they are between a rock and a hard place.

My guess is that 75% of all reported SWCG failures are really just caused by poor pool maintenance by the pool owner, not because of any hardware defect. To properly maintain a pool, the pool owner must routinely test their pool water and adjust the chemicals, to maintain a well balance pool... It does not matter how the pool is sanitized.

If I built another 100 pools they would all be Saltwater pools, and I would not hire a pool builder that thinks that saltwater pools are bad, as I'd prefer to deal with someone that is not stuck in the 60's..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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I have been debating that for 2 or 3 years but now you have to be home to sign for chlorine which is a pain for me..Plus a few times I opened the bucket of tablets and the fumes burned my eyes 3' away.
I am going to drain my pool and go SW this spring..My CYA is around 120 after a partial drain..
 
Brenham is not far from HOUSTON. There is no way that you can “maintain” a CYA of 60 there when using tabs without draining water. It’s impossible. Here in HOUSTON or proximity, FC demand is minimum 3-4 in Summer which means you are adding tabs constantly. My neighbors who are using tabs in their pool have hit 150+ CYA in 1 year. I really don’t see how anybody could not go with an SWG in a climate like HOUSTON.
 
I'd say the only reason a PB would not recommend them is ignorance. And those that have been in business "for 50 years" seem to be the most ignorant. They knew what they knew when they started and never advanced at all in their industry.
 
Here's a copy of a post I just wrote in someone else's thread:

The other thing that these "alt system pushers" neglect to explain when they're slamming salt water pools: virtually ALL pools are salt water pools! Or rather, become salt water pools! Many common pool chemicals (like chlorine and muriatic acid) leave salt in your pool when they're done doing their thing. Humans are a source of salt, too (sweat). And many fill supplies, even "city water," has salt in it. All that salt collects in your pool. It doesn't evaporate with the water. So most pool owners have to deal with that periodically, by exchanging their salt water with fresh water (which likely has some salt in it!). So in order to have a true fresh water pool, you can't use chlorine or acid or let anyone swim in it! Or you could regularly replace your pool water if your wallet and local municipality allow (if your city is supplying salt-free water).

When I took over my pool care, and was contemplating installing an SWG, I tested the water (before I added any salt). The pool had just under the amount of salt (salinity) required by the SWG! The pool was only about four years old at the time.

So since you'll likely be dealing with salt one way or another, you might as well put it to use and have it generate your chlorine for you!
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When I took over my pool from the previous owner, my flagstone coping was in trouble: flaking and sandy. The deck has flagstone spokes that radiate away from the pool, and most of the damage to the flagstone is only on the stone directly surrounding the pool, not on the spokes that are farther away. Assuming all the stone was from the same source, it kinda "proves" that the water from the pool was "causing" the damage. But that stone was like that, both the damaged coping and the healthy spokes, before I converted the pool to saltwater and installed an SWG. So what accounts for the damage to the flagstone that surrounds the pool? Water? Chlorine? The salt that built up over years of neglect by the previous owner? Or just the wrong selection of stone by the builder, and the fact that it gets wet way more often than the spokes do? (I suspect the latter.) But my pool would be a poster-child for these anti-salt evangelists, when in reality my coping doesn't prove their opinion at all.

Since I treated the coping with a special chemical, and installed an SWG, the flaking and sandy residue has all but stopped. So does that "prove" an SWG healed my stone!?!
 
If my climate was so hot that the SWG didn’t produce enough FC, I would plumb in a sister SWG tomorrow. Costs be darned. I’m THAT sold on it.
 
PBs may also be pool store owners (mine was, as is the other guy in town who builds pools). The sale of pucks is a nice guaranteed income. A SWG cell lasts for up to 8+ years (in my case, my first did). That was lost year round income to him.

With a SWG I can leave town for extended periods and not worry that the pool isn't getting its daily dose of chlorine. Big weight off my mind.

Maddie :flower:
 
markayash said:
My wife is saying " yuck, I don't want to swim in the pool and feel sticky every time I get out like the ocean " I keep telling her it's not the same salt or quantity
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Oh boo hoo! And by that I mean: the salinity of a saltwater pool is very close to that of tears, nowhere near the ocean (about 1/10, in fact). Some claim that a saltwater pool leaves you feeling a bit silky, kinda like a softwater shower, but if that's true it's so subtle that I can hardly tell. I know well of the sticky feeling you get from the ocean, a saltwater pool is nothing like that, not the least bit. And as my post above describes, your wife is going to being swimming in salt water whether you lug chlorine bottles around or get to relax instead with an SWG...

Ha, if you still have trouble convincing her, let her take over chlorine duty for a while: buying it, lugging it, storing it, dosing it... She won't make it a month! ;)
 
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YippeeSkippy said:
PBs may also be pool store owners (mine was, as is the other guy in town who builds pools). The sale of pucks is a nice guaranteed income. A SWG cell lasts for up to 8+ years (in my case, my first did). That was lost year round income to him.

With a SWG I can leave town for extended periods and not worry that the pool isn't getting its daily dose of chlorine. Big weight off my mind.

Maddie :flower:
Click to expand...

That's is my biggest issue, for several springs in a row my water was PERFECT..Until we headed to the beach for week and come back to a swamp..Always amazed me how quickly it can go from clean to green with a little rain and higher temp's. Last couple I dumped a lot of shock in the day before and they kept it decent
 
Bvacchiano said:
Brenham is not far from HOUSTON. There is no way that you can “maintain” a CYA of 60 there when using tabs without draining water. It’s impossible. Here in HOUSTON or proximity, FC demand is minimum 3-4 in Summer which means you are adding tabs constantly. My neighbors who are using tabs in their pool have hit 150+ CYA in 1 year. I really don’t see how anybody could not go with an SWG in a climate like HOUSTON.
Click to expand...
I grew up in Houston so I know the water is not the best. I check chems every Saturday, this morning I was at 50, we had some rain that may have had some effect. The cost is not at issue, I just need to decide to pull the trigger. I guess my biggest concern is pump run time. I run my filter pump 2 hours in the morning and two hours late in the day. My FC stays around 1 - 1.5 and my pool has been sparkling clean from day one. I add one tab every two - three weeks so I am not using a lot, could account for the lower CYA. I have a Aqualink system and Jandy pumps, the Jandy Truclear system is what I am leaning toward. Would be an easy setup to link it to my current automation. Sometimes being an engineer I over think things, this may be one of those cases. Thanks for the input.
 
twilk said:
I grew up in Houston so I know the water is not the best. I check chems every Saturday, this morning I was at 50, we had some rain that may have had some effect. The cost is not at issue, I just need to decide to pull the trigger. I guess my biggest concern is pump run time. I run my filter pump 2 hours in the morning and two hours late in the day. My FC stays around 1 - 1.5 and my pool has been sparkling clean from day one. I add one tab every two - three weeks so I am not using a lot, could account for the lower CYA. I have a Aqualink system and Jandy pumps, the Jandy Truclear system is what I am leaning toward. Would be an easy setup to link it to my current automation. Sometimes being an engineer I over think things, this may be one of those cases. Thanks for the input.
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I agree, I think " man I am about to spend $1000 just to make it easier" then I think I need tablets and shock this year and that's an easy $200 a year for me.
I am going to switch this spring, leaning toward the Circupool RJ45 ( I am a network engineer so RJ45 is a cable end :) ) ..PLus I ahve a bad return ball valve that I need to replace anyway so perfect time
 
markayash said:
I agree, I think " man I am about to spend $1000 just to make it easier" then I think I need tablets and shock this year and that's an easy $200 a year for me.
I am going to switch this spring, leaning toward the Circupool RJ45 ( I am a network engineer so RJ45 is a cable end :) ) ..PLus I ahve a bad return ball valve that I need to replace anyway so perfect time
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That's me, one minute make the change, the next just stay with what I have. I know I am over thinking this. I could go DIY no problem but if I stay with Jandy its best to get my PB to do the install. My PB is Premier Pools & Spas out of LaGrange, great folks to work with and they have been super helpful. Plus the Jandy Tru-Clear will connect right to my iAqualink system. Looks like this spring I'll make the change.
 
twilk said:
My VS pump only runs four hours a day @1750 rpm. I am thinking of cutting it down to three hours.
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Have you calculated the extra electrical costs? At 1800 RPM, my VS only pulls about 395 watts. For me , that's about 5 cents per hour during nighttime hours.
 
Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
Have you calculated the extra electrical costs? At 1800 RPM, my VS only pulls about 395 watts. For me , that's about 5 cents per hour during nighttime hours.
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Haven't done the calculations, I need to do that. I know my pump pulls 2400 watts at 3450 rpms, on start up it runs at 3200 rpm for maybe a minute or two to get primed and then it drops to 1750. It shouldn't be much different than what yours draws. Even if is 1000 watts @ 1750 it would not cost too much.
 

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