I made a post a few days ago where I did a cost comparison of SWG vs. chlorine (trichlor). SWG saves money in the long-run:
Good to know. I’ve noticed the limestone builders block everyone uses on their houses flakes off during freezes so yes could just be the stone they use around here.
www.troublefreepool.com
...and the saving of money is coming sooner and sooner with chlorine/trichlor pricing rising.
@geh I can only speak to the Circupool RJ-45 plus which I had installed spring of last year. It has been great. My pool is around 20K gal so I went with the RJ-45 and I usually set it between 15%-30% to keep my pool at appropriate FC level. With a 15K pool, you'd be good with a cell rated for 30K pools. Actually initially had a bad control panel and they sent me a new one within 5 days. Customer service was great as they also worked with me on another issue.
Whatever cell you decide to go with, cost up front will be as follows:
SWG = $1200-1600 (mine cost 1200 before price went up)
Install = $200-500 (Or a lot less if you do it yourself. It's not that hard, vids on youtube, but I'm lazy so $200 for me)
Initial Salt dose = $100-150 (I had to add about 440lbs of salt to bring within spec)
Taylor Salt test kit = $30 (be careful, that Crud stains the hands if any drops on them.)
Ongoing costs;
SWG Operation = Minimal electrical cost.
Salt cell = $300-$500 every 5-10 years as it needs replaced
Salt = under $50/year. Salt doesn't evaporate out of pool but you'll need to add salt when splash out or other water loss occurs.
Muriatic Acid = ??? some have noticed pH creep with SWG due to off-gassing but I didn't really notice using more than usual last year.
Edited Note (Thanks
@Bperry): Balanced water is important. Calcium buildup on the salt cell's metal plates is possible if water is not balanced. This hurts the efficacy of the cell's ability to produce chlorine and might necessitate a muriatic acid/water soak to eliminate. In turn cell life could be reduced.