New AGP owner

Jump to latest Follow Reply
The stabilizer and muriatic acid you posted from Home Depot are fine, but I saw you mention Clorox bleach. Clorox adds extra things to its bleach that you don't want in your pool. Please avoid this brand. Store brand only is best.

If you are going to Home Depot, I would look to see if they have their HDX germicidal bleach or their HDX 10% liquid chlorine in the pool section.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mufjp and kimkats
muf,

I am a diehard Pentair fan, but I would not recommend the IC40 SWCG as a stand alone DIY installation. I would go with one of the Hayward T15 clones, sold by INYO or with a CircuPool unit.. Both are DIY friendly...

That said, you have a single speed pump and you will have to run your pump a long time to generate the amount of chlorine you will need. If the only reason you are wanting to get a SWCG is so that you can be maintenance free on the weekends, I would recommend that you just use tabs for a couple of days.. There is nothing wrong with using tablets as long as you monitor your CYA levels.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
I forgot about the being away part............what I do is keep my CYA on the lower side so I can use pucks in my floater for when I am away from home for the weekend and such. That is until I get my SWG. Then it is really easy! It takes care of it for you!
 
OH and another thing.........check the % on the muriatic acid. I think that is the lower % but it is the same price as higher % kind. What you want is 31%. It is kept outside in a two pack box at Lowes and Home Depot.
 
How is power to the pump controlled? Timer? Post a pic of it.

The heater is a Heat Pump. You need to run your pump and HP most of the time to get a significant temperature rise in the water. A HP generates a small amount of heat over a short period of time.

If you are going to DIY a SWG look at the CircuPool RJ SWG.
 
Thank you all again for the helpful comments. Until now, I thought I only had this manual red lever to switch on and off the pump, but I found another box with a timer. In my single speed pump setup, how many hours would the pump be required to run minimum with / without a SWG?

5EAF83C0-4B92-4928-8AF0-069B7631310F.jpeg7F19D1C1-2846-4B9A-BC17-9E5C8F158CEB.jpeg

I’ll look into the recommended SWG units. Is the pentair unit just too complex to install DIY or is it for warranty reasons?

Btw, Kim—you mentioned I should leave the pool ankle deep before refilling it. Is there any downside to completely emptying it? While the water level is low, should I be scrubbing the floor and the walls?

Thanks!!
 
BIG downside to totally empty is the liner might shift away from the wall which can cause wrinkles :(

You can gently clean the sides with a light water/bleach mix then rinse it off if you feel you need to. I would not scrub it to be extra safe.

Kim:kim:
 
mufjp said:
I’ll look into the recommended SWG units. Is the pentair unit just too complex to install DIY or is it for warranty reasons?
Click to expand...
All the SWCG units are fairly simple to install. Some manufacturers do not provide much warranty for DIY to protect their dealers and installers.
For DIY, Circupool, Pureline, and I hear Hayward all have decent warranties. Check to confirm.

On your run question about your pump without a SWCG, run time is for skimming. During that time you add your chlorine/chemicals so the pump runs for at least 30 minutes after the add. So try 4 hours a day and work up from there.
 
This morning the water has finally reached a level slightly below the knee. Since I was going to be out of town until tomorrow, I decided that I will start refilling the pool. As Kim suggested, I didn’t really scrub anything—but when I went down, I could see that there were wrinkles presents on the wall. I just gently brushed the precipitates on the floor with a sweeper—and it made the water turn green. Maybe it wasn’t the copper ions that made the water green?! Do green algae float around or stick on the floor/walls like I suspected? :rolleyes:

Anyway, I’ve done research on the Circupool units and came down to three choices RJ45+ vs. Core35 vs. Core55

The first two are about the same price but the Core unit is easier to install—which I’m attracted to, but has less capacity. Core 55 is about 300 more, biggest and easiest to install but I wonder if it’s an overkill given my 17k pool size.

Considering that I have a single speed pump, would the bigger unit help me run the entire pump/SWG less hours to keep the water clear? How many hours of running the pump be required for adequate chlorine output?

Please help me choose. Thank you guys!:unsure:(y)
 
Based on your current FC loss per day, you can use Poolmath to come up with what % setting and pump run time using the chlorine generation specs of each SWCG.

Algae starts dispersed in the water. When you can see it on the walls, it is in full bloom.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I almost always notice it on the walls to start with. This happens when my husband *forgets* :roll: to brush the pool. I point it out to him and he does his job and I SLAM the pool to get rid of it. I make sure he *learns* from his mistake by pointing out how many more times he has to brush the pool NOW than if he had kept up with it. LOL

Kim:kim:
 
Not a heat pumper, so im out.

I would recommend ridged pipe to replace the flex in there now. Over time and chems, the flex wall can swell causing restriction. Other advice may be to just run a short flex piece between the ridged and the pool wall for a little movement (give) since the plumbing isnt buried, but that is up to you. But throughout the equipment, ridged.

Opps you wanted to know about the weekends and Cl, sorry...

If you are just away for 2 or 3 day at a time, i don't know if SWCG would be cost effective. Yes, you can up the Cl dose if you know you will be away. But if your erosion feeder is working, you shouldn't really have to do that. I have always said to adjust the level with liquid, then adjust the feeder to maintain, HOWEVER, there is a whole science to water chemistry here on the forum, and i will refer you to it. Note: People that have weekly chemical service typically only get one visit (This means only one chem adjustment) per week. So that theory implies that you should be able to get away with a couple of days without attention to the water.

If you know that you will be away, you have the advantage which means you can prepare for, or adjust accordingly. Unlike a dispensing failure that would only alert you when you get home (green pool). Either way, unless you really go all in with your wallet (sense and dispense type) a typical SWCG is only as good as the settings you input tuit. IOW, Both the erosion feeder and the SWCG only deliver at the setting you input, and if there is a unexpected heat wave while you are away, either system could leave you with a green pool.

Any of that make sense?
 
Hi Pool Clown,
It kind of makes sense. So you are recommending PVC pipes instead of the flex pipes I have already. Correct?

How does that affect winterization? I’m in NJ and I think the previous pool owner used to open around late May and close around early September. Won’t PVC pipes make it hard to take them off for winterization?
 
As for the SWG, in an earlier thread Jim R mentioned the following:

“That said, you have a single speed pump and you will have to run your pump a long time to generate the amount of chlorine you will need.”

How does having a single speed pump affect chlorine generation?

My second question is if the pump can run independently while the SWG is shut off—is that possible?
 
mufjp said:
This morning the water has finally reached a level slightly below the knee. Since I was going to be out of town until tomorrow, I decided that I will start refilling the pool. As Kim suggested, I didn’t really scrub anything—but when I went down, I could see that there were wrinkles presents on the wall. I just gently brushed the precipitates on the floor with a sweeper—and it made the water turn green. Maybe it wasn’t the copper ions that made the water green?! Do green algae float around or stick on the floor/walls like I suspected? :rolleyes:

Anyway, I’ve done research on the Circupool units and came down to three choices RJ45+ vs. Core35 vs. Core55

The first two are about the same price but the Core unit is easier to install—which I’m attracted to, but has less capacity. Core 55 is about 300 more, biggest and easiest to install but I wonder if it’s an overkill given my 17k pool size.

Considering that I have a single speed pump, would the bigger unit help me run the entire pump/SWG less hours to keep the water clear? How many hours of running the pump be required for adequate chlorine output?

Please help me choose. Thank you guys!:unsure:(y)
Click to expand...
Muf,

TFP recommends a SWG that is rated for 2x your pool size. Larger is generally better. I have a 12800 gal pool and went with RJ 30+ from Circupool a few months ago. I'm thrilled so far. My choice was based on reputation here, online reviews, and $/# CL production. You can figure out how long to run your pump with Pool Math. Just figure out how much FC you consume currently with liquid bleach and use that as input. If you got for swg be sure to measure your salt content before you figure out how much salt to add. You may be surprised to find you already have 1000 ppm or more. That really reduces the amount of salt to add. Also, I added the salt before ordering the swg. I wanted to be sure my wife liked the pool water feel (she loved it and would never want to go back). Just used liquid bleach 'till I got the swg unit installed. If you go with the Circupool, get the maintenance kit. You can use it as a "spool" to get the install done then just swap in the cell. The spool is a lot lighter and easier to work with.

I hope this helps.

Chris

I hope this helps.

Chris
 
mufjp said:
As for the SWG, in an earlier thread Jim R mentioned the following:

“That said, you have a single speed pump and you will have to run your pump a long time to generate the amount of chlorine you will need.”

How does having a single speed pump affect chlorine generation?

My second question is if the pump can run independently while the SWG is shut off—is that possible?
Click to expand...

You can't run the swg unless the pump is running. Technically you can run the pump and not the SWG but normally you wouldn't. Just reduce the % power and let it run as long as the pump runs as it's better on the cell. Should last longer.

Chris
 
setsailsoon said:
You can't run the swg unless the pump is running. Technically you can run the pump and not the SWG but normally you wouldn't. Just reduce the % power and let it run as long as the pump runs as it's better on the cell. Should last longer.

Chris
Click to expand...

Good to know. I was asking because the pump has its own timer and I was going to get an outlet timer for the SWG unit--to reduce the risk of explosion if the flow sensor fails as reported by another TFP member here. I'm thinking it's probably not possible to exactly match the pump timer to the SWG outlet timer--so I just wanted to make sure the SWG not running was OK while the pump runs.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply