Hi guys!
New here and would love to hear some thoughts from you experts.
Have had my house with a SWG pool for just over a year now and have been using a pool service. Pool is approximately 15K gallons (to my best guess - image below). Currently use a Hayward Aquarite with a TCELL940 for the SWG and a Hayward EcoStar VSP. Nothing smart and the SWG is tied to an intermatic timer (more on this later). I also have a barely functional solar panel, such that I need to manually turn it on and off (the sensor and auto doesn't work).
For a few months, my pool service advised that he believes my salt cell was 'going bad' due to varying chlorine levels and although his salt tester says 3000ppm, the AquaRite fluctuates from 0 to 4000. He has been adding pucks to my skimmer basket along with liquid chlorine as needed since he said my chlorine levels tend to vary every week. Well, my Ecostar VSP finally just bit the dust and the motor won't turn on. Still receives power and can function the buttons, but won't prime nor turn on and I have tried flipping all the breakers. Pool service recommended a new motor or a new pump.
So that lead me on the adventure to figure out this pool stuff and to buy a new pump. Started researching and found out many pool companies want to give "better deals" by buying the pump + SWG all together. MY issue is that I do not know if my SWG PCB is working correctly or not (I should've done all this research prior, but didn't even think about it). I know my TCELL940 salt cell is OK (4 years old) as I had it tested at a local Leslies. I found out that my SWG has been in the intermatic timer, but the timer did not have any on/off pegs, so it has been receiving power 24/7. On top of that, the flow switch appears to have stopped working... when I turn on the AquaRite, with the pool pump "off", the SWG says "generating" and no issues about flow... However, I see a voltage of 32 but 0 Amps. I am not sure if it is saying 0 Amps because there is no water running through it? Could any one tell me if they override their flow sensor on the AquaRite SWG and turn the pump off, do you still have an amperage output from the SWG?
I also have on order a Pentair Intelliflow VSP along with the IntelliChlor IC40. But - I told the pool company that I want them to first install the pump and see if we can tell if the current Hayward AquaRite system is working appropriately and maybe just need a new flow switch? They just pushed the install out another week on me, so the pool is getting nice and green.
Just looking for your opinions and advice. Do we think the timer could have caused the salt level / chlorine levels to be way off on the AquaRite with a faulty flow switch? Is now the time I should be looking into automation or am I making the right move by swapping to all Pentair devices? All of the companies recommended the VSP either Hayward or Pentair, mainly because of the two fountains and solar.
Lots of questions - Sorry for the headache. Hope most of this makes sense?
*one other side note - The previous owner replaced the Hawyward Aquarite PCB/motherboard every 3 years. That is baffling to me and why I was thinking Intellichlor may be a better product?
Thanks!
New here and would love to hear some thoughts from you experts.
Have had my house with a SWG pool for just over a year now and have been using a pool service. Pool is approximately 15K gallons (to my best guess - image below). Currently use a Hayward Aquarite with a TCELL940 for the SWG and a Hayward EcoStar VSP. Nothing smart and the SWG is tied to an intermatic timer (more on this later). I also have a barely functional solar panel, such that I need to manually turn it on and off (the sensor and auto doesn't work).
For a few months, my pool service advised that he believes my salt cell was 'going bad' due to varying chlorine levels and although his salt tester says 3000ppm, the AquaRite fluctuates from 0 to 4000. He has been adding pucks to my skimmer basket along with liquid chlorine as needed since he said my chlorine levels tend to vary every week. Well, my Ecostar VSP finally just bit the dust and the motor won't turn on. Still receives power and can function the buttons, but won't prime nor turn on and I have tried flipping all the breakers. Pool service recommended a new motor or a new pump.
So that lead me on the adventure to figure out this pool stuff and to buy a new pump. Started researching and found out many pool companies want to give "better deals" by buying the pump + SWG all together. MY issue is that I do not know if my SWG PCB is working correctly or not (I should've done all this research prior, but didn't even think about it). I know my TCELL940 salt cell is OK (4 years old) as I had it tested at a local Leslies. I found out that my SWG has been in the intermatic timer, but the timer did not have any on/off pegs, so it has been receiving power 24/7. On top of that, the flow switch appears to have stopped working... when I turn on the AquaRite, with the pool pump "off", the SWG says "generating" and no issues about flow... However, I see a voltage of 32 but 0 Amps. I am not sure if it is saying 0 Amps because there is no water running through it? Could any one tell me if they override their flow sensor on the AquaRite SWG and turn the pump off, do you still have an amperage output from the SWG?
I also have on order a Pentair Intelliflow VSP along with the IntelliChlor IC40. But - I told the pool company that I want them to first install the pump and see if we can tell if the current Hayward AquaRite system is working appropriately and maybe just need a new flow switch? They just pushed the install out another week on me, so the pool is getting nice and green.
Just looking for your opinions and advice. Do we think the timer could have caused the salt level / chlorine levels to be way off on the AquaRite with a faulty flow switch? Is now the time I should be looking into automation or am I making the right move by swapping to all Pentair devices? All of the companies recommended the VSP either Hayward or Pentair, mainly because of the two fountains and solar.
Lots of questions - Sorry for the headache. Hope most of this makes sense?
*one other side note - The previous owner replaced the Hawyward Aquarite PCB/motherboard every 3 years. That is baffling to me and why I was thinking Intellichlor may be a better product?
Thanks!
