New Pool Owner - SWG Advice Needed

[pool_novice]

I've just purchased a home with an in-ground pool. I'm a first-time pool owner but am determined to maintain it myself, so am trying to learn as much as I can here.

The pool has an old SWG control panel in place, but I do not see an inline SWG/cell anywhere. This pool was built in the '90s so my best guess is that somewhere along the line, a previous owner didn't want to pay to replace a salt cell, so they just started using chlorine tablets and eventually removed the salt cell.

I would like to convert this pool back to using a SWG, so I have a few questions:

- Can I buy just an inline SWG and connect it to the old SWG controller panel? Looks like I could save $400-500 if I just buy the SWG cell and use the old controller.
- Would there be a downside to doing so?
- Are all Hayward SWGs compatible with all of the Hayward SWG control panels? Looks like the branding has changed since the controller (Swimpure +) was installed so it is hard to tell what SWG cell would be compatible with the control panel.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

How many gallons in your pool? We recommend a cell at least 2X your pool volume.

Hayward Aquarite SWG - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Pressing the diagnostic button sequentially will display:

Default salt display
Pool temp
Cell Voltage - When not generating, the voltage is about 30 to 32 volts dc. When generating, the voltage drops about 1 volt per amp of current.
Cell current
Desired output (% of the knob)
Instant salinity
Product name
Software revision (r.XX)
Cell type

 

[pool_novice]

Thanks for that information. Looks like I need to figure out the software version of the Swimpure Plus control panel to see if it is compatible with any of the current SWGs? I see the 40k SWG works with all versions but I'm sure this pool is nowhere near 40k.

I am not sure of the exact pool size (previous owner is leasing back the property from us until the end of the month, so I can't get in and measure everything as thoroughly as I would like yet) but I took some rough measurements using my laser measure during the inspection.

It's an irregular shape but about 29-30' at its longest point and then about 10-13.5' wide at various points. My laser measure read about 6' at its deepest point near the drains (but not sure how accurate a later measure is going through water). The shallow end appears maybe 3 or 4 feet deep.

Using Pentair's online calculator, it looks like it might be somewhere between 10,400 to 13,700 gallons.

So based on the recommendation to get a salt cell 2x the pool's size, I would need to look for the W3T-CELL-9 (25,000 gallons). The question now is whether I can simply plug the W3T-CELL-9 into the old Swimpure Plus control panel, or if I need to buy a new panel too. Looks like $699 for the generator only vs $1699 for generator + panel, so obviously I would like to save that $1000 if I can.

Attached a couple of photos - apologies for the poor quality image I pulled from Google Earth.

 

[ajw22]

Get a T-15 cell instead of the T-9. You get more chlorine capacity for a bit more cost.

You will not know if your panel works until you plug a cell into it.