Seeking SWG advice and compatibility with pool

[dotseurat]

Hello all -- I'm going into my 3rd summer of pool ownership in the New England Area having moved into a house with a pool. It wasn't until last summer that I got on board with TPF and Pool Math and it's been a tremendous help. I switched to Liquid Chlorine but it's been a bit of a pain and I've come to realize that with two summers under my belt, maybe installing a SWG is not as expensive as I thought, given that I could likely install it myself.

I think I've identified a model that would work for my 35k gallon pool -- The CircuPool RJ-60 PLUS -- Given the deal going on right now to get that model for $5 more than the smaller unit, I should move quickly on a decision -- A challenge for me as tend to over-analyze everything.

So I'm leaning to the forum here for some guidance. My signature has my pool detail.

IIUC, my cartridge filter should be fine with a SWG, Is that correct?

I think I'm coming to peace that there's there likely nothing metallic in my piping or fixtures that would not work well with the salt water, as it seems that's more a symptom of water balance issues I would have to keep up with rather than an issue with salt.

But thinking about a SWG has me also thinking about my pump which is a single-speed, and whether or not I should consider upgrading to a variable-speed motor.... and then once I get thinking about that, I start thinking about automation. It's not like I'm looking to throw a boat-load of money at the problem, but recognize the value of upfront costs turning into downstream savings.

Do people recommend converting over to a variable speed pump when converting to a SWG? Unfortunately, I don't know the age of the motor -- maybe there's an easy way to tell from labels or markings. If I knew it was creeping up on its lifetime expectancy, it would be an easier decision. Also, there's no rebate/incentive where I live that could offset some of the cost.

Also, if I were to go to variable speed, the question would be whether to replace just the motor or replace the entire pump. While I consider myself fairly handy, I don't really want to do extra work if replacing the motor is all that's needed (and maybe changing the impeller size). It seems likely the Century (A.O. Smith) 1.65 HP Motor, V-Green, Square Flange 48Y, Variable Speed - Model ECM16SQU would work or something from that family I think.

Lastly, there's the topic of automation - something I hadn't really thought about. Maybe not something I would need to rush into getting, but I remember at my old house converting my irrigation system onto OpenSprinkler running on a raspberry pi and accessing it via wifi on my phone and it was pretty handy being able to easily turn on individual zones while outside. It looks like the Centry EMC16SQU has a digital input, and you can buy a Century Motor VLink - VL100 for $400 that give you the ability to monitor and control the pump configuration remotely. Not sure there's any open-source or community-driven equivalent?

Does anyone have thoughts on my SWG pump choice given my pool info and thoughts on the benefits of doing it all at once vs waiting on the pump and sticking with my single-speed?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ajw22]

There is no reason to link your SWG decision and VS pump decision unless you want to get specific models that play well together. You already ruled that out choosing the Circupool SWG.

If you want to save some money on electrical costs then get the V-Green VS motor. The savings is not there as much when you only run your pool 5 months or so a year as those who run their pools 12 months. It is more of a feel good decision then economic.

Automation is a separate decision. A simple pool without a spa can run on timers without automation. And again any benefit is only a few months out of the year.

You can hack individual products together or go the direction of one vendor supplying the automation, SWG, and VS pump. A single vendor solution will have better integration but maybe few additional benefits for your simple pool that is open for a few months every year.

 

[1poolman1]

Hello all -- I'm going into my 3rd summer of pool ownership in the New England Area having moved into a house with a pool. It wasn't until last summer that I got on board with TPF and Pool Math and it's been a tremendous help. I switched to Liquid Chlorine but it's been a bit of a pain and I've come to realize that with two summers under my belt, maybe installing a SWG is not as expensive as I thought, given that I could likely install it myself.

I think I've identified a model that would work for my 35k gallon pool -- The CircuPool RJ-60 PLUS -- Given the deal going on right now to get that model for $5 more than the smaller unit, I should move quickly on a decision -- A challenge for me as tend to over-analyze everything.

So I'm leaning to the forum here for some guidance. My signature has my pool detail.

IIUC, my cartridge filter should be fine with a SWG, Is that correct?

I think I'm coming to peace that there's there likely nothing metallic in my piping or fixtures that would not work well with the salt water, as it seems that's more a symptom of water balance issues I would have to keep up with rather than an issue with salt.

But thinking about a SWG has me also thinking about my pump which is a single-speed, and whether or not I should consider upgrading to a variable-speed motor.... and then once I get thinking about that, I start thinking about automation. It's not like I'm looking to throw a boat-load of money at the problem, but recognize the value of upfront costs turning into downstream savings.

Do people recommend converting over to a variable speed pump when converting to a SWG? Unfortunately, I don't know the age of the motor -- maybe there's an easy way to tell from labels or markings. If I knew it was creeping up on its lifetime expectancy, it would be an easier decision. Also, there's no rebate/incentive where I live that could offset some of the cost.

Also, if I were to go to variable speed, the question would be whether to replace just the motor or replace the entire pump. While I consider myself fairly handy, I don't really want to do extra work if replacing the motor is all that's needed (and maybe changing the impeller size). It seems likely the Century (A.O. Smith) 1.65 HP Motor, V-Green, Square Flange 48Y, Variable Speed - Model ECM16SQU would work or something from that family I think.

Lastly, there's the topic of automation - something I hadn't really thought about. Maybe not something I would need to rush into getting, but I remember at my old house converting my irrigation system onto OpenSprinkler running on a raspberry pi and accessing it via wifi on my phone and it was pretty handy being able to easily turn on individual zones while outside. It looks like the Centry EMC16SQU has a digital input, and you can buy a Century Motor VLink - VL100 for $400 that give you the ability to monitor and control the pump configuration remotely. Not sure there's any open-source or community-driven equivalent?

Does anyone have thoughts on my SWG pump choice given my pool info and thoughts on the benefits of doing it all at once vs waiting on the pump and sticking with my single-speed?

Thanks in advance!

Since you have a simple pool and the ECM16SQU can be controlled with a regular timeclock, a simple WiFi timer would be a much-less expensive option than the V-Link. In actual practice you are not going to be changing the speeds of the pump once they are set the way your pool needs them. I've never changed the speeds of my VSP since finding the ones I need and don't carry my phone when working on my pool, its not waterproof.

You can purchase one that many on this site use, the Suraielec WiFi pool timer, on Amazon for just over $50.00. It could also be wired to control the SWG at the same time as it has a 40A capacity.