SWG and Cold Water

[pikeman]

Thanks pjt,
Even though we have Pentair, if we make the switch, I'm leaning towards the Circupool RJ-60+. I would be doing the install and want the warranty.

~Mike

Hello,
I own a Circupool RJ+ SWG. It’s a good unit and the support has been excellent. It’s been a game changer as far as water quality, enjoyment, labor, and eliminating the cost of chlorine. I only regret not doing it sooner.
I run mine about six hours a day, at night, and use sprayers to keep the temp down. Presently we’re at 88, and that’s a bit lower than some other neighborhood pools. It’s hard to do an exact comparison due to exposure differences.
So I’m glad to have done salt, and have great experience with Circupool.

 

[nobody291]

A little voice in the back of my head is telling me it's not quite that easy.

Definitely true...there are a million little things to be done that are specific to your installation.

After reading the entire manual the worst part seems to be ensuring the pool is in perfect chemical balance before turning on the SWCG.

I wouldn't use the word "perfect"...I'd say that you just need to make sure you're within the TFP ranges. In this case, the main thing with chemical balance is just making sure you don't add salt while the SWG is turned on...give the salt plenty of time to mix in.

What "gotchas" should I be on the lookout for during the installation?

Make sure you get the salt test and test your water before adding more salt. Since your water is fresh, you probably have very little, but don't presume the salt level is zero. Otherwise, read as many DIY stories as you can take and measure twice/cut once!

 

[Litlat]

Hello,
I own a Circupool RJ+ SWG. It’s a good unit and the support has been excellent. It’s been a game changer as far as water quality, enjoyment, labor, and eliminating the cost of chlorine. I only regret not doing it sooner.
I run mine about six hours a day, at night, and use sprayers to keep the temp down. Presently we’re at 88, and that’s a bit lower than some other neighborhood pools. It’s hard to do an exact comparison due to exposure differences.
So I’m glad to have done salt, and have great experience with Circupool.

Pikeman,
Thank you. That's great news about Circupool. You hate to spend almost 2G's on their product just to find out the company is not honorable.

~Mike

 

[Litlat]

Definitely true...there are a million little things to be done that are specific to your installation.


I wouldn't use the word "perfect"...I'd say that you just need to make sure you're within the TFP ranges. In this case, the main thing with chemical balance is just making sure you don't add salt while the SWG is turned on...give the salt plenty of time to mix in.


Make sure you get the salt test and test your water before adding more salt. Since your water is fresh, you probably have very little, but don't presume the salt level is zero. Otherwise, read as many DIY stories as you can take and measure twice/cut once!

Thanks Eric.

Your words, "measure twice/cut once!" were never truer.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Thanks for all of your insight Fred. Definitely going to supersize it. The upfront cost between a 45 and a 60 is minimal. I need to double check with Circupool, but I believe for our 14,500 gallon pool a RJ-60+ would be adequate. I'll get a bigger unit if necessary.
Thanks again.
Mike

My 40K is more than adequate for my 14K pool... but for the most part, within reason, bigger is better. I run at the peak of the summer 9 hours a day at 45%. Most of the year less. That's less than you'd think, and I never quite figured out why... but it works...

 

[Litlat]

My 40K is more than adequate for my 14K pool... but for the most part, within reason, bigger is better. I run at the peak of the summer 9 hours a day at 45%. Most of the year less. That's less than you'd think, and I never quite figured out why... but it works...

At summer's peak you're still under 50%. That's fantastic. Everyone has been so kind filling me in about these things. I'm starting to believe these little som' ******* are the cure all of pool maintenance .

 

[jmastron]

Fellow Californian here. Last winter was my first with the Calimar CMARSHA40-3Y (a great unit if willing to go generic for a much lower price). I left it on all winter (on the timer) and let it generate or not as it desired. It generated chlorine all the way down to a water temperature of 52 degrees in mid December. By mid-February it automatically started again as the temp rose.

During that time, the pool's chlorine use is *very* low -- I had already dialed the timer down to an hour or so a day to keep FC from rising too much. During the entire 2 months I added the equivalent of a gallon or so of 12.5% (the leftover few gallons from the Stenner tank that had sat in the heat since the previous May so was pretty weak) to keep the level up. Next year I think I'm going to try letting it bump the FC level up a few more ppm in early December and see if it can get through without any liquid chlorine bump, just to say I did.

Also note that with water temps in the 40s/low 50s, there's not really any algae growth happening, so it would probably be okay even letting FC go to 0, but many of us (me included) prefer to keep the pool balanced and "open" year round just to be sure. I tell people it's ready to swim in; nobody's taken me up on that in a 45 degree pool!

Your climate is a bit warmer than here -- you might find your water temp doesn't even get down there or only does for a couple weeks (our low water temps are in the mid 40s). I wouldn't worry about it much, just watch it the first year.

 

[Litlat]

Fellow Californian here. Last winter was my first with the Calimar CMARSHA40-3Y (a great unit if willing to go generic for a much lower price). I left it on all winter (on the timer) and let it generate or not as it desired. It generated chlorine all the way down to a water temperature of 52 degrees in mid December. By mid-February it automatically started again as the temp rose.

During that time, the pool's chlorine use is *very* low -- I had already dialed the timer down to an hour or so a day to keep FC from rising too much. During the entire 2 months I added the equivalent of a gallon or so of 12.5% (the leftover few gallons from the Stenner tank that had sat in the heat since the previous May so was pretty weak) to keep the level up. Next year I think I'm going to try letting it bump the FC level up a few more ppm in early December and see if it can get through without any liquid chlorine bump, just to say I did.

Also note that with water temps in the 40s/low 50s, there's not really any algae growth happening, so it would probably be okay even letting FC go to 0, but many of us (me included) prefer to keep the pool balanced and "open" year round just to be sure. I tell people it's ready to swim in; nobody's taken me up on that in a 45 degree pool!

Your climate is a bit warmer than here -- you might find your water temp doesn't even get down there or only does for a couple weeks (our low water temps are in the mid 40s). I wouldn't worry about it much, just watch it the first year.

Thanks jmastron. Great information. I'm not partial to any brand at this point, generic or otherwise. I just want to install a product that will do what it's supposed to do without a lot of problems.

I'll definitely look into the Calimar product line. Would you happen to know how much chlorine their 60K unit produces per day? I can not find anything on their website with that answer.

Thanks again,
Mike

 

[MA5177]

In the few weeks my RJ60+ won’t run due to temp, I use a few tabs. Typically need to build CYA back up getting ready for Summer anyway.

With cold water temps, the tabs last a full week. Think I used maybe 8-10 all winter this year.

Yeah but it adds calcium too

 

[MA5177]

Hello,
I am considering switching over to SWG. We live in So. California (Orange County).
I have read many many threads on this website regarding the pros and cons of switching over. An issue seems to be cold water affecting the cell's inability to produce chlorine with water temps below 59 degrees causing the pool owner to revert back to adding liquid chlorine on a daily basis. With SWG's biggest advantage being not having to add liquid chlorine in the pool on a daily basis doesn't the aforementioned issue negate SWG's "advantage"? Thanks.

~Mike

I used to live in OC and my pool would get down in the 50s , didn’t have a SWG then but here in arizona the pools get cold as well.

I think the super chlorinate mode will still produce chlorine when the water is too cold, so you can always do that every couple weeks

 

[Litlat]

I used to live in OC and my pool would get down in the 50s , didn’t have a SWG then but here in arizona the pools get cold as well.

I think the super chlorinate mode will still produce chlorine when the water is too cold, so you can always do that every couple weeks

Thanks for your input!

 

[reggiehammond]

Yeah but it adds calcium too

No calcium in tri or dichlor tabs.

Also super chlorinate doesn’t work on my RJ60+ when temp threshhold is met.

 

[jmastron]

I used to live in OC and my pool would get down in the 50s , didn’t have a SWG then but here in arizona the pools get cold as well.

I think the super chlorinate mode will still produce chlorine when the water is too cold, so you can always do that every couple weeks

That's definitely not true with mine -- the super chlorinate mode is just an override of the dial setting that's the same as setting 100% for 24 hours then setting it back to whatever it was (in my case that's 100%, so it doesn't matter). It doesn't override any other cutouts (flow, salt, temperature).

 

[ajw22]

That's definitely not true with mine -- the super chlorinate mode is just an override of the dial setting that's the same as setting 100% for 24 hours then setting it back to whatever it was (in my case that's 100%, so it doesn't matter). It doesn't override any other cutouts (flow, salt, temperature).

Depends on the SWG.

Super chlorinate overrides the cold water shutdown on the Jandy Aquapure SWG. There may be others, it is hard to keep track of the minor differences in the way manufacturers implement these features.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

At summer's peak you're still under 50%. That's fantastic. Everyone has been so kind filling me in about these things. I'm starting to believe these little som' ******* are the cure all of pool maintenance .

No, they are not the cure for all of pool maintenance. You still need to do all of the physical cleaning (sweeping, vacuuming, etc.), acid additions, testing and any other non-periodic adjustments......but..... they let you get a little lazy... maybe too lazy. I had a really rough last 2 years and my pool would have been a swamp if not for the SWCG. Still -- I let a few things get a little out of hand... but the SWCG made it a long Saturday to fix everything rather than a water exchange. Which, ultimately I will need anyway eventually to do eventually because I don't have a water softener in line...

The good is that they force you into the TFP regime by their design (pretty much pure Chlorine Ions, like pumping in Chlorine gas) too which is nothing but good. In theory you need that, CYA at a fixed level, and muriatic (or other like CO2 injection) acid-- nothing else. Less is honestly better and that is why TFP works so well.

The bad is that they tempt you to say, "nah not today", for testing and work, and arguably (strongly depending on water type) increase the need for acid additions to keep CSI slightly negative. Still, they probably have the best overall results of any system because the chlorine is always being added gradually, and continuously, depending how you set it. Even now, I am only testing about 1.5x a week which is too little...but I do have a system now for the acid additions. So I lie to myself and say that is good enough...

The main reason the cells shut down at low temperatures is that the pool would over chlorinate in cold weather as the loss is greatly reduced at 50F and below...not that they couldn't generate... they certainly can.

Some units can be forced to super chlorinate at cold. I suspect mine an. If that is the case... do that once a week and you are good for the winter in non-freezing climates.. if not, put in the bypass and just use liquid chlorine... not a big problem either way.

One other commentary on salt pools. The saline level is actually weak compared to your tears. The balance is closer to your natural levels -- so the water feels softer and more balanced than it actually is. It's actually good to have the 1/10th of the sea water level for people.

 

[Litlat]

No, they are not the cure for all of pool maintenance. You still need to do all of the physical cleaning (sweeping, vacuuming, etc.), acid additions, testing and any other non-periodic adjustments......but..... they let you get a little lazy... maybe too lazy. I had a really rough last 2 years and my pool would have been a swamp if not for the SWCG. Still -- I let a few things get a little out of hand... but the SWCG made it a long Saturday to fix everything rather than a water exchange. Which, ultimately I will need anyway eventually to do eventually because I don't have a water softener in line...

The good is that they force you into the TFP regime by their design (pretty much pure Chlorine Ions, like pumping in Chlorine gas) too which is nothing but good. In theory you need that, CYA at a fixed level, and muriatic (or other like CO2 injection) acid-- nothing else. Less is honestly better and that is why TFP works so well.

The bad is that they tempt you to say, "nah not today", for testing and work, and arguably (strongly depending on water type) increase the need for acid additions to keep CSI slightly negative. Still, they probably have the best overall results of any system because the chlorine is always being added gradually, and continuously, depending how you set it. Even now, I am only testing about 1.5x a week which is too little...but I do have a system now for the acid additions. So I lie to myself and say that is good enough...

The main reason the cells shut down at low temperatures is that the pool would over chlorinate in cold weather as the loss is greatly reduced at 50F and below...not that they couldn't generate... they certainly can.

Some units can be forced to super chlorinate at cold. I suspect mine an. If that is the case... do that once a week and you are good for the winter in non-freezing climates.. if not, put in the bypass and just use liquid chlorine... not a big problem either way.

One other commentary on salt pools. The saline level is actually weak compared to your tears. The balance is closer to your natural levels -- so the water feels softer and more balanced than it actually is. It's actually good to have the 1/10th of the sea water level for people.

Thanks for the insight Rattus. Yeah, I was referring only to the chemicals. I appreciate your taking the time to reply. When you say you have a system now for adding acid, is it one of those units using a Stenner pump and tank?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

I actually do not. I add 2x a week. My TA and fill CH is terrible here. But that it likely the best way to do it unless you have decent fill water.

 

[Litlat]

I actually do not. I add 2x a week. My TA and fill CH is terrible here. But that it likely the best way to do it unless you have decent fill water.

Copy. Thanks.