SWG confusion

[DebbievdH]

I am new to pools, and am rather confused about our Intex Salt Water Generator and Sand Filter system. I’m hoping someone can explain in a way I can understand.
So we followed all the instructions for set up (a week + into it now). It is the Intex Ultra Rectangular 12x24. The filter and SWG are Model ECO 15110-2. We initially added the salt, and the stabilizer. And all seemed well. But now it is slightly cloudy. After doing some reading, we are wondering if maybe we don’t understand the use of the SWG. I guess we thought the SWG ran ongoing when the filter was running. We thought the chlorinator button and the boost button (which I’m still not completely sure what the difference is) were just to boost the chlorine once a week for maintenance, and after heavy rain, or heavy use. Are we actually supposed to be running the chlorinator button for a set amount fo time daily?? Maybe that is a super silly question, but it really is not clearly stated, that I can find, in the manuals. Currently we are running the sand filter 12 hours per day, and using the chlorinator button once a week....I’m guessing that is why our water is not crystal clear. Can someone explain the system and what would a typical set up be. The pool is in a partly shaded location. And we live in KY.
the last test reading was: total hardness - 250, total chlorine and free chlorine both 0 , pH 7.6, total alkalinity 120, stabilizer 50
Salt 3240
I sure appreciate any help.

 

[Newdude]

Hey Deb and welcome !! Also, Oooof. So im not familiar with your exact setup but i can get you going on the understanding part. Your salt pool is still a chlorine pool. The SWG uses electrolysis to make it for you, instead of you manually dumping bleach in everyday. In order for that to happen, it needs to be on. This will be the chlorinate button. All systems are rated for a certain amount of gallons if they are run 24/7. TFP advises going 2X as large so you can reduce runtime to 12 hours. Compare your system rating to your gallons and start there. (20k unit in 20k gallons = 24 hours on). Once it proves it produces enough FC daily, you can dial it back in hour incriments until its just about right. A few weeks later it will need another small bump either up or down. The boost button just runs the SWG for 24 hours. If you were a little low and needed more, or you knew a party was coming up and wanted a head start, you could hit the boist button and it would run the full 24 hours instead of your normal schedule.

The bigger systems time themselves and you just set a % of the day runtime, say 40% and it keeps track. It sounds like you have to turn yours on/off each day, but it definitely needs to be run everyday.

 

[Mdragger88]

First off ) add 5 ppm of liquid chlorine Using PoolMath To calculate asap & continue to do so each day until you get this sorted out.
2nd) how are you testing your water ?
3rd) you likely made a common mistake that most do & that is not starting your fresh fill with some chlorine @ the beginning before your swg could take over. Most swg’s especially the intex ones are not designed to get you to your target from zero fc or overcome algae
see FC/CYA Levels
Also the time you spent at inadequate chlorine levels have allowed algae to grow.
4th) the answer now is to do a SLAM Process To rid your pool of the algae so your swg can go back to doing its job just maintaining normal fc losses.
5) do you have the manual for your model? If so read it for the details of operation but I believe you have to purposely bypass the swg by pressing 2 buttons simultaneously to allow the pump to run by itself. If you press the pwr button & then unlock & set the hrs At that Start time they will both run For the designated amt of hours everyday unless you have a power failure & need to reset the gfci.
boost just makes it run 8xs the set amount & no matter what it says it won’t “shock” your pool efficiently

 

[Mdragger88]

Maybe a pic of the model you have & buttons would be helpful as well - here’s a manual I found online Intex ECO 20110 Owner's Manual (Page 18 of 35) | ManualsLib
it operates similarly to mine i just don’t have the filter to control

 

[Mdragger88]

Forgot to mention- To verify your swg is running you should be able to see bubbles in the clear cell chamber also

 

[TAG1]

I am new to pools, and am rather confused about our Intex Salt Water Generator and Sand Filter system. I’m hoping someone can explain in a way I can understand.
So we followed all the instructions for set up (a week + into it now). It is the Intex Ultra Rectangular 12x24. The filter and SWG are Model ECO 15110-2. We initially added the salt, and the stabilizer. And all seemed well. But now it is slightly cloudy. After doing some reading, we are wondering if maybe we don’t understand the use of the SWG. I guess we thought the SWG ran ongoing when the filter was running. We thought the chlorinator button and the boost button (which I’m still not completely sure what the difference is) were just to boost the chlorine once a week for maintenance, and after heavy rain, or heavy use. Are we actually supposed to be running the chlorinator button for a set amount fo time daily?? Maybe that is a super silly question, but it really is not clearly stated, that I can find, in the manuals. Currently we are running the sand filter 12 hours per day, and using the chlorinator button once a week....I’m guessing that is why our water is not crystal clear. Can someone explain the system and what would a typical set up be. The pool is in a partly shaded location. And we live in KY.
the last test reading was: total hardness - 250, total chlorine and free chlorine both 0 , pH 7.6, total alkalinity 120, stabilizer 50
Salt 3240
I sure appreciate any help.

Hi Debbie,
The generator should run whenever the pump is on. In fact, the best installation hard wires the power to the chlorine generator directly to the timer that controls the pump cycle. That way, whenever the pump is on, the generator will be also, and even better, you don't have to manually turn anything on. You then regulate the amount of chlorine generated by how long you run the pump each day.
Ted

 

[mgtfp]

Forgot to mention- To verify your swg is running you should be able to see bubbles in the clear cell chamber also

Deb, have a look at the video in this post, that shows the bubbles being created when the SWG cell is running:

Bubbles in normally operating SWG Cell

Folks, With all the new swg installations and a few people with problems I thought it might be helpful to post a video of mine in operation with the bubble coming out. It's a Circupool RJ 30+ and the VS motor is running at 1600 rpm, roughly 17 gpm. Also there are reflections that appear as...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[DebbievdH]

Hi Debbie,
The generator should run whenever the pump is on. In fact, the best installation hard wires the power to the chlorine generator directly to the timer that controls the pump cycle. That way, whenever the pump is on, the generator will be also, and even better, you don't have to manually turn anything on. You then regulate the amount of chlorine generated by how long you run the pump each day.
Ted

Thank you for your response, Ted. So since It appears that our Intex is not wired necessarily to have the SWG on automatically with the pump, you feel we should go ahead and program it so that the SWG is running the whole time the filter is running? We run the filter automatically for 12 hours per day.

 

[DebbievdH]

Deb, have a look at the video in this post, that shows the bubbles being created when the SWG cell is running:

Bubbles in normally operating SWG Cell

Folks, With all the new swg installations and a few people with problems I thought it might be helpful to post a video of mine in operation with the bubble coming out. It's a Circupool RJ 30+ and the VS motor is running at 1600 rpm, roughly 17 gpm. Also there are reflections that appear as...

www.troublefreepool.com

Thank you MGTFP. My Intex pump and SWG unit does not have that clear window. It is a new version, and I wish it did so we could see it working, but it doesn’t. Here is a picture of it. Any other way to know if it is working?

 

[DebbievdH]

And I’m still wondering if we need to use the chlorinator button in order to activate the SWG. For whatever reason, when Inread the manual I thought that was just used as a way to shock the pool. Anyone with an actual Intex SWG know? Here is a picture of the control panel.

 

[mgtfp]

Thank you MGTFP. My Intex pump and SWG unit does not have that clear window. It is a new version, and I wish it did so we could see it working, but it doesn’t. Here is a picture of it. Any other way to know if it is working?

You should also see little bubbles coming out of the returns in the pool. There should be a difference when the cell is running or not.

You can also take a sample directly from the returns and measure the chlorine. Compare that to a sample taken as far away from the returns as possible.

You should use a FAS-DPD chlorine measurement from one of these test kits:

Test Kits Compared

With a test strip you probably won't see a difference. You should actually always use one of those test kits.

 

[Mdragger88]

From the looks of that you need to select the chlorinator button & select its time- then lock button & see if that also turns the pump on. (It should) the chlorinator light should also be on when swg is running.
Like I said in the earlier post the unit should come on @ that same time & run for that programmed #of hours every day.
I’m thinking maybe the pump button is just so you can run the pump independently. Which would be a new choice on this model.
After u do this you can get a fc test sample directly from the jet & it should be higher than from the rest of the pool water. Some have been able to add oto solution directly infront of the jet & see the water turn yellow.
let us know how it goes- but u still must Use liquid chlorine to fight your algae problem.

 

[mgtfp]

Not really familiar with this type of system.

I reckon that when you just start the the unit with the "Power" button, only the pump will be running without the chlorinator:


To me, that looks like you have to press the "Chlorinator" button to program the times when the chlorinator should be running:


I am not sure, if you then have to also use the "Pump" button to program the times that the pump is running, or if the chlorinator schedule will also automatically start the pump. Could be that the "Pump" button is only to define times when the pump should be running without the chlorinator:


I guess, to run the chlorinator outside the pre-programmed chlorinator schedule, you have to press the "Boost" button. That usually starts a program where pump and chlorinator run on 100% for a defined period. How long, will depend on the system:


The "Self-Clean" button will do something like changing the polarity between the cell electrodes to dissolve calcium deposits:



I tend to think by just turning the unit on, just the pump will start. By only defining a chlorinator schedule with the "Chlorinator" button, you will then turn on the Chlorinator at defined times, the pump will be running permanently, unless you also define a pump schedule with the "Pump" button. If you have the chlorinator scheduled to run at times where the pump is not scheduled to run, the chlorinator will realize there is no flow and will not turn on.

To just run chlorinator and pump without any defined schedules, you will need the "Boost" button.

But that is just my guess seeing your photo. Just fiddle round with it a bit.

And as Mdragger said, you will need some liquid chlorine to deal with your algae problem. SWGs are designed to maintain your target FC levels during normal operation, but should be turned off during a SLAM to kill algae.