SWG Install - General Questions, Wiring, Plumbing

[bailes44]

Hi All,

As always, thanks for providing such a helpful forum.

I'm looking to install a Intellichlor SWG. My pool guy wants to charge me an insane fortune to do it so I'm looking into doing it myself. In general, it looks pretty straight forward except that Pentair's documentation is horrible and inconsistent. I have some general questions, questions on wiring, and a pretty basic plumbing question I was hoping to get some help with.

Equipment: Pentair Intelliflow, Pentair Mastertemp 400, Pentair Easy Touch

General Questions
1. I have a 30-35,000 gallon pool. Thoughts on whether it's worth upgrading to an IC60? It's a $250 difference.
2. I've heard others here talk about hooking the SWG up to an independent timer. I have an Easy Touch system. I'm assuming an independent timer isn't necessary with automation, but want to confirm.

Wiring Questions
3. Is the AC wiring from the Power Center supposed to tie into the load or line side of the pump relay in the Easy Touch load/power center? I've seen others here mention the load side, but the diagram in the installation manually clearly says line. See attachments.
4. The wiring diagram shows 4 wires coming out the Intellichlor Power Center screw terminal to Easy Touch control panel but only 2 wires going into the J20 comm port on the Easy Touch circuit board. See attachment. I assume only the 2 data wires are necessary. Is that right? And does anyone know if that wiring comes with the Power Center or do I need to buy it separately?

Plumbing Question
5. I'm going to need to rerun some of my plumbing to accommodate the SWG. I have a Pentair Mastertemp heater. It looks like there is a there is a union coupler that looks like this (Pentair Union Kit, 2 Inch Union Half x 2 Inch Slip Connection | PKG 188 PKG 188Z) that screws onto the heater inlet/outlet at one end and then the pipe is glued to the other. If I rerun the line coming out of the heater, I'll need to replace that union coupler. Can anyone confirm that I'm looking at the right part?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jimrahbe]

44,

The whole point of wiring the SWCG's transformer (power center) into the pump/filter relay is so that when the pump is off the Power Center does not get AC power. This means that it must be wired to the Load Side of the Pump/Filter relay.. I think the diagram is just showing that the "Line Voltage" is being applied to the Power Center not from the Line side.. The drawing you are using must be old, as the one in my SWCG manual has been corrected.

My SWCG manual says that you use a 22 ga. 4 wire cable to connect the com port in the Power Center to the EasyTouch's com port (J20). You have to supply this cable.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[bailes44]

Thanks Jim! I did have an old diagram. Random PDF off the internet. I just pulled what I assume is the latest manual off the Pentair website.

The other big difference in wiring diagram is that the manual from the Pentair website shows that the AC power is spliced and goes to the Power Center and directly to SWG. See attached. That doesn't seem right.

 

[Jimrahbe]

44,

You are reading too much into their drawings.. The Cell itself gets no AC power... The line is just supposed to show that the cell has a cable with a connector on the end.. The mating cable is in the bottom of the power center..

Basically the cell plugs into the power center.. The 120 or 240 volts AC to run the power center comes from the load side of the pump filter relay in the EasyTouch.

The com port in the power center is connected via a 4 wire cable to the J20 com port in the EasyTouch.

That is it...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[bailes44]

Great. Thanks for confirming, Jim. Appreciate it.

 

[mguzzy]

1. I have a 30-35,000 gallon pool. Thoughts on whether it's worth upgrading to an IC60? It's a $250 difference.

yes definitely. We recommend getting a cell that is twice the size rating of your pool's volume. You have a 30K-ish pool, you should get a 60K cell. The IC60 is about as big as you can go anyway without doing funky parallel installed cells. The reason for sizing up like that is to give you enough elbow room to run the cell at a lower percentage output instead of 100% full bore all the time..

 

[bailes44]

Thanks, mguzzy!