SWG Is On All The Time

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frankiev

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Oct 10, 2015
4
isabela
Good Morning, All:
I have a problem with my Salt Water Chlorine Generator. It is powered on all the time. My understanding is that it should only be powered on when the pool pump is on. I would prefer to not have to ask the installer back to my house to correct his incorrect installation. Is there a tutorial on how to wire Salt Water Chlorine Generator so that it runs when pump is on only?

1. My SWG is a Pentair intelliChlor IC20, powered by the IntelliChlor Power Center, which in turn gets its power from the same 230VAC circuit breaker connected to the pump, thus why it is always powered on.

2. I have the Pentair Intelliflo Variable Speed Ultra Energy Efficient Pump, powered by 230VAC from a dual 30 Amp circuit breaker.

3. I do not have the IntelliTouch, SunTouch or EasyTouch Load/Power Center. This is probably the reason pump and SWG are not synchroized.

4. I do not have the RS-485 cable that runs between the pump and the IntelliTouch, SunTouch or EasyTouch Load/Power Center. I suspect this is what provides the synchronizing signal to the SWG.

So, my question is: Is there another way of being able to synchronize the SWG to the Pump, or should I bite the bullet, an order these missing components?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
 
Unfortunately the answer is no. Without some kind of automation center, the units will only act as standalone components.

The cheapest option would be to get a simple Intermatic 240VAC mechanical relay timer and hook the IC up to it. You can then set the power on time of the timer to coincide with the pump run times and just add a very wide margin on either side to account for clock skew between the pumps internal timer and the relays mechanical timer.
 
+1 to what Matt just said, this is how I have mine set up. I use the on-board scheduling of my pump to run 9am-8pm, and I use my Intermatic mechanical time switch to turn on/off the power to the IntelliChlor Power Center which powers my IC40 cell, I set the time switch on at 10am and off at 7pm.

On mine, one breaker feeds the time switch line terminals, and the pump wires are connected to the line (not switched) terminals, and the SWG power center is connected to the switch load (switched) terminals.

Make sure to cut all power at main breaker before working on electrical equipment.

I have the Intermatic model# T40004RT3 circuit breaker/timer box, follow the link to see time switch:
T40004RT3 - Intermatic
 
Frankie,

Adding an additional time clock is what most people do, but since you have a 20K cell in a 16K pool, you are going to be hard pressed to generate enough chlorine unless you run 24/7. So another "option" would be to run your pump at the lowest RPM that will close your flow switch plus 100 RPM and run the pump 24/7.

For reference, I can run my pump, which is the same as yours, 24/7 at 1,200 RPM, for less than $20 bucks a month..

If you did this, it would also be wise to turn off the Pump/SWCG circuit breaker whenever you are doing maintenance.

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
 
Thank you, all for the quick responses. Using a timer is my last resort, but duly noted.

Jimrahbe: Wow, you have caused me some concern. Here I thought that the IC20 was sufficient for my size pool. I only run my pump about 5-6 hours per day at 2000-2400rpm. I disabled the SWCG due to problems that I will be addressing after I resolve the synchronizing of the SWCG and pump. I have been using the BBB method in the meantime. It sounds like (from your comment) I would have to go to an IC40 if I don't want to run my pump all the time, or run it, as you suggest, 24 hours per day. And, if I choose to run the 24/7, why would I need a timer? Electricity is expensive in Puerto Rico (about $0.22 per kwh). I will have to see how much this adds (if anything) to my bill. So, now I will have to address the issue with my SWCG. I will search through the threads and posts, to see if my solution is already posted.

Thank you all, again.
 
Frankie,

Unfortunately, all Salt Cells are rated when running at 100%, 24/7. In the perfect world that would mean for a 20K pool you would have to run 24/7 at 100% to chlorinate it properly. 17K is pretty close to 20K.. :p

If you have yet to buy the IC20 then you would be much better off with an IC40. Our recommendation here at TFP is to size your SWCG at least 2 x the volume of your pool...

An IntelliFlo running at 1,200 RPM uses about 170 watts of electricity.. so at 22 cents per kwh, that would be less than a buck a day..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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