My curcupool has been a rockstar, I really like it and it does create some major amounts of chlorine.. there have been some really nice stenner setups and they work just as well but you will be hauling massive amounts of bleach unless you can get 12.5% delivered and store it,
one person buried a 50 gallon barrel in the ground and used that....
That crazy person would be me ;-)
There is no denying the convenience of a SWG. To me there were uncertainties with that path: 1) reliability (seems to be becoming less of an issue). But when I made my decision, I was concerned by the number of people (who undoubtedly represent a small percentage of overall SWG users) who reported circuit board problems, cracked cell housings, low-flow errors, low salt errors, high salt errors, etc. I was probably put off on SWG unnecessarily; 2) capacity for larger pools like yours (RobbieH though has a 44,000 gal pool and an RJ60 that runs at 30%, so that may be changing too), but I figured that at 35,000 gal I was on the cusp of what would be safe with a SWG (if one takes the double the size rule literally); 3) addition of acid. I wanted to avoid an FC delivery system that required tweaking any variable except FC. SWG generate FC, but they create a need for acid correction. It seems that by lowering TA, one can reduce the need for acid addition, but not eliminate it. I wanted something that could operate with rock-sold stability for months at a time. With 50 gallons of 12.5% LC in my cistern, I should be good for ~12 weeks--no manual LC additions, no acid additions. This is an experiment in progress, but so far, so good. Some folks with a SWG add a Stenner for acid addition but I often wonder why not just use the Stenner for LC injection and then they wouldn't need the SWG plus the Stenner? No need to buy bleach is obvious, but they are still buying MA; 4) Maintenance. Nothing is maintenance free, but the Stenner requires only a yearly change of its tubing. It is a robust delivery system. A SWG requires frequent cleaning of the cell and has a finite lifespan. Stenners are a simple system with no sensors to fail, no circuit boards to fail: robust; 5) freedom to program the Stenner for LC delivery independent of the filter pump. Sure, the pump needs to be running to deliver LC, but the Stenner doesn't care about flow rates and will work regardless of temperature, salt concentrations. The SWG is tied to pump run time and it would seem any time one wants to tweak pump run times, the SWG parameters also need to be tweaked; 6) I can see it working. If the tubing is good and the pump is turning, I know I'm getting LC into the pool. Some SWG cells have clear windows to show that electrolysis is occurring. Most do not. I like the visual feedback. I like things simple.
My strategy only works because of the LC stability offered by an in-ground storage solution. Some people cannot bury a 55 gallon drum next to their equipment pad. For me, I had plenty of space. It is not even an expensive solution. The HDPE drum with a sealed top and two bungs was $30 on Craigslist. The hole cost $100 to dig by my gardener. A 1/2" x 2' x 8' piece of rigid foam to wrap around the top 2' of the barrel was $10. The pump was $208 from Lockewell. A WiFi connected timer was ~$30 from Amazon and now I can program it using my phone (very easy to make tweaks to run time). All in for the basics was ~$380. The cost to fill it with 50 gal of 12.5% was $150. For ~$60 and some 1/2" hose, one can add a ShurFlo transfer pump that can directly pump from the back of your car (that has your 50 gal of LC) to the barrel. It goes fast: 50 gallons takes about 15-20 minutes. No funnels, no splashing. The hard part is keeping up with the pump to open new bottles fast enough. I will probably spend $250/season on bleach, but I can live with that given that I know my pH is unlikely to budge (nor really any other parameter except FC). Two trips to OSJL per season seems like a reasonable trade off for not having to mess with MA or worrying about whether my cell is clean, getting old, has enough salt, too much salt, etc. BTW, I'm not particularly concerned about the effects of salt (damaging coping, corrosion, lawn damage) as most of those issues seem unfounded. In fact, I am considering adding 2000 ppm salt just for the water feel (at the behest of my better half).
This sounds like a manifesto (maybe it is kinda because I'm pretty stoked about our solution to bleach storage and delivery) but I only wanted to show that there is more than one way to skin a cat. SWGs are great. Stenners are great if you have a storage solution (and there are many others out there other than ours).
Good luck. What ever route you go, you are going to have a beautiful, sparkling pool if you keep following the gurus on this site.