Tired of Buying Salt Water Generators/Boards, but Should I Switch?

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Hi, everyone. Thanks in advance for your advice.

We just had our 22k gallon pool rebuilt with aluminum coping and we're in the process of filling it back up with water.

I've been using a Hayward SWG since we bought the house in 2012. As of last summer I was on my third generator. Also last summer the control board gave out. I'm pretty tired of spending money on that system.

I'm now considering doing away with the SWG entirely and going with a Hayward chlorinator. But the more I read about these the more I wonder if I shouldn't just stick with the SWG given that we don't have metal stairs or rails on the pool.

I would very much appreciate any advice anyone could give me vis-a-vis sticking with the SWG system, switching to an automatic chlorinator or, as I've read here, skipping the chlorine entirely and using bleach.

Thanks so much -

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Cells should be lasting 5-10 years minimum. If they are not, then something is wrong with your overall water chemistry. The Hayward SWG power supplies are lame and stupid in that they burn out A LOT due to poor engineering. I have a Pentair system and hot 8 years out of my IC40. I now have an IC60 and hope to get at least 8 if not more.

There is also CircuPool that’s a lot of people around here swear by. You could switch to that and their cells look very robust.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Also, please fill out your signature with pool specs and equipment. It helps to know what you have.

 

[stretchphoto]

Thank you, Mr. Noise! I just updated my sig and will complete it once I'm back home and can confirm the rest of the system.

Something I'm wondering about is if the T-9 is too small for the 22k gallons.

The company that rebuilt our pool is encouraging me to switch from SWG to straight chlorine because of the damage the salt can do to metal and to the liner. But as we now have aluminum coping I wonder if I should disregard that and just switch SWGs rather than giving up on them entirely...

Thanks.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Salt will not damage the liner, that’s BS. Salt can be an issue for aluminum but as long as the aluminum stays coated and isn’t scratched or damaged, it should be ok (I’m assuming the aluminum is painted or powder coated). However, ALL POOLS are salt water pools. The chlorine you add by hand and the muriatic acid you add for pH control eventually becomes or adds salt (chloride) to your pool. It is not uncommon to find manually chlorinated pools with salinities as high as salt water pools after a few years. Cheap steel ladders can rust so you just have to make sure your equipment uses good quality components.

A T-9 cell is really undersized for your pool. Especially if it’s being used with a single speed pump. A T-15 cell is a much better choice. But if you’re unhappy with Hayward then ditch them and go with CircuPool. But be warned, SWG prices have gone through the roof with inflation so you may be shocked as to what it will cost.

 

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Thank you, Mr. Noise. (May I call you Joyful?)

The aluminum coping is, indeed, powder coated.

I guess I'm not that unhappy with Hayward per se, just considering the advantages of salt water generator vs chlorinator in general.

A bit of backstory -

Our long time pool supply store closed due to a death of their son, who did the installations, etc., and the husband/wife principals getting quite up in years and dealing with health issues. The pool has needed rebuilding for years. We finally bit the bullet in late winter as we were renovating the back patio anyway, but had to go with a new store.

In a way I hate to say it (maybe they're reading this!), but I don't trust the new store the way I did our old store. They'd been in the business forever, were family owned, were incredibly generous with their time, guided me through becoming a pool owner in middle age, etc., etc. The new guys seem to have a bit of an attitude about their level of knowledge vs mine... more interested in telling me what to do as opposed to helping me understand why I need to do it.

So I'm taking this opportunity to try to become more self sufficient and break the dependency I have on a store as much as possible. I thought maybe switching to a chlorinator would be a step in the right direction, but now I'm rethinking that.

Maybe I should stick with the system I'm familiar with, replace the burnt out board, getting as long a life as I can out of the T-9 and replacing it with the T-15 when it gives out. Just reading here about the problems caused by cleaning it with acid every season makes me think I could get more years out of the current cell than I have the previous ones.

Thank you for reading a long post.

 

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And I apologize, we have the T-15 cell, not the T-9.