What to do in the winter?

[nonissan]

Hello again...

I was told here to keep my pump running 24/7, primarily because during its old cycle of 8 on/16 off, the chlorinator could be building up potentially hazardous gasses with zero flow

Well, now that the water is a little colder, the flow light is on, so I'm assuming no chlorine is being generated (even though my chlorine numbers look fine)

What should I do with my pump/chlorinator during these colder months?

 

[PoolGate]

The SWG has a flow switch. It should not even try to create chlorine when the pump is off. As a secondary control, normally the pump and SWG are wired together so that the SWG doesn't get any power when the pump is off. How is yours wired?

What is your water temp? That is the main thing to avoiding algae.

 

[JJ_Tex]

When your pump is off, does your IC have lights on it?
If the lights are off, you are free to run your schedule how you see fit.

To answer your question, the cold water shutoff light and the flow light are completely different. Unless Jax is getting crazy cold weather your water should be well within range. We are much colder than you and mine shuts off sometime in November and back on in Feb/March.
If it is your flow light that is on, that simply means you need to bump up the RPMs or change your filter.

 

[Mdragger88]

You have a vsp so running low rpms all the time allows you to make a little fc all the time as well as be skimming & filtering all the time for little coin. As mentioned your swcg should be wired so that it doesn’t have power when the pump is off for safety purposes. This can be accomplished through your automation, possibly via your pump (depending upon which one you have), or via a timer.
Share your model numbers & pics of your equipment setup for help on getting that done so you’re not relying solely on the flow switch for activating the swcg.

About the cold weather/water - the swcg will no longer produce once the water gets 60 degrees or lower. At that time you would need to supplement with liquid chlorine to ensure you don’t fall below minimum FC/CYA Levels.
With cool temps, colder water, & low uv the fc demand will be quite low.

Pentair Intellichlor ICXX SWG - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

As far as winter time itself here’s a helpful guide

Preparing Pool for Cooler Months - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Jimrahbe]

No,

My pump runs 24/7/365 at a low RPM most of the time..

It does not matter to me if it is the middle of the summer or the middle of the winter.

I may not be generating any Chlorine in the winter, but I still like to skim all the time.

Total cost is less than $20 bucks a month. And... I never have to worry about freeze control.

Thanks,

Jim R.