Which salt water generator?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
D

dan1333

Gold Supporter
Nov 1, 2020
60
Orange, CA
Hi, I know for a lot here SWG are popular in the hot tub and it seems like most of those people like the saltron mini. Is there a reason to prefer that one over the Chlormaker (different company, similar pricing and function) or the smarterspa (automatically monitors and adjusts chlorine output).

The chlormaker and smarterspa seem to last a few years until needing the cell replaced (based on Amazon reviews I read) while it seems like the saltron mini cell might need to be replaced within a year or so. Does anyone know if that's accurate?

Also, somewhat related, how hard is it to replace the heater in a hot tub? I know some say it corrodes the heater faster and others say it doesn't but in the case that it does I want to know if I'd be able to do it myself. I will have a new sundance Edison (680 series). I'm not super mechanically inclined but I can build computers, remove and install faucets, rebuild sprinkler valves, install ceiling fans and light electrical work etc... To give you some idea of my ability lol. Is installing a new heater assembly or heating element difficult?

Thank you!
 
Folks here seem to be happy with the Saltron mini SWG.

Maybe @RDspaguy can comment about the difficulty in replacing a heater.
 
dan1333 said:
Hi, I know for a lot here SWG are popular in the hot tub and it seems like most of those people like the saltron mini. Is there a reason to prefer that one over the Chlormaker (different company, similar pricing and function) or the smarterspa (automatically monitors and adjusts chlorine output).

The chlormaker and smarterspa seem to last a few years until needing the cell replaced (based on Amazon reviews I read) while it seems like the saltron mini cell might need to be replaced within a year or so. Does anyone know if that's accurate?
Click to expand...
It's used by a lot of people here. I suspect at least in part if people have it and are happy, other people tend to buy it. I do note it appears to be cheaper than the ChlorMaker, let alone the SmarterSpa.

The only thing I'm not personally thrilled with on the SmarterSpa is that the chlorine drops to zero before production resumes (says this in the manual). It then triggers generation cycle for X hours, then waits till the chlorine level drops to 0 again before restarting. This is not exactly what I would consider monitoring and adjusting chlorine output. Ideally FC is always maintained above the minimum for your CYA.

I seem to recall somewhat more than a year of life, maybe like a year and a half, when I was looking up the Saltron Mini. I know one person here said theirs lasted just under two years, but that was a smaller tub with a single person using it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mdragger88
If you can do all that, you should be able to replace a heater assembly or element. I am not sure what heater a new sundance uses, I don't usually see them until they're out of warranty, but they generally aren't very complicated.
 
RDspaguy, thanks so much for your responses. I love your posts on this forum and have learned a lot from you.

Yeah I didn't realize that the FC drops to 0 for the Smarterspa, I'm just going to go with the saltron mini then.
 
dan1333 said:
It has UV but no ozone. From my reading on these forums the UV seems more like a gimmick so I'll essentially be pretending like it doesn't exist.
Click to expand...
UV on an outdoor pool, or the use of UV for reducing or eliminating chlorine, is a gimmick. But UV itself can be useful, as it breaks down CCs that form as FC breaks down waste. On an outdoor pool, the pool gets way more from the sun on average than any UV system will give, which is why adding UV is a gimmick. On a covered spa UV can be quite useful, especially if the spa is not in a sunny location where the cover can be opened once in a while to allow the water to get UV.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mdragger88, dan1333 and RDspaguy

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
jseyfert3 said:
The only thing I'm not personally thrilled with on the SmarterSpa is that the chlorine drops to zero before production resumes (says this in the manual). It then triggers generation cycle for X hours, then waits till the chlorine level drops to 0 again before restarting. This is not exactly what I would consider monitoring and adjusting chlorine output. Ideally FC is always maintained above the minimum for your CYA.
Click to expand...

jseyfert3 I'm curious why it's a problem for FC to drop to zero if the unit starts to produce chlorine once it hits zero. If the spa is at zero just for a very brief amount of time, how is that a problem? (not trying to argue here....I'm sincerely just trying to better understand). If there is any remaining stuff to be treated by the FC when it hits zero, wouldn't it get dealt with by the new chlorine that starts to be produced.​

Thank you! Doug
 
duganderson said:

I'm curious why it's a problem for FC to drop to zero if the unit starts to produce chlorine once it hits zero. If the spa is at zero just for a very brief amount of time, how is that a problem? (not trying to argue here....I'm sincerely just trying to better understand). If there is any remaining stuff to be treated by the FC when it hits zero, wouldn't it get dealt with by the new chlorine that starts to be produced.​

Thank you! Doug
Click to expand...
Occasional drop to zero might not be a problem (for minutes rather than hours), but prolonged FC below your minumum (as calculated by PoolMath for your CYA) could lead to very quick bacterial growh. Scenario I would be woried is: FC drops below minimum, but it takes few hours before it drops to zero, and only then smarterspa is kicking in.

On a related note: I recently purchased Chlormaker (no FC monitoring) and it's early days but looks to be working well.
It's able to keep my FC at 5ppm on 2nd setting without any chlorine needed to be added for a week. 2nd setting runs for 1h a day (7.5 min each 3 hours). Lifetime of the cell is between 7 and 10k hours, so cell should last at least 7000 days or almost 19 years! I doubt it will be anywhere near that - but so far so good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: A.O., Mdragger88 and jseyfert3
duganderson said:

jseyfert3 I'm curious why it's a problem for FC to drop to zero if the unit starts to produce chlorine once it hits zero. If the spa is at zero just for a very brief amount of time, how is that a problem? (not trying to argue here....I'm sincerely just trying to better understand). If there is any remaining stuff to be treated by the FC when it hits zero, wouldn't it get dealt with by the new chlorine that starts to be produced.​

Thank you! Doug
Click to expand...
Mostly covered by @irekz above. Basically it depends on if it actually goes all the way to zero (the manual does say zero or no chlorine). If you're running 30 ppm of CYA, then the minimum FC TFP outlines is 2. Your spa could be sitting below 2 for a long time before the SWCG kicked in.

I'd be curious to test the SmarterSpa and see how low the FC goes before it kicks in. But at $430 for a system, I'll just stick with my $230 Saltron Mini and its reliable timer-based system and tweak the hours once in a while if needed. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: duganderson
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply