You guys compliment my ADD very well. Let me try to address these in order. 1. RG Balboa's tech support is like the weather in seattle, when it's good it's really good, when its bad, it's really bad. As of late it has been good. 2. Goldline was a great company be for being purchased by Hayward, now they pretty much suck. 3. I cannot suggest pH and Orp control for most homeowners. I only recommend these types of controllers for pools that have large dynamic bather loads, such as health clubs, and municipal pools. Because of their complexity and the frequency of calibration required, I could not suggest that one be put on a backyard pool, because it is not going to change the amount of oversight required on the pool. You cannot just set a controller and walk away from it. Calibrating the pH is easy, but the orp requires far more sophisticated equipment or procedures. Keep in mind that the proper operation, and execution of these feeders are over 80% of pool professionals heads, so imaging the hard time a homeowner will have with it. We had several very high dollar projects that demanded these types of controllers on them initially have since abandoned them and have gone back to doing it the old fashioned way. 4. Mineral Springs is the same unit as the Goldline one (last time I worked for a BioGuard dealer at least) so #2 applies to them as well. BioGuard does have great dealer support, so their tech support may be better than buying the goldline product, but its still now made by Hayward, so I would steer clean.

To Scott (poolguynj): Thanks for the advice. I'm interpreting what you are saying to mean that I'll have to have the Intelliflo kick up from 15 GPM to 30 GPM during the time that the SWG is active (right now that's about six hours a day). I'll just set a timed Feature to coincide with the timer that the SWG is on. Similarly, you're recommending that the rate be increased to 30 GPM when I want the pool or spa to be heated. I didn't quite understand the statement that "Running at 30 GPM will allow the flow to be reduced at the result of increased resistance resulting from the filter getting dirty" so if you can clarify that for me, that would be great. To Vince (vincel): I'm probably the wrong person to ask about set-ups. Before the Intelliflo, I had a timer that turned on the old WhisperFlo pump and the SWG at the same time, running both for about six hours a day. The heater was always on a separate circuit and when I wanted heat, I simply threw a switch to either run the heater to pool temp (85) or spa temp (100) and if it was outside of the six hour period when the pump would normally be active, I threw a separate switch to send juice to the pump that would bypass the timer. Both switches were conveniently located outside of the equipment box so it was no big deal. Now the timer only impacts the SWG. The Intelliflo is hot 24/7 but the internal controls allow me to set the times its running (it's running around the clock though in order to take advantage of the lower energy costs for slow speed operation). When I want to run the heater, I just throw one switch now. Personally, I don't want the heater to be automated because I would rather have direct control over the occasional times I need it. Does that help? Thanks! Nick

Thank you, jscozz. That was precisely the problem. Sigh. Sometimes I is smart and sometimes I is nott. We have an Intellitouch. When I turned it from 'Auto' to 'Service', I was able to turn up the chlorination right at the ic40 unit. Return it to 'Auto' and I can change it with the remote control. Fancy that! Still learning after 3 years. LOL. Thanks.

I think it really may depend on where you live, the size of your pool and water features. I live in SoFla and have a natural waterfall and a pool that is about 35k gallons. On my pool I add tons of Chlorine during the summer since the SWG cannot create enough chlorine to prevent algae blooms. I have had the company rep come out several times to test the unit and they all say it is working properly. I am at a point now that I have shut off the SWG and I am hoping with the summer rains that the salt will slowly work its way out of the pool or get to a level that it is insignificant. One very negative aspect of salt I also discovered is that it makes the water extremely toxic to most plants that are near the pool.