I can't believe we are dealing with this so soon. Of course, our area was not originally in the freeze area, now I see it is. too bad, got the frost cloth but its in the back of my car, not on the plants. I will be so upset if I lose my Pipevine I have worked so hard to keep alive after losing it last winter and it being eaten down twice this summer by caterpillars (its a host plant). I moved cats to two other people's vines most all summer so I would get a good growth for the winter to help protect it. Plus the hummers are here and they need my Shrimp plant to nectar on.

Let me save you and others from a potentially huge mistake. I have no grudge here. I only share my witness to a system that is not worth my time and has severely devalued our pool's appearance. This is probably not an option to consider if converting from another system. Converted from Salt one year ago and within one week the system began stealing my life. With the salt system, my pool service was invisible except for needing to pay for their work by check once a month. We had a beautiful pool. The Cu distributor kept promising results and installed a pH system and wired the Cu unit to my panel for automation. This system does not stop algae while at the same time it penetrates your plaster with copper stains until your bright white plaster becomes black. Where I never did anything before but enjoy the pool and receive compliments, I am a slave to shocking it 2 or 3 times a week and scrubbing algae every few days or so. Whatever the parameters are of my pool (Dallas TX, white plaster over Gunite, glass filter) - this system has destroyed the $85k appearance of the pool to something that would be better replaced by landscape. Algae develops no matter what the Cu or pH level. It's sneaky stuff. It begins as a clear slime you can detect on the cleaner hose. Then you can see its presence when you stir up the pool floor or steps with a brush--it kind of clouds when you stir it up. Then it begins to turn a very light lime green ever so slightly until BOOM you have a full tilt bloom in the water and on the walls. Your water clarity drops to about 30 inches. The only thing that returns clarity is shock (I use two pounds in a 17k gallon system) and to keep the system running. This is way more work and way more chemistry loading than ever was necessary with Salt. Our pool service winces each visit wondering how he can make it look like he was able to make it look with Salt. Guests look at the pool and ask, "What's wrong with your pool?" The distributor refuses to acknowledge the system does not work at this installation and insists on tweaking things. Tweaking things is not making the Cu staining go away nor decreasing the aggressive recovery of this Cu defiant algae. I can temporarily remove Cu stains with shock or acid, but the Cu staining is aggressively defiant as well at returning. We are insisting the distributor return the pool back to the condition it was prior to this black magic equipment was installed. He is in a difficult position now, but he gave his word he would replace it if it did not perform to our satisfaction. His work is of good quality, it's the equipment that just doesn't work as advertised at this installation. Consider yourself informed.

I have measured flows on my hand held shower head: max flow = 8.5 l/min, min flow = 5.6 l/min. (max flow=volume control all the way clockwise, min flow=volume control all the way counter-clockwise, flow reduction of 34%) Even with the hand held shower head removed (no restriction at all, free flow out of the hose) my min flow stayed about the same while max flow obviously have increased therefore bumping up flow reduction to something higher than 34%. Since my max flow is fine for me and I would like to see my min flow decreased, the solution of removing flow restrictor will not work for me. There is an option of adding flow restrictor to the Smart Control Cartridge which will reduce max flow, but it should hopefully also reduce min flow which I would like to see. I might try it, but it is a bit painful to disassemble the whole setup. Hoping this info helps someone.

Kevin, I've noticed the same. Hence why I'm sticking with ceramic for now. The weight is attractive for me as my largest tree is so heavy that it is difficult to move even on large wheels. My relative just picks theirs up and moves them when needed. I've considered a couple options to use a similar type pot. I like the idea of placing them inside a larger pot for watering, but I think that would get rough for the big trees, especially in summer.