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A Believer

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  1. Just thought I'd add my small voice to the Ecosmarte debate. I'm a new pool owner in Canada and I was considering the Ecosmarte system for some time. I had read through these and other forums where so many pool junkies and other naysayers were damning the product... and a couple had actual merit. Enough to concern me. So I called them up and spoke with a very helpful person who insisted the Ecosmarte system could be installed essentially into any current chlorine or salt based system without any hassles and un-installed just as simply if I wasn't happy. My biggest drawback was that being in Canada I wanted to be sure their 60 day money-back guarantee would be enough time to get it ordered, shipped, installed, and run within that window. The EcoSmarte agent promptly replied to my email with a brochure, the manual, and a written extension on their guarantee basically giving me the whole season to try it. He also gave me detailed instructions for how to order, how to run for the first day/week/month, a contact phone number to get technical info and a hotline for once my pool was in operation. I figured I should see if the customer service (phone number) was as expedient and valuable as the sales agent. I called, and after going through some finer details like pool size, geographic location, pool type, etc the service tech was able to give me some really helpful tips for start up and tell me about the system in depth. I promptly ordered an Ecosmarte system and awaited delivery. My pool installers had given me the 'green light' to order it and within 5 minutes they had the electrodes added to the return line and the electronic control box screwed into the wall above it. No prob! SO FAR SO GOOD! My pool installer was anxious to see this in action...I think he secretly wanted to see it fail, because he had tried to sell me a Zodiac Salt water system. I had several hurdles to overcome before I got my pool into the conditions needed to "GO LIVE" with the Ecosmarte system. I needed Phosphates removed, calcium added, chlorine at zero, pH at 6.8, etc. This took about 3 or 4 calls to tech support and every call was invaluable to me. (Example. They told me to go to the nursery to buy 20 lbs of aluminum sulfate to remove phosphates. That saved me about $75 right there as opposed to getting something from the Pool store.) Once my pool was ready to GO I flipped the IONIZE switch on to activate the copper electrodes. That was on June 21st. I ran it on copper for about 24 hours over the course of 3 days before I got it to the .7ppm level they required. Then I switched it to oxidize. They claimed that once a week you would need to switch it to IONIZE and the other 5 days you would run it on OXIDIZE. Here it is, August 20th (2 months later) and I haven't had to even add copper yet! It's been running on OXIDIZE the entire summer! My copper levels haven't fallen, and my pH has stayed consistently at 6.8. (Yes, I called tech support to see if there was something wrong but it has been determined that I just have a very stable environment around my pool). I've had two or three big pool parties, but mostly its just my family of 4 swimming throughout the day. Still, I remembered the very valid arguments made here about sanitization. Sure copper kills the algae, but what about the bacteria? You can't see the bacteria! While Ecosmarte agents deny that I should be concerned about slow kill speed of copper on bacteria, I respectfully considered some of the comments already made here and I have been compensating by adding non-chlorine shock (peroxysulfate I think it is) to my pool a couple times per month. Not much, just under 2 cups each time. That might not be enough for you chemistry gurus but I have to tell you, I am totally satisfied with the quality of my water and my pool installers are amazed too. After all, the non-chlorine shock was only $59.95 for the tub and that's all I've had to spend on it all season! So. Season one almost done. I say that's long enough to determine that their claims have merit insofar as our pool is concerned. There is no question my circumstance is a 'best case scenario'. I've heard some horror stories too. Heck, maybe next season you'll hear mine. All I can say is, for me... I wouldn't have it any other way, and everyone who has swam (swum?) in my pool has commented on how awesome it is to swim in bottled water. Cheers, A Believer
  2. Just thought I'd add my small voice to the Ecosmarte debate. I'm a new pool owner in Canada and I was considering the Ecosmarte system for some time. I had read through these and other forums where so many pool junkies and other naysayers were damning the product... and a couple had actual merit. Enough to concern me. So I called them up and spoke with a very helpful person who insisted the Ecosmarte system could be installed essentially into any current chlorine or salt based system without any hassles and un-installed just as simply if I wasn't happy. My biggest drawback was that being in Canada I wanted to be sure their 60 day money-back guarantee would be enough time to get it ordered, shipped, installed, and run within that window. The EcoSmarte agent promptly replied to my email with a brochure, the manual, and a written extension on their guarantee basically giving me the whole season to try it. He also gave me detailed instructions for how to order, how to run for the first day/week/month, a contact phone number to get technical info and a hotline for once my pool was in operation. I figured I should see if the customer service (phone number) was as expedient and valuable as the sales agent. I called, and after going through some finer details like pool size, geographic location, pool type, etc the service tech was able to give me some really helpful tips for start up and tell me about the system in depth. I promptly ordered an Ecosmarte system and awaited delivery. My pool installers had given me the 'green light' to order it and within 5 minutes they had the electrodes added to the return line and the electronic control box screwed into the wall above it. No prob! SO FAR SO GOOD! My pool installer was anxious to see this in action...I think he secretly wanted to see it fail, because he had tried to sell me a Zodiac Salt water system. I had several hurdles to overcome before I got my pool into the conditions needed to "GO LIVE" with the Ecosmarte system. I needed Phosphates removed, calcium added, chlorine at zero, pH at 6.8, etc. This took about 3 or 4 calls to tech support and every call was invaluable to me. (Example. They told me to go to the nursery to buy 20 lbs of aluminum sulfate to remove phosphates. That saved me about $75 right there as opposed to getting something from the Pool store.) Once my pool was ready to GO I flipped the IONIZE switch on to activate the copper electrodes. That was on June 21st. I ran it on copper for about 24 hours over the course of 3 days before I got it to the .7ppm level they required. Then I switched it to oxidize. They claimed that once a week you would need to switch it to IONIZE and the other 5 days you would run it on OXIDIZE. Here it is, August 20th (2 months later) and I haven't had to even add copper yet! It's been running on OXIDIZE the entire summer! My copper levels haven't fallen, and my pH has stayed consistently at 6.8. (Yes, I called tech support to see if there was something wrong but it has been determined that I just have a very stable environment around my pool). I've had two or three big pool parties, but mostly its just my family of 4 swimming throughout the day. Still, I remembered the very valid arguments made here about sanitization. Sure copper kills the algae, but what about the bacteria? You can't see the bacteria! While Ecosmarte agents deny that I should be concerned about slow kill speed of copper on bacteria, I respectfully considered some of the comments already made here and I have been compensating by adding non-chlorine shock (peroxysulfate I think it is) to my pool a couple times per month. Not much, just under 2 cups each time. That might not be enough for you chemistry gurus but I have to tell you, I am totally satisfied with the quality of my water and my pool installers are amazed too. After all, the non-chlorine shock was only $59.95 for the tub and that's all I've had to spend on it all season! So. Season one almost done. I say that's long enough to determine that their claims have merit insofar as our pool is concerned. There is no question my circumstance is a 'best case scenario'. I've heard some horror stories too. Heck, maybe next season you'll hear mine. All I can say is, for me... I wouldn't have it any other way, and everyone who has swam (swum?) in my pool has commented on how awesome it is to swim in bottled water. Cheers, A Believer
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