PoolNewb Posted May 18, 2011 Report Share Posted May 18, 2011 I am total pool newbie, bought a house with a dead chloromatic 3 cell in it. The system itself is 7 years old. All the stores in my town are pushing the Hayward Aquarite except one store who is pushing the pentair intellichlor. The Pentair is about $1650.00 installed and the Hayward is about $1525.00 installed. What are the differences in these units and what are all of you guys out there using? My pool is 20X40 if that makes a difference. My salt cell has been down for some time and i just shocked and vacuumed it today, it is filling as we speak so I probably need some quick advice, thanks for all the help and sorry if this was covered in a previous thread, if it was i missed it. Thanks again for your time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoolGuyNJ Posted May 18, 2011 Report Share Posted May 18, 2011 I prefer to sell the Pentair. When the cell has reached it's end of life, it also gets new electronics. The Hayward houses it's electronics with the transformer. Things get toasty there. The Hayward does have better diags, a convenience but not a necessity. The Pentair has a lower frequency of repair record. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkusmier Posted May 21, 2011 Report Share Posted May 21, 2011 Our builder installed an IntelliChlor (IC40) when our pool was built in late summer 2007. My pump started cycling late last year, which I incorrectly diagnosed as a faulty freeze protection sensor in my EasyTouch control panel. It was actually a fault in the temperature and flow sensor inside the IntelliChlor. Pentair honored my extended warranty and replaced the cell w/ a new Ver. 2.0 cell (if you buy 3 or more Pentair components - e.g. pump, filter, IntelliChlor, control panel, lighting equipment - at the same time, Pentair automatically extends the regular 1-year warranty to 3 years on all of the equipment). There were many reports of problems w/ the early IntelliChlors, including the faulty temperature/flow sensor I experienced, but my understanding is that many of these problems have been corrected w/ the Ver. 2.0 cell. Aside from that faulty sensor, I've had zero problems w/ the IntelliChlor. I can also attest that Pentair has been fantastic about warranty service - they also replaced the boards in my EasyTouch after I experienced a communication problem between the EasyTouch and the IntelliChlor in 2009. The only other issue I can think of is fine-tuning the chlorine output on the IntelliChlor. Unless you have a Pentair brand electronic control panel like an EasyTouch, the cell itself only allows you to adjust output in 20% increments (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100). I know that cells from some other companies allow you to fine-tune the output without an electronic control panel - I'm not familiar w/ AquaRite systems so you might want to inquire about that. I highly recommend the IntelliChlor - and if the AquaRite is better, then you can't go wrong. One final note: be sure to compute your gallonage (there are many online pool volume calculators, Pentair has one here) and buy a cell w/ a rated capacity that exceeds your gallonage (the capacity of my IC40 is twice that of my pool's gallonage). It is worth the higher price in terms of both performance and lifespan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFP Posted October 31, 2021 Report Share Posted October 31, 2021 Hayward is all sourced in China, Pentair has some parts made there as well, but not all Pentair pumps imo are worth the extra money. Just personal experience. My last pentair IC40 lasted for more than 10 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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