Generic vs Premium Salt Systems: What You Need to Know

Salt cell replacement should be a quick fix, but the pricing and quality gap between OEM parts and online “generic” options can turn it into a costly decision. We break down how we think about saltwater chlorine generator choices when you are looking at the big names like Hayward, Pentair, and Jandy, and when it actually makes sense to consider an off brand system or an aftermarket replacement cell without sacrificing reliability.

We talk about what the industry lost when CMP Power Clean was discontinued, then dig into two real alternatives that deserve attention: AutoPilot, a proven saltwater system with a strong following in parts of the East Coast, and Circupool, an online-first brand with long warranties, long rated cell life, and a price point that often beats the big three. We also touch on where saltwater pool technology is heading with more automation, including systems that pair ORP and pH monitoring with an acid pump to keep chlorine output and water balance steadier with less hands-on work.

If you are tempted by a $200 Amazon salt cell, we lay out the tradeoffs clearly, including review quality, expected durability, and what happens when the return window closes. For pool service pros, we get practical about managing risk: when to recommend OEM, when an aftermarket option like a Hayward-compatible Circupool replacement can be a smart play, and why we often have the customer buy non-OEM parts directly so warranty issues do not land on the service company. 

• why CMP Power Clean cells earned trust and what changes after discontinuation
• AutoPilot as a proven alternative with strong regional support and commercial options
• Circupool systems as an off brand with long warranties and long rated cell life
• Core Control style automation with ORP and pH sensing plus acid feed
• Hayward AquaRite replacement options including the Circupool CIR-GEN9
• what to expect from generic Pentair IntelliChlor replacements on Amazon
• why Jandy TrueClear often makes OEM the simplest choice
• why wholesale suppliers rarely carry generic salt cells

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Transcript

Welcome And Topic Setup

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Hey, welcome to the Pool Guy Podcast Show. In this episode I'm going to talk to you a little bit about the generic salt cells and some generic salt cell replacements. If you're in the market for a salt water system and you're looking at Hayward, Jandy, or Penthair, there are a couple of other options out there for you. And if you have a system already and you're looking to replace the salt cell, there's some options as well. Are you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the Pool Guy Coaching Program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support from me. I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com. And there's nothing inherently wrong with getting a Penthair, Jandy, or Hayward salt system. I'm just here to tell you that there are other options out there as far as salt water systems. Now, of course, one of the best options that was out there is no longer available, and that's the CMP Power Clean Line of Salt Cells. This was actually a really robust company, CMP custom molded products. I believe they sold, I don't know the exact price, a 25 million or something like that, or 50 million to Floridra or Jandy. Purchased this company, and there was really a kind of a euphoric feeling in the industry that this company was purchased by Floridra, and now Jandy is going to start branding the CMP salt cells and selling them and expanding the lineup of them. However, Jandy or Floridra basically just shut down the company and closed and stopped selling or producing these salt cells. You can still get the parts, you can still buy cells for it, but the actual complete unit is no longer being sold out there, unfortunately. I thought it was one of the better salt cells out there because you didn't really need to use meritic acid to clean the cell plates, you would just get a tool that came with it, a plastic tool, and then you would scrape the calcium off the plates. They also were very reliable systems, although there was a defect in the cord that became very irritating. There would be a drip leak from the cord where it goes into the salt cell. Most of that was fixed. But the actual unit, unfortunately, has been discontinued by Floridra. So that leaves you with basically two other options. I wouldn't call autopilot more or less an off-brand. They're a brand in themselves. Probably the first salt system that hit the market here was the autopilot. They're really popular in Florida. So if you have a pool service out in Florida or over that way, I guess Georgia would be also another state, North Carolina. So the autopilot is really popular on the East Coast. And it's a good salt cell brand. They have some proprietary technology that they use that makes it a very robust system. And I wouldn't discount the autopilot. It's also great for commercial use. They have these big units that you can use in commercial pools. And it's a really good brand. Not really popular in my area of California, so I haven't really used them much. And it's something that again is kind of regional. And I think on the East Coast, you're going to see a lot more of the autopilot brand, chlorinator, the chlorosync systems. And the pool guys and gals rave about them. One brand that I would like to touch on, and one brand that is often overlooked, and that is the circuit pool brand. And they have the RJ series, RJ Plus series. They have a new core control series, which you'll you'll see a review for that on my YouTube channel. It's a great system that actually has an ORP and pH sensor and an acid pump included. So it's an all-inclusive system that's going to be expandable eventually to control your heater, valves, and things like that. But currently it's it's got just about everything you're going to need to make sure the salt water system is running and kind of a hands-off system with the ORP monitor or sensor, I should say, or probe is what it actually is. And you have a pH probe and an acid feeder. It's something that is going to revolutionize the saltwater generators out there. And circle pool has been around for a long time. They make really robust salt water systems, they have one of the longest warranties in the industry, and their cell life is also one of the longest. I think they're rated for 20,000 hours versus your Penter and Hayward and Jandy cell. And it's a great brand that doesn't really have a lot of traction out there because they sell mainly online. And if you don't know the brand, you wouldn't know to look for it. But the circuit pool is not what I consider a generic brand, it's more of an off-brand, and it's they're establishing themselves as a big market brand. And the price point of these is really good as well compared to the big three systems and the price you would pay for those. But besides the autopilot and circuit pool, there isn't a lot of off-brands out there that are still existing on the market. The custom molded products is one of the biggest ones, and of course, they are no longer operating. And so you're kind of stuck getting a major name brand salt system if you're in the market for one. What I really like about the circuit pool, I'll just talk about the generic salt replacement cells as well that are out there. Circuit pool actually makes one that's compatible with the Hayward Ocarite system. 25,000 gallons is the capacity or the output, maximum output gallons for this system. And you can buy this cell on their website. It's circuitpool.com and it's$429 right now. So it's and it and they actually work really well, just as good as the Hayward salt cells for a lot less in cost. So I would recommend this one if you're looking for quote unquote a generic salt cell to replace your Hayward Acarate salt cell that has gone bad because those are a little bit more expensive. And this one here is really a name brand salt system that makes a generic sell for the Hayward system, if that kind of makes sense, and they have really good reviews on the system. Now you can of course go on Amazon and you can look for a replacement for a Hayward cell, and you can get some on there for under$200, which is pretty incredible if you think about it. If you look at the OEM product, the OEM cell, let me get one here. You know, it's$7.99 right now, or$800 retail for the official Penthair T15 cell. And if you wanted to get a generic one, I would of course recommend the circuit pool one. Go to their website and you'll see it there. Or you can try one of these on Amazon for$200. I mean, I don't think they're going to be very robust, in my opinion. The reviews aren't stellar on them, they're okay, they get decent reviews, and some of them actually get pretty good reviews, but those are again in the same$470 range as the Circuit Pool one. The cheaper ones, not quite as much, but you can try them because I don't see it, you know, if you can try them for 30 days and return them if there's a problem. I definitely would give it a shot. But I would definitely lean towards kind of a name brand generic one, the circuit pool one that I mentioned. Let me give you the exact product name of that so you can find it easily and look it up yourself. It's called the Circuit Pool CIR-gen 9 aftermarker replacement cell fitzhayword. Again, that's the CIR-gen 9 aftermarker replacement cell. Definitely would try it. I've installed one myself actually, and it seems to be working fine after about a year and a half. So these definitely are robust. And I didn't really go into their systems, but they do have again a lot of salt water chlorinator systems. You can check it out on their site and see the different systems that they have available. As far as generic cells for the Penter system, those are a little bit harder to come by. You know, the IC40 cells or systems, I should say, or the IC20 systems. They're still there and they're less expensive than the Pentare replacement cells. But I don't know the brand of these. The brand of this one is called, I'm looking on Amazon by the way, is called Colas Cena. I think I pronounced that correctly. And it's made for the IC400 40,000 gallons. I was gonna say 400,000, 40,000 gallons, and it's 779 right now, which is of course less expensive than the OEM 40,000 gallon cell Pentar makes. Again, not sure how robust it is or how well it's gonna work for you, but they do make a Pentare one, and they do make plenty of Hayward Ocarite generic cells. And believe it or not, I was just searching for a TrueClear generic cell. They do actually make one on Amazon, it's called Crave Crave On is the company, and it's$189, which is like really inexpensive, but the reviews are not the greatest on that. You can actually buy an OEM one for about$430. That's why I like the Jandy True Clear. So if you were gonna get a saltwater system, I would say the Jandy would be my preference for you because the Jandy TrueClear salt cell replacement cell is so inexpensive, even the OEM version is only$460. So you there's no really need, there's not really a need to buy a generic Jandy TrueClear cell, because the OEM one is only$430. So that's why I like that system versus the Pentair and Haywood, because those replacement cells are just pretty expensive to replace versus the Jandy cell, which I find to be very reliable, and it's really inexpensive to get a new cell, the OEM cell, I should say, for the Jandy True Clear Assault System. So if you're a Pool Pro and you're looking at your supplier for one of these generic cells, you're probably not gonna find it because most wholesale suppliers are kind of barred by the manufacturer, Jandy, Pinter and Hayward, from actually carrying these generic cells because they're mainly supposed to have only the OEM cells. There may be some anomalies here and there. We can find one, but most of them, you know, they they may sacrifice their or lose their contract with the big three if they do start selling generic parts. So really none of them do sell them. You can find them online, of course, readily available on Amazon or at the circuitpool.com website for the Hayward one. But I would say you can't walk into a supplier and pick one of these up, it doesn't exist. And this is one of the dilemmas that we face out there in the industry is that when you take over an account, or if you have an account and the salt cell goes bad, it's one of those really tough conversations with the customer. You know, you want to make you want to do the best thing for the customer, you don't want to kind of go cheap. And of course, customers may want you to get a cheaper sell replacement, they may insist on it, they may even go looking online and see these prices, which you can't compete with if you have the OEM Hayward cell or Penthera cell. And I would say I wouldn't recommend you as the provider buying the cell online and putting it in, because then you're like the middleman at that point. So let's say that you have a customer with a Hayward cell that goes bad. I would definitely trust the circuit pool one. That one I wouldn't argue with, but I would still have the customer purchase it in case there's a problem, they can go directly back and take care of the problem and you're out of the loop. So if they don't want to buy an OEM cell that you can pick up at your supplier, which you become the middleman for, and you're pretty much okay with that because those cells are of course tested. You know they're not gonna fail or have a problem. So if the customer wants to go with the OEM cell for the Penta or Hayward system, I have no problem picking it up and then selling it to them at the retail price. But if they want to go with one of these generic cells, I would let them purchase it themselves and I wouldn't be involved in it. So I wouldn't go on Amazon and order one of these Hayward generic cells and put it in for the customer. Because now you're the middleman, you have to deal with the fact that the 30-day Amazon guarantee is over and the cell went bad, and now you're holding the bag. So what I would advise customers is if they really want to make sure that the system's gonna run fine, get the OEM cell. If they want to try one of these generic cells, they're welcome to, but they'll have to purchase it. You'll have no problem putting it in for them, but you eliminate yourself from the equation. So if there's a problem six months down the road, the cell's not working, it's really not in your hands anymore because you suggested the OEM cell. They wanted to go with the generic one, and you don't really have anything involved in it, and you can swap it out, I guess, at that point with the original manufactured product. It's the same thing with anything. I have a Canon Laserjet printer, and this is my second one that I've had in a few years. The first one I started buying generic toner on Amazon, and it's about you know 90% cheaper to buy the generic toner than the Canon toner, but that pretty much ruined the laser printer over the course of three years, two or three years. And so all I buy for my Canon laser printer now are the OEM cartridges, and they're like$110 each. And you can buy four of them for like$69. So it's one of those things where I have to pay more for something that I know is gonna work. And by the way, the printer is running flawlessly because I'm just using the OEM you know cartridges in there. Same thing with these salt cells. Sometimes generic cells will be perfectly fine, other times they may not be. So you want to eliminate yourself from that equation. So if they do get one that's bad, you don't have to worry about it. But always suggest the original manufactured product, in my opinion. That way there's nothing that's gonna come back and hit you. You customer may say, Well, you're the one who told me I can use one of these generic ones if I wanted to. So I wouldn't even allude to the fact that they can do it. If they do find one online, they'll do the research and find it. When I approach a customer with a salt cell replacement, the only one that I recommend would be the brand cell for their system or the circuit pool Hayward replacement cell. That would be the ones I would recommend. And if they do find one online, less expensive and they want to go with that, it's really up to the customer, and you're kind of out of the equation at that point, and you're just gonna have to see how long that cell works, and maybe it'll work out good, maybe it won't. But it's one of those tough things in industry, put all these generic parts and systems available, how to guide and direct the customer, and of course keep them on budget. Now, if they do go on Amazon, they're gonna see, of course, a lot of the circuit pool systems on Amazon, they have a big Amazon store there, along with some of the generic ones. There's like a host solution salt system for 569. It has the actual control panel built onto the cell, and then there's other ones called what is this one here? You can go on there and look for yourself. There, there's all different salt systems that are available. But the circuit pool ones are on there, and they're definitely a again, like I mentioned before, a good brand named SALT system, like the Aquapilot. It's not the big three, but they do have a good reputation. And their reviews online, of course, are stellar. You'll see those on Amazon. So if they wanted to buy something like that on Amazon, I have no problem with them buying it. I'll put that in for them. And you can, of course, buy it yourself. And I would have no problem with you buying the salt system, the circuit pool, and putting it in. I just wouldn't buy, you know, there's a Pure Line one. Enu pools came out with this one a while ago. It's called the Pure Line. It looks just like the Hayward Aqua Right system. And I did actually install one of these and I ordered one from Inuil Pools for the customer because I kind of trust these systems. Again, it hasn't had a problem, but I would let the customer buy it. I think I kind of went out on a limb when I bought it. I shouldn't have. And if the customer buys it, that's fine. And you just charge them for the install on it. Not a big deal. But you really again want to shy away or have the customer shy away from kind of these really cheap generic ones that are like the whole system for$500. I really don't think they're gonna hold up and work long term, and kind of steer them towards the big three if you can, or the autopilot, or the circuit pool system, and I think you're gonna be perfectly fine at that point. Everything else, in my opinion, wouldn't really be suitable or long enough lasting out there. And the Pure Line is one exception made by Enio Pools, and that's a system that I've tested myself, and it's pretty robust, so wouldn't worry about that brand. But you really can't trust a lot of the other brands like Extreme Power US US has assault system, they're the ones that make those really cheap generic creepy crawlies for$89. So the Extreme Power US has assault system, looks a lot like the Hayward Aqua Right. The reviews are not stellar on Amazon, but the price definitely is stellar at$6.99 for a 40,000 gallon system. Again, use your judgment out there and kind of educate the customer of what the reality is with the assault systems, longevity, the price they pay, and really what they should be getting out of a name brand system like Jandy Pinter and Hayward, Circuit Pool, Autopilot, and what maybe they should be shying away from out there on the internet. Looking for other podcasts, you can find those on my website, swinging for learning.com. Click on the banner on the podcast, that'll take you to a drop down menu with over 1900 podcasts. And if you're interested in the coaching program that I offer you can learn more at coaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have you guys to your week and God bless.