We are looking on going to salt water for our above ground swimming pool - suggestions?

Question

WE have a 30 foot round above ground swimming pool and it has been suggested we go to salt water instead of all the chemicals! Has anyone done this? thanks

Answer 1

I would not recommend switching to salt water or chlorine generator sanitation.  Answer #1 sounds like a pool supply salesman.  They love to sell these things and they are very popular but that does not mean they are any good.

Water must be brought to 3,000ppm salinity for the chlorine generator to work.  Did you notice the word chlorine genrerator?  Salt pools are chlorine pools in disquise, they really want you to think there is no chlorine in them but the fact is they still have to maintain 1-3ppm levels to properly work.  Guess what?  Plain old chlorine pools are also 1-3ppm.

Have you ever gone to the beach and gotten out with out towling off.  Your skin starts to crawl - Its the salt!

Your salt pool has every chemical in it that a plain chlorine pool does, acid to balance the pH, cyanuric acid to protect the chlorine, already mentioned chlorine, algecide, what ever is likely to de dumped in a chlorine pool will be put into a salt pool and even more.  More acid to balance out the chlorine the generator makes also more cyanuric acid to protect the paltry amount of chlorine they produce.

Answer #1 mentions not having to shock their pool.  The chlorine generators make only enough chlorine to replace the residual in lost since the last filtration run.  And it is not very much but it is a proven fact.  They are not strong enough to superchlorinate your pool by any stretch of the imagination.  But what about that superchlorinate button on the unit?  All that does is put the cell into 100% production of a paltry amount of chlorine.  You will find it does not work after you paid for it.

No more red eyes and itchy skin.  These guys want you to think their units are the magic bullet and a cure all for maintaining your pool.  They are not, red eyes are likely caused by to much chloramine or combined chlorine in the pool water.  This can even happen in a salt pool!  Shocking or superchlorinating removes the chloramine and the smell we associate with chlorine.  To shock add enough liguid chlorine to raise the concentration 10 times the measured residual.  For example, measured 1ppm raise chlorine to 10ppm.

Actually chlorine does not smell at all in 1-3ppm concentrations.  Most people cannot sense the smell until 14ppm.  A wiff off the bleach bottle, its about 2,000pm you are smelling!

My advice, save your money, buy a good test kit, read your labels and always ask "Why" alot!

Oh, when you drain your salt pool did you ever think where all that salt water goes.  Do you think it evaporates?  Not.  It goes into the drain and treatment factory, but they are noticing the increased salt levels in their water.  Salt is easy to put in but very evpensive to remove.  A lot of that water makes it back to the tap!

The salt guys ought to be kicked out of the gene pool!

Answer 2

I have had a salt water and chlorine pool. I definitely find salt water better. Your hair will not turn green and you won' t smell like chlorine. You may get a salty gulp of water once in a while, but it's okay. And there are a lot less chemicals. No shocking the pool, no chlorine, no algacide. Only salt.