Do I Want A Salt Water System For My Pool?
Posted by
Jim Oliver on Tue, Jul 19, 2011 @ 06:35 AM
Do I Want A Salt Water System For My Pool?
Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!
Ok, that was easy. I guess you’re getting a salt system now right?
No? What do you mean no?
It costs too much?
Ok, I’ll admit that it does cost a bit more than a regular chlorine system. The average salt system will cost you about $1500. So why would you want one you say? One reason is that it is much, much cheaper to sanitize your pool using a Salt to Chlorine System than a conventional chlorine tabs or chlorine granules. A Salt to Chlorine System requires only pool salt (usually less than $12.00 / 40lb. bag) as the “fuel for the engine”. In general salt will cost well less than $100.00 per year while purchasing 3“ chlorine tabs can easily cost in excess of $500.00 per pool season. At that rate you’ve paid for the system in less than three (3) years!
Easy To Maintain
Another reason is that you want to spend your time swimming in your pool not wasting it by doing your best impersonation of a chemist. Low maintenance. Say it again slowly…low maintenance. Check your water balance once a week and check that your salt level is ok by looking at the green light and you’re good to go. If you do happen to get low on salt simply add a 40 lb. bag of pool salt and get back to swimming. During the summer months you may need to do this every 6 weeks or so.
Is It Like Swimming In The Ocean?
Many people are afraid that swimming in a saltwater pool will be like swimming in the ocean. You know, burning eyes and a mouth full of salt. Not true. Saltwater pools have an average salt content of 3,500 ppm which is 1/10 the level of salt in the Atlantic Ocean or Intracoastal Waterway (average of 35,000 ppm). The majority of swimmers do not experience any problems when opening their eyes under water. In fact most first time swimmers in my pool have to be told that they are swimming in salt water and only then do they say “oh yeah, I can taste the salt if I lick my lips”. The comments I hear the most are that the water feels silky on your body and that your skin doesn’t dry up like it does when you get out of a regular chlorine pool.
Easy Call
My feeling is that this article is mostly for the benefit of the people who already have a pool and haven’t yet switched over to a salt system. I say this because I can’t remember the last time we installed a new pool with a regular chlorine system instead of a Salt to Chlorine System. New pool shoppers are definitely doing their homework and invariably ask, “Do you do Salt water pools?” Of course we do as that is now the standard on the Southeastern coast of North Carolina. Happy swimming!
