We are about to build our 2nd pool. We built our first pool back in August of 2003 and had a SWG. We loved it and are having it installed in our new pool. We had no problems with it in the 4 years that we owned it, no coping problems or salt residue. I've talked my friends who are building pools into adding a SWG!

We dont have salt just the traditional chlorine system. We didnt switch during our current pool remodel, mostly because I was afraid after reading a few posts about the potential problems of the salt water on porous stones. It seems some people have problems but most dont, or just not yet. We decide to err on the side of caution. My neighbors who do have it, love it but have only had it for a few years and they dont have natural stone....at least not yet, but after seeing our remodel they are drooling for it around their pools.

I wonder why you have to run your pump so much, skinnydipper?

Every pool supplier I've talked to says it's average for this area- Riverside, CA. News people say the average daily temp right now is above 95. That has a lot to do with it.

Central FL small pool/spa Oceanblue PS We do not have natural stone for coping. Love the SWG as does everyone who has put the pool to good use.
Expense to maintain for the last 3 months has been $14 for acid (1-1.5 qt every 1-2 weeks.) to keep PH in check. PH runs high which is normal for our pool according to the pool store.(Excluding electric which isn't bad at all running pool pump 8 hr/day and occasional heastpump/pump/blower for spa)

So it seems salt is cheaper to maintain...a few less chemicals to add and lug, but there is the initial cost of the cell, and how long does a cell last before it needs to be replaced??? I heard 5-8 years? Not sure if is correct....looking for a confirmation on that. We run our regular chlorine system pump for 8 hrs a day, so electricity is the same, right? Or are there more electrical parts? So the big question is the "long term" effects of the salt system on the rock or porous structures. We just remodeled a 12 year old pool, WOW was it expensive. It was remodeled because the plaster was deteriorating. Instead of just replastering an ugly mauve tiled pool we revamped and enhanced. Now we have a rock waterfall, travertine coping, tumbled marble decking and a pebble tec interior. I hope (during my lifetime) this pool doesnt need a facelift again, for any reason. There is a chance one day my beautiful pool could look "dated". Had we switched to the salt system, we would be very disappointed if 15 years from now we still owned the house, our pool actually wasnt "dated" looking but needed to be refurbished because of salt corrosion issues. So we played it safe:( I guess time will only tell.

KVBV are you using natural stone, are you slightly worried about the "long term" effects....is that the reason your PB is trying to talk you out of it? We really considered adding the salt system and I guess still could, we opted not to for the reasons above and the few experts who advised against it with our new stone work. Except for a handful of people, everyone loves their salt and it seems like on a day to day basis a little easier and cheaper to maintain, I wish I wasnt so cautious:) For the most part, there seems to be 2 types of pool people in this world....people who love their salt pools and salt "want-to-be's".

We just completed our AZ pool in May and still have an option to add a SWG at any time but chose to wait and see how hard the maintenance is. I put a Chl puck in the skimmer 2x a week and a half gallon of acid 1x weekly, filter 5 hours a day. Easy enough! Neighbors on both sides w/ SWG filter 10 hours daily to generate enough Chl, add stabilizer, still need shock occasionally, and use 1-2 gallons acid weekly, hose of deck after each swim. I think the SWGs only benefit is water feel and havenÂt decided if thatÂs worth $1500. CanÂt I just put salt in my pool to soften the feel and use regular chlorine?

SkinnyDipper,

What is the level of stabilizer in your pool. If the stabilizer is low, you will go through most all of your chlorine in one day. You might want to take a water sample into the local Leslie pools and have them run the tests on it. I have an Aquarite system and it has no problem generating sufficient chlorine for my 18k pool. It is rated for up to 40K gal pools.

..Doyle

Yes, you can add salt to any pool to soften the feel. I would think twice about pucks in the skimmer due to.......I forget but someone else will know why.

Well, we are slowly in the midst of building a salt water pool and will have a natural stone water line and waterfall with travertine coping. We did go with natural looking tile in place of real stone for the hottub and part of the waterline but are not willing give in to not having a SWG. Wish us luck!

we used chlorine bleach for the first four weeks during the initial start up of our new pool. We then switched on the salt generator and love it. As Skinny said, the soft skin and clean hair feel can't be beat. I was actually surprised how salty it is to the taste, nothing like sea water but definately as salty as a human tear. My pool is 20k gals and I run my pump 6 hours a day with the salt generator at 50% which yields approx 1ppm of free chlorine and zero ppm of combined chlorine. My generator is the 35k gal Zodiac Duo Clear with the auto reverse polarity cleaning function. My pool is new so I cannot comment on the long term effects on stone and mortar. I have a mix of 'three rivers' stone coping and concrete cantilever that are not sealed and so far see no ill effects. My chemistry is perfectly maintained (Taylor 2005C kit) by me but I do have to add 1/2 gallon of muriatic acid (30% strength) twice a week to keep my PH at 7.6. By the way, in our area of SoCal, Home Depot's acid is the 15% concentration (red in color) which is the same price of Lowes 30% (light yellow in color). Needless to say I am buying from Lowes. Also all test kits quote their acid quantities using 30% concentrations.

Damien.

"What is the level of stabilizer in your pool. If the stabilizer is low, you will go through most all of your chlorine in one day. You might want to take a water sample into the local Leslie pools and have them run the tests on it."

That was low a few months ago, I had no idea we'd have almost none after just a year. I think it left when my son's friends (the varsity football offensive line) decided to see who could do the best cannonball. Shortly after, I realized we were low on salt, stabilizer (and water-lol)! Right now it's at 80. We have it a little high so the chlorine will do better.

This is our 2nd salt cell in a year (warranty covered the new one) and this one seems to be doing better. Our water is soooo hard that I have found that I need to clean the cell much more often than it says to.

Today I ordered 3 bottles of Jack's Magic Purple Stuff online. An acid wash guy I spoke to recommended it to minimize scale buildup on the cell.

I also ordered a new Frog mineral pack. Leslie's told me not to bother since I had an swcg, but I found it online for only $80 (instead of the $129 @ Leslies) so I'm going to see if it helps. The website says it will make your pool use less chorine- or something like that. I have the Frog system already so it won't hurt to try using it before I give up. ;-)

All I know is that chlorine puck floater is NOT going back in! If it does, I know I will avoid going in and I am not paying up the a$$ for this pool, only to avoid getting in it.

On that note, I'm going out to check on the chemicals in my money pit- oops, I mean swimming pool, tap the new BJ's Blonde keg in the kegerator and start a beer can chicken on the bbq. In a few hours I won't give a crap if the water is balanced or not!!! ;-)

I tried making beer butt chicken one time. It didn't turn out right. Funny thing is, I cannot remember why. I think if fell over or something. Can you tell me exactly how you make yours?

Back to the topic, lol... initally I didn't really want to spend the extra money on an SWG. But then I saw the corroded diving board on another site and that convinced me to stick with chlorine.

All I know is that chlorine puck floater is NOT going back in! If it does, I know I will avoid going in

? What's the difference in chl from a stabalized puck and chl generated from a salt cell? I think its trendy and thats about it.

hindaw30 - there is no difference between the chlorine from pucks, tablets, or from a salt cell. One advantage of the salt cell is it generates chlorine continuously so you're able to keep your chlorine levels at a more stable level.

The "softness" that people rave about is from the salt in the water and not from the chlorine generated by the cell. As was mentioned before, chlorine pool owners can get this by dumping some salt into their pools - just a few hundred ppms is enough for the water to feel "better".

Chlorine from a stabilized puck has stabilizer in it. It raises your CYA levels.

Ausman,
You are right about the 30%-15% acid ratio's at the two stores. Also note that the big box stores buy all there pool chemicals in the spring so by now they have lost some of there power. Acid is the one thing I get at the pool store

I'd really like to understand something. If salt is used as a preservative and dehydrator, what is it that actually makes your skin and hair softer?

neilaz said, "Also note that the big box stores buy all there pool chemicals in the spring so by now they have lost some of there power. Acid is the one thing I get at the pool store."

Muriatic Acid has an unlimited shelf life. See the MSDS linked to below.

hindhaw said, "I put a Chl puck in the skimmer 2x a week and a half gallon of acid 1x weekly, filter 5 hours a day."

You shouldn't put pucks in the skimmer unless you're running the pump 24x7. When a puck is left in the skimmer without the pump running, the water in the skimmer turns very acidic. When the pump kicks on, that slug of acidic water is sucked into your pump, filter, heater, etc. and over time will degrade the metallic parts of that equipment. Doing this occasionally probably isn't that big a deal as that water will get diluted resonably quickly, but continually doing this will eventually take its toll.

We had a SWG in our last pool. I liked the fact that you didn't have the strong chlorine smell but unfortunately we had a lot of problems with our's and my husband has decided that he does not want a SWG in our pool we are building now. We were told that we would use less chemicals however we found that in our case, we used more chemicals than a chlorine pool does in addition to metal control which can be expensive. The SWG system was also giving us false readings. On the system that our PB used, the cell's were going out in about 2 years. (replacement cost at that time was approx. $600) We were lucky enough to have our's replaced under warranty however several of our friends that also had this system ended up going back to chlorine systems because of all the problems and replacing the cell every couple of years was very expensive. We have heard that the cell's are rated at "x amount of hrs" based upon how long your pump is running so it will all depend upon how long you run your pump or the cleaning of the cell. It was 6 yrs ago that we had that pool built so maybe there have been improvements on that or better SWG systems out there.

"? What's the difference in chl from a stabalized puck and chl generated from a salt cell? I think its trendy and thats about it."

Well, this has been an argument in several threads. Here is what I've learned after researching the subject. I figured I needed to learn what exactly the difference was to defend myself from all of the "IT'S ALL CHLORINE!" arguments. I know very well that it is different simply based on the effects it has on my hair.

Used up chlorine creates "chloramines." Using liquid chlorine or pucks does not constantly get rid of chloramines, which is what gives you the dry skin, red eyes and dries out my hair so much. The way to get rid of chloramines is to 'shock' the pool. Without a swcg, you do this by adding a large amount of chlorine to the water. The average pool isn't shocked often enough because it's inconvenient to wait for the chlorine levels to drop back to a safe level for swimming. In the peak of the swimming season, you'd need to shock it very often.

When using a swcg only, as water flows through the swcg unit, it is constantly shocked. With chloramines constantly being destroyed, the irritating side effects are greatly reduced or eliminated.

I guess if a regular chlorine pool could constantly shock the chloramines out of the water it would be EXACTLY the same, but since it can't, this is where the benefits of a swcg lie.

When using the swcg, I can get out and when my hair dries, I can actually run my fingers through my hair. The reg. chlorine alone leaves my hair feeling sooooo horrible. In addition, the reg. chlorine noticibly dries out my skin. The skin part I can deal with, but my hair is unmanagable until I wash and condition it. It probably wouldn't be as bad if I had short hair, but my hair is quite long so it gets in a ratty mess.

I had my salt cell turned off completely last week. I wonder if I ran the salt cell AND used pucks or liquid (just for the hottest part of summer), it may work out better. In theory, it should work out fine. That will be my next experiment. Anyone have a reason why it wouldn't work just like a pool completely on swcg?

I hope this doesn't sound like I'm arguing, I'm just trying to help everyone understand that there is more to the difference than being 'trendy.'

skinny- that makes since. Similar to a water softener that uses salt your skin and hair are softer especially compared to hard water. I'm not sure about the chemistry part of chl can be different but I'm not arguing either. Our builder and Leslies have both told us to place pucks in the skimmer? I think the bad smell and harsh water come from unbalanced pools not chl. Either way I'm loving the pool and plan to dump some salt in to be trendy :)

"I think the bad smell and harsh water come from unbalanced pools not chl"

Chloramines are the result of insufficient free chlorine and usually result in a strong chlorine odor in and around the swimming pool. Chloramines are formed as a product of nitrogen and active chlorine (hypochlorous acid - HOCl). The nitrogen is most commonly introduced into the pool water as ammonia in the form of sweat and (unfortunately) urine.

Chloramines (combined chlorine) are poor sanitizers and have a gaseous tendency. The presence of chloramines (and dichloramines/ trichloramines in particular) cause the following physical symptoms:

red, burning eyes;
burning sensation in nose, throat and lungs;
dry, itchy skin and dry hair;
breathing difficulty leading to "swimmers' asthma" particularly in young children.
In addition to these, the pool has a tendency to discolor, becoming milky or green with algae due to the low sanitizing ability of the combined chlorine.

In pools sanitized with liquid or dry chlorine, the residue buildup (chloramines) from the oxidized contaminants may cause red eyes, itchy skin or rashes, and " a chlorine smell". In these pools, chloramines must be destroyed by super-chlorination or shocking. In a SWCG pool, as water flows through the unit, it is constantly shocked because of the powerful sanitizing action that occurs in the electrolytic cell. With chloramines constantly being destroyed, the irritating side effects are greatly reduced or eliminated.

In response to this, "? What's the difference in chl from a stabalized puck and chl generated from a salt cell? I think its trendy and thats about it."

skinnydipper said: "Well, this has been an argument in several threads. Here is what I've learned after researching the subject. I figured I needed to learn what exactly the difference was to defend myself from all of the "IT'S ALL CHLORINE!" arguments. I know very well that it is different simply based on the effects it has on my hair.

Used up chlorine creates "chloramines." Using liquid chlorine or pucks does not constantly get rid of chloramines, which is what gives you the dry skin, red eyes and dries out my hair so much. The way to get rid of chloramines is to 'shock' the pool. Without a swcg, you do this by adding a large amount of chlorine to the water. The average pool isn't shocked often enough because it's inconvenient to wait for the chlorine levels to drop back to a safe level for swimming. In the peak of the swimming season, you'd need to shock it very often."

Me: Sorry, but your premise is faulty. I chlorinate mainly with chlorinating liquid (aka bleach) and have never, in over one and a half years with this pool, had a measurable amount of combined chlorine in my water. I have also never shocked my water. A well cared for pool won't develop combined chlorine except when a sudden and/or unexpected demand for chlorine arises (e.g. heavy bather load, lots of organic material getting into the water). The same thing can and does happen with SWG chlorinated pools. If you doubt that, look around on this forum, poolforum.com, and troublefreepool.com for threads about people with SWGs who are battling algae; you can probably find a hundred such threads in a minute or two. I add extra chlorine when I know I'm going to have a bunch of kids in the pool, in pollen season, etc. Wise SWG users do the same (manually or by turning up the cell run percentage or by using a boost button). It's about being proactive with your water care, not about how you deliver chlorine. SWGs make that easier but not any better.

skinnydipper said: "When using a swcg only, as water flows through the swcg unit, it is constantly shocked. With chloramines constantly being destroyed, the irritating side effects are greatly reduced or eliminated."

Me: That's a theory that is often offered but it has not been proven (or even studied to my knowledge). Beyond that, not all of your water passes through the SWG cell in a given period of time and therefore isn't subjected to super-chlorination (think of the circulation dead spots that exist in every pool and just the basic fluid dynamics involved). Even if the theory is 100% accurate, the example of my pool and many others that are operated like it show that that effect is essentially meaningless. We don't get combined chlorine and we don't shock because we stay on top of the chlorine levels in the water.

skinnydipper said: "...I hope this doesn't sound like I'm arguing, I'm just trying to help everyone understand that there is more to the difference than being 'trendy.' "

Me: I'm sorry, but there really isn't any meaningful difference that's attributable to the SWG in this regard. I agree with you that SWGs are more than trendy; SWGs are a very convenient way to chlorinate. They let you do what I do without having to buy and add chlorine yourself. But, you still need to test the water frequently and put extra chlorine in the water in anticipation of increased demand for it or shock after it's all used up and you have a bunch of combined chlorine; with or without an SWG.

I keep between 1200 and 2000 ppm salt in my water for the "feel". I guarantee that your hair would be just as manageable after swimming in my pool as it is in yours.

"I keep between 1200 and 2000 ppm salt in my water for the "feel". I guarantee that your hair would be just as manageable after swimming in my pool as it is in yours."

I think Kurt just invited me to come swimming. ;-) Get the Margaritas ready, here I come! lol

I've actually been waiting for you to chime in Kurtv, what took you so long???!!!

me: note that the big box stores buy all there pool chemicals in the spring so by now they have lost some of there power
kutv said: Muriatic Acid has an unlimited shelf life.
me: Just more bad advise from the pool store on my part

"I think Kurt just invited me to come swimming. ;-) Get the Margaritas ready, here I come! lol"

You're welcome anytime. I don't usually do margaritas, though. Manhattans and very, very dry martinis are more my style.

just so you all know, human sweat and urine is chemically very similair. So if ya sweating ya peeing. Now that may generate some internet research!

By the way, we must have alot of salt water pools in our part of town 'cause the Lowes by us have fresh pallets of the acid stuff sitting in the middle of the aisle's.

Cheers,

Still planting and landscaping,

Damien.

Too many problems, on the surface, salt seems like a great alternative, except, what they don't tell you is how corrosive it is on everything else around the pool, from eating away deck and other masonry, ladder, pool lights, and pool cover components. STAY AWAY!!!

Lugnutz,

Actually there have been a lot of arguments about the corrosiveness of salt pools and most of the credible posts that I had read seem to agree that it is exaggerated. Truly corrosive salt levels are much higher than a standard salted pool. For example the ocean is 70,000PPM salt, a standard salted pool is 3,000PPM. The human body is 7,000PPM. A question was posted above asking why salted pools "feel better". It is because when you raise the salinity level closer to the isotonic state of the human body, the water feels more neutral. Your eyes don't burn less because there is less chlorine or it is "better" Chlorine, they burn less because the difference in the salt level between your eyeball and the water has been decreased.

I am not saying that the isn't any corrosiveness from salted pools, but I would suggest that a lot of the problems that people attribute to a salted pool are actually attributable to other issues.

You will be much happier with a saltwater pool. Just make sure they use the Jandy version (Aqua Pure). Jandy is the best quality and they warranty their products.

Our pool was finished in July and we have a SWG. We had originally picked out AZ Flagstone for our coping and water line. However, the pool company contacted us to say that we could not use this natural stone with a salt water pool because it would eventually eat away at it. (I can't believe that all the pool companies don't make this very clear to their customers).

We went with a quartzite flagstone that looks even better (it has some sparkle in it when the sun hits it right) and is much stronger than a natural stone.

I have experienced the same situation. Pool builders are not allowing SWG's if you have a rock waterfall or coping with natural stone.
I know Platinum has stopped this practice. And my builder has now started this also. If you don't have natural stone or any type of waterfall, then go for it.
Platinum pools is putting out there that if you put a box of borax into your pool, you will get the same effect as a salt water system. Borax won't evaporate from the sun either. I have researched this on the web and it seems to be very prevalent over sees. I don't know about this spill about Disney parks and water parks putting borax in their water to make it soft. I can't find info on that. But I think I'm going to try it when I start filling on Monday.

I am a new pool owner. I have a chlorine generator (Pentair IntelliChlor IC40 in a 19,000 gallon pool) installed, but haven't added the salt yet. I have a simple question (hopefully). When I talk to pool professionals about using a chlorine generator they say I will need to run the pump for somewhere around 20 hours a day. I'm thinking that under those conditions, I don't want a chlorine generator. However, I'm not hearing that in this forum. Can't I just turn the percent of chlorine generating up and the pump hours down? I live is southern california. Is 5 hours a day at a high percentage going to work? Is there a reason why you would want to run the generator at a lower percentage and run the pump longer if it wasn't necessary to clean the pool?

I've had a pool for 14 years and started with the typical chlorine regimen, then ozone/Nature 2, and finally SWG.

With aging plaster, there was only one pool guy who managed to keep our pool clean, and then he passed away. Our pool turned to pond scum and we finally decided to remodel the pool with an all tile surface, and convert to a SWG.

That was three months ago. Besided the SWG, we have an acid drip system. I check the pool weekly and it remains balanced. I've added NOTHING. The SWG and the acid drip keep everything perfectly balanced. We bought a pool sweep for the first time and now the only thing I have to do is empty the skimmer basket every couple of days, and backwash and sweep the sides monthly. It couldn't be easier.

I'd never go back to any other method.

I have a 13000 gallon pool with intellichlor IC40 running 6 hrs a day at 80 percent output and get 3500 reading.Going to turn down.I want it closer to 3000.My pool is new so I can't give any longevity account but my PB likes SWG's.We only have concrete decking straight to the pool, no seperate coping.Would hate to have to replace it from salt damage but will find out.

IF you insist on using salt (which works alright in climates which do not have large temp fluctuations throughout a single day) please consider using an ozonator also... Ozone (uv light) will "shock" your pool with NO chemicals whenever the pump is on, so it will compliment your salt system nicely... better yet is to pair ozone with minerals (FROG or Natures 2) depending on your climate... if you are in AZ use FROG, if you are in a cooler climate use Natures 2.... Salt will eat your deck, it will eat your diving board jig, it will eat pebble tec off the walls... it is corosive... if you can get away from it the life of your interior finish will be extended.

but again if you MUST use salt, also use OZONE... you will LOVE IT!

* ted by msbaseball (My Page) on
Sat, Sep 29, 07 at 0:13

Better yet is to pair ozone with minerals (FROG or Natures 2) depending on your climate... if you are in AZ use FROG, if you are in a cooler climate use Natures 2.

It appears that msbaseball is selling SNAKE OIL

Salt is fine in most cases.

msbaseball "Salt will eat your deck, it will eat your diving board jig, it will eat pebble tec off the walls... it is corosive... if you can get away from it the life of your interior finish will be extended. "

Can you site your source for this information?

actually I can send you to pools where this has occurred, but lets use some simple logic (since it is obvious I am dealing with a COMMISSIONED sales person who is trained to stick salt on everything)
What does salt do to roads and vehicles in places like... lets just say Minnesota for instance? I can get you a few snap shots however to prove my point, or better yet, tell me what part of the country you are in and I will get you some addresses where this has occured. Have you ever seen a pool that is 3 to 5 years old that is a plaster or 3M pool with salt???
REMEMBER: sometimes whatis best for the SALES PERSON IS NOT BEST FOR THE CONSUMER

Hate to tell you all but chlorinated water in general will do the majority of wiping out in the pool environment. It is prevalent in colored mortar on coping joints. Just look at them years after the fact. There is no substitute for balanced water no matter how you go about it.

With 25 years in service, I can tell you there is no logical reason to add a Nature 2, Frog OR anything like it. I find it hard to believe a company who says if you have no algae or deposits, our product is working. Isn't that putting the cart before the horse?

They always neglect to tell you they too, have a chlorine based system. Nature 2 requires a chlorine dose to activate and Frog has a chlorine tablet canister. They will tell you that .05 is needed and that's because they're products are not a 100% cure for sanitizing.

I can put two pools side by side and treat them identical and the one without the Frog, Nature 2 will look exactly like the one with it. Again, proper care is all you need and you will not have algae. Drain your pool often and you will not have water deposits.

I've heard the stories of salt eating equipment away but the truth is all quipment is crap these days and if you can get it to last 5 years you doing well. Ask any pool person who is on the job. They will tell you there is no significant failures to pools with salt over those without.

We have a salt system on an AG pool and have had some problems with it, but I think we figured out the problem this year. Someone at the pool store learned about the problems associated with high phosphate levels and a salt system, so he tested our water for it and found that we did have high phosphates. It threw the water tests off and we have had a hard time getting the water back in balance since, but we're getting closer. Earlier this year, they had me add alkalinity increaser, which was not a good thing to do since the phosphates were giving a false reading. So since we learned this, I've been adding acid. I've added a lot of phosphate remover too, but we still have it.
Our well water is high in phosphates, so it has likely been too high since we put up the pool. We've gone through a couple of SWG systems as a result I suspect.
Do any of you have experience with this? Are AG pool owners allowed here? ;)

AG pool owners are definetly allowed here! A pool is a pool. Ratherbgardening, I suggest you raise a deaf ear to the pool store and just keep your chems in check. No need to worry about phosphates if your chlorine, pH, and total akalinity are in check. For more chem related help, try www.troublefreepool.com.

Good. :) I think I still need to work with the store. If I hadn't, I'd still be having the same problems. Once I got some of the phosphates out of the pool, it cleared up and the high free chlorine reading went down and the mystery brown water in the test tube cleared up (forget which test it was for).

I looked over the sight you suggested, but haven't spent much time there yet. Right now I just want to cover it and forget about it until next spring, but not until I learn more about the effects of phosphates with a salt system. Last summer I didn't have to do much at all, so I don't know what changed this year. It's a good thing we had a lousy summer for swimming this year!

Just a few notes:
1. you should never put any sort of chlorine pucks, tabs, sticks, granular or otherwise in your skimmer. It can cause a chlorine gas build up when the pump is off and can weaken the pvc pipes/plumbing and cause it to break, it can also cause corrosion problems with equipment.
2. Salt water pools need to have the PH tested just as a "normal" chlorine pool would, if PH is high you need acid( muriatic acid), if it is low you need base (soda ash/baking soda) you would also need to test alkalinity which will affect the PH level.
3. If you are having to run the pool 10+ hrs a day, you should turn up the output or % of your generator. Turn it up to 90% even, the generator only creates chlorine from the salt as it passes through the cell- only when the pool is running. Do your "shocking" in the dusk/evening since the sun "eats" up the chlorine. Salt pools will need stabilzer, but normal chlorine feed pools may also need some.
4. Phosphates can affect pool water, having your water tested by a honest & knowledgeable staff is usually free and should be helpful when trying to solve any water problem.
5. Poor water chemistry (ph, calcium, alkalinity for example) can cause many problems with corrosion/staining/scale/etc. of equipment , decking, tile and pool surface. The amount of salt in an average sized pool is minimal in comparison to the salt people are referencing for the typical corrosive problems, salt for snow on roads, salt in the ocean, etc. The salt in the pool may have a slight salt taste to it but it is less salty than your tears.

Hands down . THE BEST THING I HAVE DONE to the pool!
Love It !!!

I have had both kinds of pools for years now and wish to dispel some myths.

Chlorine has much greater corrosion potential than salt, I would say about 3 times greater. This is why all equipment used in pools is either plastic or stainless steel.

If salt did have a detrimental effect on concrete there sure would be a lot of bridges and docks failing.

Salt is almost always blamed for poor or improper workmanship. Salt will not dissolve boulders or stone features, the white deposits are calcium not salt.

Most salt pools the salt chlorine generator is too small for the pool requiring many hours of run time. The ratings for these devices are for 24 hour pump run times with less than 70 degree water temp. What is done is that the CYA level is increased(many times over 100ppm) to cover up for too small a unit. With the high CYA levels the owners are told you must shock your pool at least once a week to cover up for a too small unit not generating enough chlorine.

If the chlorine levels are maintained there is no need to ever shock a pool.

The sun is the biggest destroyer of chlorine, so the longer the sun is on the pool the more chlorine is destroyed.

The automatic controllers that control the amount of chlorine generated will be the least expensive to operate, as the pump run time will be controlled not to generate too much chlorine.

Pool Builders are not engineers and seldom get the plumbing designed correctly. Plumbers lay pipe and don't do design work.

Just because a builder is a large company is no guaranty that you will get a quality build.

I have learned this the hard way using my own money.

Cliff s

I converted our pool over to salt water 6 months age and also did the spa, I used the ESC48 ECO-Matic from Balboa and the Spa I used the Zodiac LM3 from clearwater. The Spa is working great but the pool is not. I have sent the unit back to Balboa twice and they tell me there is nothing wrong with the unit. My question is is anybody else having any problems with the system? Every body that is using our pool and spa loves the saltwater and some of the HOA people quit swimming a couple of years ago because of rashes but now they are back!!

Here is a salt water alternative that has fresher smelling and non-irritating water. It has very low chlorine and acid consumption and costs less to maintain.

Why is America still in love with chlorine (salt chlorine included) as the main sanitizer/oxidizer? It's our chlorine addiction that has led to higher asthma rates compared to other countries that limit or don't use choline. Chlorine also make asthma worse. Check out this link:
http://www.webmd.com/asthma/news/20040611/chlorine-pools-breathing-trouble

My wife has noticed a flare up in her asthma in pools with both salt generated chlorine and traditional chlorine.

After learning that the last Olympic pool built had a combination of ozone for oxidation and uv for sanitation we switched over to ozone and ultra violet pool systems. Because neither system leave a residual in the water we add a mineral sanitizer every six months (just the cheap one like the frog or poolRX) and keep about 0.3 ppm chlorine in the summer months. (We used to keep it between 2-4 PPM.) In the winter there is no chlorine in the water. My hair/eyes and skin feel great when I get out of the pool. The water doesn't smell and tastes like fresh water. I use way less acid than before and the pH is easier to balance. The most important thing is that my wife's asthma doesn't flare up when she swims now. Also, I don't have to worry about my kids breathing in or absorbing harmful chloramines. I run the pump at about %45 for about 7 hours and save a ton on electricity too. The UV bulbs, I am told have to be replaces every few years, but come with a two year warranty. It will cost me about $160 for both bulbs, and the ozone uses a $40 uv bulb which will also need to be replaced every three years or so. We have an in-line tablet feeder to we put a chlorine tablet into every other week during the summer and the mineral cartridge goes into the skimmer basket every six months.

I have a salt water pool and I love it, however I do not like the Limestone Santa Rita coping that was used around my pool and spa. Not sure if it is the quality of the limestone or the effect of the salt on it. It is 9 years old and is very pitted at the steps and other places around both pool and spa. Which I noticed happening within the first year and has gotten progressively worse. I have had to replace stones on two occassions (at my own expense) because it was crumbling into the spa. We were not told that this was a bad choice or that it needed to be sealed at the time of installation. I have contacted the builder "Sunset Pools" several times over the years and their only response was to contact a masory to fix them. Would they be legally responsible ( I was told by a person that no longer works there that they found out they should never have used this stone around the pool and spa.) I know that I will eventually have to replace the stone before it all crumbles into my pool. Has anyone else had this problem..is it poor quallity or the salt..or both?
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