Because salt does not dissipate from your water, the only time you would add salt to your pool is when you add fresh water or after heavy rain that dilutes salinity levels. An example of when you would add fresh water is after a heavy backwashing cycle. pool, or use a home saltwater test kit.
Annual booster additions of pool salt are usually required, but only to replace salt lost from backwashing, splashout or lowering the water for winter. If you fully drain the pool for maintenance, you will need to replace all of the pool salt.
While the average salt cells used in a residential salt water pool will last around 10,000 hours of operation, or around three to five years, there are things you can do to ensure it lasts as long as possible.
The ideal salt level is between 2700-3400 ppm (parts per million) with 3200 ppm being optimal. Before adding salt to your pool, test the water to check your salt level. If the level is low, determine the number of gallons in the pool and add salt according to the chart below.
Is a salt water pool easier to maintain? Yes, a salt water pool is easier to maintain! There's no need to purchase, store and add chlorine to your pool. Simply add salt and your pool's salt chlorinator will do all the work of making chlorine.
Answer: It depends on a few factors. 1) are you closing your pool every year and therefore draining and refilling with fresh water at least a bit. 2) water chemistry - the more you have to add, the more your total dissolved solids will increase leading to the need to drain and refill.
For safe swimming conditions, the ideal salt level is going to be between 2500 ppm and 4000 ppm. An overly salted pool will generally not be a major problem (aside from salty-tasting water), but at levels over 6000 ppm there may be corrosion damage to some of the metallic equipment.
Add salt to your salt chlorinator. You are going to be shooting for a 3000 to 6000 ppm concentration of salt. You will want to use NaCl, sodium chloride, of at least 99% purity. To add salt, turn on your filter pump and add the salt directly to your pool water.
Overall, you need to run your saltwater generator and pool pump for at least 8 hours daily. Not running either of these long enough means not enough chlorine to sanitize the water. Remember, the pool pump needs to be running simultaneously with the chlorine generator for the salt cell to produce chlorine.
People who use saltwater pools are still producing chlorine through saltwater generators. Saltwater will sanitize your pool, but it does so through electrolysis, which produces bacteria-killing chlorine. In other words, saltwater pools are no healthier or safer than chlorinated ones.
So, not only is shocking a saltwater pool okay, but it's actually important to your pool's health. Shocking is the process in which you overload your pool with chlorine (3-5 times the normal amount) to improve your pool's cleanliness and kill off organic matter.
After 24 hours you should then test the salinity and if you still need to add swimming pool salt you can repeat the process again making sure to not turn on the chlorine generator until you are completely satisfied your salinity is within the manufacturers recommended range.
Therefore, if you have a 20,000 gallon pool and want to determine how much salt you'll need to buy, you would use the formula “30/1,000 x 20,000”, which equals 600. Meaning, the pool would require approximately 600 lb of salt.
Again, you can use baking soda to raise it or muriatic acid to lower it. Cyanuric acid or CYA is the preferred stabilizer for salt water pools, and it should be at 70 to 80 ppm. Last but not least is calcium hardness. You should aim for 200 to 400 ppm of calcium to prevent scaling and corrosion.
3400 is the recomended high limit, but the readings on the panel are notoriously inaccurate. Generally it's better to have the level on the high side than low, so 3800 should be fine.
Just like a chlorine-based pool, saltwater pools turn cloudy when chemicals are not balanced. You need to ensure that all chemicals are balanced all the time to avoid cloudy water and growth of algae. The major causes of cloudiness are chlorine, pH, Salinity, total alkalinity, cyanuric acid, and calcium hardness.
The overall cost of salt for a saltwater pool will vary by the type of salt that you use and the size of your pool, but you can expect to pay on average between $10 and $25 per every 40 pounds of salt (or 25¢ to 63¢ per pound of salt). Some brands may even sell a 40-pound bag of pool salt for as much as $40.
A typical lifespan is 3 to 7 years at a replacement cost of $500–$900.
While green algae are endemic in salt water pools, they are the easiest to kill. Green algae tend to grow during summers when the temperatures can get high. They float freely in the pool, making the water green. You might even see them growing on the bottom of the pool, on the walls, or in the crevices.
Saltwater pools can definitely be heated just like freshwater pools. The saltwater chlorinator does not affect heating units, so you will not have to worry about this when installing a heater in your swimming pool. The heating units will also be set up and installed in the same way as in chlorine pools.
Pros of Saltwater Pools
There's less chlorine and less of the heavy chemical scent and content. They're gentler on the skin, with less irritation to the eyes, hair and swimsuits. The water has a softer, silkier feel to it compared to chlorine water. They have lower maintenance costs than chlorine pools.