Are Salt Water Pools Worth It?
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Is it worth it to get a salt water pool? This is a very common question that pool owners ask but in order to give the best answer you need to identify your priorities for wanting salt water. There are legitimate benefits to salt water systems like the convenience of them providing the day to day chlorine your pool needs to keep the water safe and clear. Salt systems also make the water feel different than traditional chlorine pools in the way that the water feels softer and less drying on the skin. These would be great reasons to get a salt system for your pool. However, some common requests from pool owners is that they want salt water as an alternative to chlorine. This is simply not how salt systems work. They are chlorine regeneration systems, not an alternative to chlorine in any way.
Another consideration is that some pool owners want the chemical maintenance to be more simple and hands-off. While salt systems can satisfy this at least to some degree, they also add complexity to the chemical maintenance in the way that they cause upwards pH drift in your water as part of their normal function. This makes understanding exactly what you are getting with a salt system important in order to make an informed decision about your pool.
Another consideration is that salt systems make a neutral saturation index balance of your pool water more difficult in that your pool will be in a perpetual scaling state (as opposed to acidic state or neutral state). This does not have an immediate effect but does contribute to long term potential for damage. The LSI saturation index is a measurement that was developed for industrial water systems to determine the potential for the water condition to contribute to short to long term damage of systems and infrastructure. When applied to a swimming pool saturation index imbalance would contribute to staining issues, scaling issues and corrosion issues which could otherwise be avoided by maintaining a neutral saturation index balance of your water. Salt systems also directly increase the galvanic activity between differential metals within your pool water. More salt equals more galvanic activity which is a destructive electro-mechanical process. This con contribute to advanced rates of deterioration to metals within your pool system. So as you can see a salt system has benefits but not without considerations. For more information on saturation index you can watch the "Making Pool Chemistry Make Sense" video on the pool chemistry lesson page.
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Swimming Pool Steve is an award winning, second generation swimming pool specialist from Ontario Canada and one of the most trusted voices in the swimming pool industry. With over 20,000,000 views on the Swimming Pool Steve YouTube Channel, winner of the Pleatco Pool & Spa Industry Leadership award and author of hundreds of pool and spa articles both online and in print. Steve is committed to helping pool and spa owners as well as pool and spa industry workers learn more about the technical side of building, renovating, repairing and maintaining all types of swimming pools and spas. Follow Swimming Pool Steve on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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Are you considering upgrading to salt water in your pool? In this paid PDF Steve talks about which pools should avoid using salt water. Find out concerns about using salt in your pool but also the potential benefits of salt water. Finally hear which specific brand and model of salt chlorine generator Steve thinks is the best option currently available to pool owners and how to choose the right size salt system for your pool.
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