Salt water pool vs. chlorinated. Any thoughts?

[cobrathegreat]

Pool currently uses chlorine and is due for an overhaul.
I like the idea of salt water, as chlorine leaves skin and hair funky.
Any opinions?
Cost difference?
Maintenance?
etc.

Thanks to all.

[ROB J]

Do a search, as there have been several discussions on this subject fairly recently. Most seem to prefer the salt chlorine generators over standard methods of inducing chlorine in a pool.

[cobrathegreat]

Thanks Rob,
I did a search and found plenty threads on this subject. I have not been very active to being very busy, so missed them.
If any one else feels like typing, I will take comments.

[dajomaco]

Bromine..........and here's why

The two chemicals react very differently in the water when it comes to removing unwanted bacteria from a swimming pool. Chlorine tends to dissolve the bacteria and itself along with it, washing out of the pool entirely after purifying the water. Bromine neutralizes the bacterial content of the pool continuously and stays present in the water for much longer. Because of this, less bromine is needed when disinfecting a pool.

The most notable ingredient in chlorine is bleach, which has a very distinct smell on clothes, skin and hair. Many find the fumes to be unpleasant or even dangerous if they are exposed to them for long periods. On the other hand, bromine has what is widely viewed as an imperceptible smell, both while you are in the water as well as on your skin and clothes when you emerge from the water.
And for salt ..it has its pro's and con's as well ........if you like that taste in your mouth .....HTH Darc

[skunkman]

I think it depends on how much you use your pool and whether you maintain your own pool. If you use the pool a lot then definitely salt. My kids have almost stopped using the pool and when my salt chlorinator broke I switched back to chlorine. My salt was a little picky and I would get a green pool from time to time. If you have a pool maintenance person then its their problem so not such a big deal.

[cobrathegreat]

Thanks guys.
dajomaco, I have never heard of bromine. I will do some research.
And yes I like the taste of salt. I have been swimming since I was very young in the ocean with high concentrations of salt, and miss it a lot.

skunkman,
my kids use the pool daily, twice some times. In the warmer months of course. It is heated and a jacuzzi is attached to it which we use sparingly yearly.
A pool maintenance dude takes care of the pool as needed. He is on a biweekly schedule.

I am really tired of the chlorine and I have been avoiding getting in this summer. Well, I wish I had time to, but....maybe next year.....

[BigLeo69]

get rid of the pool-boy and get a pool gal, i prefer her in a chlorine state with a DE filter..........pools are better managed when you regulate the Alkalinity and not the Ph

i have a cartridge filter and the 4 take time for the pool-gal to clean which i enjoy having a cocktail watching her brush and scrub for hours. she wants a DE so all she has to do is backwash

[dajomaco]

lololololololol x2 on the pool gal

[cobrathegreat]

BigLeo,
I like the way you think. Although most of the stuff you wrote went over my head, I like the pool gal idea!!!

[Highspeed]

Bromine is an option, as is Baquacil (and it's equivalents). As Rob J said, salt water is still a chlorine pool. It just makes the chlorine from the salt. I've used Baquacil before with good results, but it is more expensive. When I put in a new liner I switched back to chlorine with no regrets.

What don't you like about chlorine? The smell of chlorine? (It smells the most when you're low on it) The bleaching of suits? Yeah - that happens.

Salt has advantages and makes maintenance a bit easier, but when I did the math with cell replacements, the tablets were cheaper and I never had a problem during this crazy hot summer. Best solution: do some on-line research and then look for that perfect pool-gal.

[Cobra Cory]

Well first off a Salt pool is a chlorinated pool. There is an electric cell which converts the salt to chlorine.
I'll say this. at work we had a Bromine pool. It was never right. we got a lot of use. Maybe 20 people at a time in the pool. (41'x20' ish..) Then we swapped over to a salt system and the water is crystal clear every day. I can see every speck of sand at the bottom. When it was bromine I couldn't.
Ye4s the cell cost you to replace it every five years or so, so you will need to factor that into your overhaul costs and operating costs.
Granted the Bromine never smelled. But now that we have the salt cell we don;t get any smell either and people have not complained of a chlorine smell on there clothes in over a year and a half of use. Our pool is an indoor pool, BTW. So if it were smelling bad we would hear about it. Both our PH and our Alkalinity hardly ever change with the Salt pool either, unless we get high use like on winter break and spring break weeks up here in NH. Not much else for the kids to do except swim at in an 89 degree pool at our place when it is 20 degrees out.
As far as maintenance you will need to take the cell off every three months or so to clean the blades. I use Muriatic acid mix and let it soak inside the cell for about twenty minutes and rinse. Put it back in and wha-la you back running again.
We also get comments that the pool water "Feels" better than when we had Bromine, and the old Chlorine tablets. So that's my take.
I am a State of NH Certified Pool Operator, but I do not play one on TV, and I have never slept in a Super 8 Motel in my life.....

[skunkman]

Originally Posted by BigLeo69

..... all she has to do is backwash

Don't take it personally, that happens with all of them after they have been with you for a while. Backwashing is fine, just make sure she does'nt let your unit turn green and that she replaces your hose when she's done using it.

[yankabilly]

One more "controversy" to think about in the chlorine vs bromine debate:

Dangers of Chlorine and Bromine

good luck

[bhoov128]

I much prefer the salt pools simply for the comfort of my eyes when I'm swimming. Chlorine irritates them badly.

[dagall]

I had chlorine and then went to a copper system and settled on a salt system. Love it, I have the Pool Pilot System. I almost don't have to do anything with the pool. I watch the salt level and ph balance and add a Phosfree every week or other week and a bag of shock when we have a lot of use in the pool. It is great, always clear and the water is nice and soft, doesn't bother eyes. Make the change.

[cobrathegreat]

Excellent info.
Thanks guys. I will do the research on the cost of conversion and I will be switching to salt as chlorine irritates my eyes.

While I am researching the cost, any one can tell me what needs to be converted or added to make the system work with salt?

Thanks again.

[Cobra Cory]

Not much. There is just a plastic tube about a foot or so long with the cell in it and that just goes into the pool filter/pump plumbing. There is an electrical control box that gets hooked up to your vacuum break if you have an electric type, and that is about it. Here is a picture of our setup. The Chlorinator cell is in the lower right hand corner next to the blue ball valve handle. If I were to do it differently I would raise it up off the floor and put a couple of ball valves on either end of the cell so you can take it out of the couplers and still use the pool pump, in case your's is heated like ours. When I have to remove ours I need to shut the whole pool system down the way the idiots set it up. You can also see we have a StingL electronic vacuum break to meet code and a pool light timer, up in the left hand side corner. That whole section of wall is about 4'x4' or so. So it does not take up much room at all.



Our cell is made by Pentair (Intellichlor). We have a 27,000 gallon pool

Pentair Water Pool and Spa >> Pool Pros >> Products >> Sanitizers >> IntelliChlor Salt Chlorine Generator

The black case sitting there is my salt tester.
BTW we had to pour in 14...50lb bags of salt for our 27,000 gallons to get started. I pour in half a bag about 3 months or so. But like I said we use our pool A LOT!

[ROB J]

I'm building a pool in my house soon, so I will begin to research the salt chlorine generators soon. I will certainly be going this route over a traditionally maintained pool.

[Zulu]

Originally Posted by Cobra Cory

...... If I were to do it differently I would raise it up off the floor and put a couple of ball valves on either end of the cell so you can take it out of the couplers and still use the pool pump, in case your's is heated like ours. When I have to remove ours I need to shut the whole pool system down the way the idiots set it up. .......

Paul, about 10 minutes and $40 in fittings and you could build up a link piece that goes between those couplers to enable the continuous use of the pool.....

I did similar mods to some of our community pool fittings to bypass some of the stupid fittings they had. We now have a green pool in that we recycle all the backwash pool water- store it and reuse on the clay tennis courts, refill is automated from a well, our club went from 2 Million gallons a year to 20,000 a year- now in 3rd year - saved $40,000 so far and continue to save $12-$16k a year.

I also built a cooling spray for mid summer using our external mobile vacuuming pump - inspector actually liked it

[cobrathegreat]

So Cory something like this?


thanks for taking the time to explain and to post the picture!!
Seems easy!

The pool will be re plastered, new lights installed, new deck cement around the pool etc.
I am looking forward for the new face lift!

[crash]

Originally Posted by ROB J

I'm building a pool in my house soon, so I will begin to research the salt chlorine generators soon. I will certainly be going this route over a traditionally maintained pool.

IN your house?

Do tell.

You crazy Floridians!

[Tickwomp]

Another vote for salt. Water is much nicer and even feels better. Can swim underwater without pain or red eyes. Won't fade swim wear either.

[Cobra Cory]

Yes. That is what they SHOULD have done. Yes I could make a piece to stick in while I clean...but that mean I wold have to actually work.
After re-plastering we had to brush the pool walls and floor everyday to get the efflorescence off, and watch the ph and alkalinity very closely as the plaster changes the PH big time. So make sure you have bunches of PH minus. Something else you positively need to do is to get good quality stainless pool parts, like ladders and lights etc. The salt WILL rust even stainless if it is the cheapy kind. So don't skimp if your ladder will be inside the pool at all.
Make certain you have an electrician set the grounding grid up correctly and connect all the pool parts to it for safety.

[cobrathegreat]

Ok, so chlorine generators cost about $1,000 (average, depending on size of pool).
They need to be changed about every 3-5 years.
They produce their own chlorine, thus no need to add chlorine.
Salt is added about every year +/- depending on temps, use etc. Salt is fairly inexpensive.
A chlorine based pool, can be converted to salt water fairly easy.
The water in the salt water pool, is not actually salt water. It still contains chlorine which is derived from the generator. BUT it does not have irritating chloramides which cause eye and skin irritation, as well as hair and clothes discoloration.
You can not taste the salt as it's concentration is very low. It does not increase buoyancy.
Salt water pools are miss labeled as salt water pools, but they are much nicer to swim in.
Usually less maintenance is required, mostly with the the generators that detect amounts of water etc.
Maintenance is still required. Must be careful of salt concentration. If it is too high it can corrode metal and not sealed properly cement decks etc.

I would like for the pool to have some salt content that I can detect, but can not be done. I do like the fact that my eyes will not be red after swimming, I will not smell like chlorine and the water will feel pleasant and soft.

I am sold on the soft water pool idea. Actually, I am sold on a pool that uses salt water chlorination.

Now, how about using UV light to disinfect a pool? Any one here using that method?

[cobrathegreat]

Originally Posted by Cobra Cory

Yes. That is what they SHOULD have done. Yes I could make a piece to stick in while I clean...but that mean I wold have to actually work.
After re-plastering we had to brush the pool walls and floor everyday to get the efflorescence off, and watch the ph and alkalinity very closely as the plaster changes the PH big time. So make sure you have bunches of PH minus. Something else you positively need to do is to get good quality stainless pool parts, like ladders and lights etc. The salt WILL rust even stainless if it is the cheapy kind. So don't skimp if your ladder will be inside the pool at all.
Make certain you have an electrician set the grounding grid up correctly and connect all the pool parts to it for safety.

Thank you again for the great advice!!!

[Cobra Cory]

I'm not sure you can run a UV only pool. I believe that most state inspectors still consider UV a "helper" system to either a Chlorine or a salt pool. Something to do with the Chlorimides...Blah Blah...I don't know. You might check with your state as far as UV only use.

read this...go to....Will I still need chlorine?

Cryptosporidium Treatments, Cryptosporidium Parvum Treatment ‹ atg UV Technology

If you have some extra cash I'd put in a UV system along with the chlorinator. Keeping Chlorine at the absolute minimum would be awesome if your MR. money bags....

[JJ'snakepit]

Salt Pools are better in my opinion than UV ozonators. I used to repair both units but the Ozonators caused other problems to the pumps and filter because of the air or Ozone gas being sucked into the pumps. Pumps lose prime and seals go bad. Gas can build up in the filter tanks, where it could be a dangerous problem unless bled off. The salt chlorine Generator works well but causes the PH to get out of whack so must be monitored closely but works well if taken care of. Replacement Cells cost as much as the chlorine it replaces but you don't have to store or transport dangerous chemicals "as much". You still need some chemicals.