Let’s put a couple of myths down to bed immediately! A salt water swimming pool generates chlorine and is a chlorine swimming pool. This generated chlorine is pure and without byproducts like in manufactured chlorine. Also, a salt water swimming pool has around 3,000 p.p.m. of salt concentration while ocean water has around 35,000 p.p.m. which means ocean water is 10 times more concentrated with salt than a salt water swimming pool. This said now, a salt water swimming pool will deliver a more enhanced, silky swimming experience.

Our customers in Irvine and surrounding Orange County cities with salt water pools have repeatedly told us how silky and soft their swimming pool water is and that they have far less skin and eye irritation. This is not to say that there are not some challenges with a salt water swimming pool. You need to know all the advantages and disadvantages before converting into or building a salt water swimming pool.

Most New Swimming Pool Owners Desire A Salt Water Swimming Pool

Most newly built swimming pools in Irvine and the surrounding cities come with salt water systems like the Hayward AQR15 Goldline Aqua Rite, The Jandy APURE700, and The Pentair 520555 Intellichlor IC40. Salt water pools are here to stay and demand will grow for environmental reasons alone, so let’s get down to how a salt system works. Each salt system has a salt cell which converts dissolved salt into free available chlorine (fac) which is the important sanitizer in the water we want and adjust. You can adjust the generation level at the salt system control panel instantly with a dial. You can also boost it or turn it completely off as well.

Mothers Report of Fewer Issues With Skin and Eye Irritations

A mother in Newport Beach swiftly let us know that her daughter’s blonde hair no long turned green after swimming in her new salt water swimming pool. While many of our customers report a softer water experience, the real advantage of a salt water swimming pool is the automated, measured generation of free available chlorine to the swimming pool water.

Skin and eye irritations are usually a result of chloramines in the pool water which form from insufficient levels of free, available chlorine. This convenient automation keeps free, available chlorine at ideal levels between 2.0 and 4.0 p.p.m. nearly all of the time which prevents these chloramines from forming. You end up with clear, properly sanitized swimming pool water free of chloramines nearly all the time by keeping free, available chlorine levels above 2.0 p.p.m. due to the constant, measured generation of chlorine.

Less Corrosive Chemicals to Store in Your Backyard

Your need to store chlorine buckets and other containers is over with a salt water swimming pool. Your kids will have fewer chemicals to get into in your yard. There is also less transporting of chlorine as a whole. This goes from the chemical manufacturer to you which means less corrosive product on the road in bulk across the world and less driving and hassle for you to pick it up at the store.

There is also no pouring or handling of chlorine and you merely turn a dial or push a button for raising or lowering the % generation of chlorine. You still have to check your chemical levels and adjust every week, however. Now, let’s discuss some of the challenges of a salt water swimming pool.

Make Sure You Have A Good Water Chemistry Test Kit Like the Taylor Technologies Inc. K-2006 Test Kit

Another result of having a salt water swimming pool is that pH and alkalinity levels will spike up as chlorine is generated. You will still need to store muriatic acid and add it to your swimming pool water to balance out that higher pH and alkalinity. Conditioner level is also very important as these salt cells have  limited lifespans of approximately 3 to 5 years and cost approximately $500 to $700 at the time of this writing. Salt cells wear down like light bulbs with amount of use. Conditioner holds the chlorine in the swimming pool water, so unneeded generation of chlorine will not occur. Read more about conditioner in our article Pool Conditioner is Important…

Another challenge of having a salt water swimming pool is scaling and precipitation. With a salt level around 3,000 p.p.m., your pool water becomes highly saturated even if the water is newly filled, so having a salt water swimming pool with 5 year old water leads to very saturated water that will deposit on your pool surface, tile, coping, deck, boulders, etc. This white, leftover residual is very common with a salt water simming pool and my best advice for those building one is to choose pool materials like tile and stone with white, ingrained colors to camouflage the white scaling.

Buy the Right Swimming Pool Heater for A Salt Water Pool

Salt water is corrosive and can damage metal materials in contact with your swimming pool water. we recommend having a swimming pool heater with an upgraded cupron-nickel plated heater exchanger. The Hayward Universal H LoNox (H400FDN) Pool Heater comes with a stock cupron- nickel exchanger which is a major plus! Other heaters like the Raypak LoNox Digital Heater (009243) can be upgraded with a cupron-nickel exchanger for an extra fee. You can read more about pool heaters here Best Swimming Pool Heater…

Don’t Forget to Buy A Good Digital Salt Tester LIke a Lamotte 1749 TDS Temperature Tracer Pocket Tester

When salt cells go bad or need cleaning, they give you a false, inaccurate measure of salt concentration in the swimming pool water. This leads many inexperienced homeowners and swimming pool professionals to add salt before confirming with a tester in the swimming pool water. Before adding salt, you should always test the water with a good digital salt tester like the Tracer Digital Salt and TDS Tester to confirm the accuracy of your panel.

The last challenge is the expense to install and repair your salt water swimming pol! You can install a Hayward Aqua Rite AQR15 Salt Water System for around $1,500 at the time of this writing and salt cells need to be replaced every 3 to 5 years. Another thing to consider is that the salt cell needs an acidic cleaning every 3 to 6 months which usually costs about $25 to $30 at the time of this writing.

Is A Salt Water Swimming Pool in Your Future

Many of our customers love their salt water pools and would never change back, but they tend to be people who are not very concerned about their budgets. If you have the budget and understand these challenges, you can expect less skin and eye irritation from your children. Your salt water swimming pool experience can be one more part of your Pool Heaven!