The Internet can of course be either a fountain of useful information or a cesspool of lies and opinions passed off as facts. Consider the source as they say.
When it comes to salt water pools, you can find flowery information regarding what they allegedly offer on the one hand but on the other hand it’s not difficult to find exaggerations about negative aspects too. And much of the misinformation comes from pool companies!
Let’s take a look at common misconceptions on both sides of the table to get to the truth. Here are 8 salt water pool myths and lies and my personal experience with each of them.
A salt water pool is a natural pool without chemicals
Answer: This is incorrect.
A natural swimming pool one that contains no chemicals whatsoever is something that is growing in popularity in Europe. A salt water pool does use chemicals, the same ones as other pools use in fact other than salt of course. It is purported that salt water pools – when properly balanced – use less chemicals and requires less work than old style pools that involve dumping chlorine in once per week or as needed.
I’ll assume that the less maintenance and chemicals part is true as I’ve never owned anything other than a salt water pool and know that I spend very little time balancing the pool except when something does fall out of range that I need to address. The worst things I’ve experienced with my salt water pool related to chemicals are algae growth, high phosphates, low chlorine and high pH, all of which you can experience with other pools too.
Salt is corrosive and damages pool equipment and patios
Answer: This is an incomplete answer.
Salt isn’t corrosive on its own. When dissolved in water, you produce a chloride ion which does become corrosive and can damage metal, concrete and other materials but part of the problem may be when pool owners get lazy and let their water chemistry get out of line, add too much salt into the pool and things of that nature.
I’ve seen pictures online of alleged salt damage on metal pool ladders, concrete patios and things of that nature. That certainly might be true as a salt chlorination system is not recommended by many pool companies in a concrete pool. So if you know that, why would you put a concrete patio around your salt water pool?
But some people go to extremes to prove their point and show bridges on roads with severe salt damage which is a ridiculous comparison since this is undoubtedly from road salt in winter which is highly concentrated. Damage could also be from lack of infrastructure maintenance which is well noted in many regions.
We have interlocking bricks around our pool and have no trouble or damage to the pavers whatsoever. We also have a stone waterfall and water flows right on the rocks and again, no noticeable damage exists whatsoever.
Having owned a salt water pool from 2006, I have not noticed any damage to pool equipment, our metal ladder the garden area or plants around our pool or even the grass that I routinely drain excess pool water onto at least once or twice per season. None.
That’s not to say that it can’t cause damage. I’m just saying that I have not experienced it. I have not had any problems with the pool heater, no gaskets or seals suddenly leaking other than through normal wear either.
If you have a pool with a vinyl liner or fiberglass shell and maintain water chemistry consistently, you should be fine.
Remember that when you properly maintain your salt water pool at between 2,700 ppm – 3,400 ppm salt content, it’s about 1/10 the salt content of the ocean.
There are multiple criteria to choose your ideal pool sanitation system
Answer: This is very true.
Choosing your pool sanitation system (salt, regular chlorine, bromine, ozone or other) and your pool type (vinyl liner, fiberglass, concrete) is often a decision that can be influenced by many different factors specific to you.
These factors including the following:
- Climate: How much direct hot sun do you get? The hotter the weather the more sanitizer you’ll need to keep the water clean and clear.
- Local temperatures: How hot does it get in your local area? A function of how much sun you receive.
- Local laws: Can you empty pool water in the sewer? What about salt water specifically?
- Bather load: How many swimmers will typically be in your pool and how often will you use it?
- Circulation system: Are you choosing a one speed pump, two-speed, variable speed pump? What size? A variable speed pump for example means you could run your pump 24/7 on a low speed with a salt system to always produce chlorine and have better filtered water.
- Filtration system: A sand filter requires more work and needs to be backwashed as does a DE filter which leads to water loss and water chemistry going out of range. A cartridge filter requires cartridge rinsing but doesn’t cause water loss.
- Pool cleaner type: Are you going to choose a manual pool vacuum, an automatic Kreepy Krauly type vac or a high end and expensive robot vacuum that is almost fully automatic? How do they hold up against chemical chlorine?
- Garden area and lawn: Other than leaves, soil, twigs, etc finding your way into the pool, phosphates from fertilizer can also infiltrate the pool and cause trouble. In my experience with a backyard salt water pool that is immediately surrounded by interlocking bricks and then a garden on two sides of the pool within splashing distance, we’ve not lost a single plant due to salt water splashing on it. We even have a creeper tree than often dangles into the pool until I trim it back and we’ve never had trouble with it dying even when vines are hanging in the water.
- Patio material: Concrete can be damaged by salt water. We have interlocking bricks although our next door neighbors and ones across the road both got salt water pools with patterned concrete around their pools and I see no damage on either one 5+ years after installation.
- Pets: Is your dog(s) going to use the pool? Could birds routinely land in your pool? Pets contaminate pool water which increases the need for sanitizer.
- Pool construction and shape: A concrete pool may not be your first choice if you want salt water as concrete gets damaged by salt water. A vinyl liner or fiberglass pool is more appropriate.
- Pool volume: The more water your pool has the more chlorine or bromine you’ll need. Commonly you find salt cell and chlorination systems capable of producing chlorine for pools that are 15,000 gallons up to 125,000 gallons in volume, so they’ve got you covered. You want to pick a chlorinator that is 1.5 – 2.5 times your pool volume so you aren’t under powered so to speak. So if your pool is 15,000 gallons, get a 25,000 gallon cell minimum.
- Pool location: Does your pool get many hours of direct hot sun or is it in a shaded area? Up to 90% of active chlorine can be killed within 2 hours of direct sun exposure. A salt pool creates chlorine whereas a regular chlorine or bromine pool needs chlorine thrown in. When it dies, you have to manually replace it.
If you buy a salt water chlorination system, you must ensure you buy one that meets your needs and in particular your pool size ie. water volume. If your chosen system can’t produce enough chlorine you will have a problem.
Speaking of chlorine in a salt water pool…
A salt water pool doesn’t use chlorine
Answer: This is incorrect.
A salt water pool uses a chlorinator system which employs electrolysis to convert dissolved table salt into liquid chlorine. So salt water pools use chlorine but the method of accessing it is different from a regular chlorine pool that requires you to manually add liquid, crystal or slow-dissolving pucks in the water. A salt water pool on the other hand creates chlorine from the salt.
Above is a basic description of a typical salt cell which is attached directly into the existing pool piping. Pool water is drawn in from the main drain and side skimmer by the pump and gets filtered and sent through the salt cell. When the cell is activated and producing chlorine, electrolysis occurs as water passes over the metallic plates and the salt in the water is converted to liquid chlorine. The chlorinated water then returns to the pool.
Every pool needs some sort of sanitizer, an agent to clean the water for swimming. The common sanitizers are chlorine and bromine. A salt water pool utilizes regular table salt (NaCl) that has dissolved in the pool water and converts it to liquid chlorine using the method described above with help from the salt chlorinator and salt cell.
The chlorine that a salt system produces tend to be milder and doesn’t produce the smell we normally associate with a chlorinated pool.
A salt water chlorinator produces chlorine 100% of the time
Answer: It can, but not necessarily.
Depending on how sophisticated your salt chlorinator system is, you can set it to produce chlorine at the desired rate. But there are a few things to note:
- The chlorinator can only produce chlorine while your pump is running. If your pump is shut off, no chlorine is being produced.
- Even if your pump is running, chlorine may or not be getting produced at the time. If you set your chlorinator at 50%, this means it will produce chlorine 50% of the time the pump is running. So it cycles on and off to produce chlorine as needed based on your selected setting and based on the pump run time.
- More sophisticated chlorinators have various sensors in place to automatically override your settings and shut down production of chlorine in specific cases ie. the water temperature is too low, the salt level is far too low or high or the water flow isn’t strong enough.
If you have a Super Chlorinate feature which is included with some Hayward chlorinators, it also overrides your settings and will produce chlorine 100% of the time the pump is running for a specified period of time. The purpose of the Super Chlorinate feature is to bump up chlorine production for a specific reason.
For example you:
- Are getting very hot sunny weather. Sun kills chlorine so more is needed.
- Experienced heavy pool usage with many swimmers or are anticipating heavy usage. More pool usage requires more chlorine.
- Drained pool water to fix pool chemistry but after adding more water in, now need to add chlorine to replace what was lost.
- Got significant rainfall and the water was diluted thus requiring more chlorine.
The water is softer on the skin, clothing and eyes in a salt water pool
Answer: It might be.
You can decide for yourself if this is the case. Some people feel that the water in a salt water pool is easier on the skin, clothing and eyes than a regularly chlorinated pool whereas others don’t really notice a big difference.
In my experience, the difference isn’t earth shattering but what people do tend to notice is when they leave the pool, they can’t smell anything on their skin or swim clothing. The strong smell that is normally associated with a chlorine pool doesn’t exist with a salt water pool so this part is certainly true.
If you experience a reaction to chemical chlorine you can certainly notice a bigger difference than other people do, that’s for sure. If you find your skin gets dry in regularly chlorinated water, you can also notice a difference. If you like opening your eyes under water, you will most certainly experience less eye irritation as the salt level in your pool is pretty close to what you have in your tears.
A salt water pool is less environmentally friendly than other pools
Answer: It depends how you look at it.
While salt water going into the sewer certainly isn’t ideal, if the alternative is using chemical chlorine one must certainly look at what goes into the mass production of the chemical chlorine, no? In a similar vein, you can’t tout the benefits of electric cars without also looking at what goes into manufacturing (and disposing) of the batteries.
Is a salt water pool less environmentally friendly than any pool that has a sand or DE filter that requires regular backwashing which involves dumping several hundred gallons of chlorinated and chemical-filled water in the storm sewer? The same can be said for anyone who owns a water softener every time it regenerates and sends highly concentrated salt water into the sewer which tends to occur weekly.
Any pool that has a filtration system that requires backwashing uses more water than a pool that uses cartridges that only need to be rinsed once or twice per year.
Every autumn when pools are being closed for the winter, they are partially drained until the water level goes below the returns if you live in a region that gets freezing cold weather. So you’re draining your pool regardless of what type it is and the water is going in the sewer with whatever chemicals it contains.
The only thing your salt water pool contains that other pools don’t is of course salt and while not beneficial for the environment, the mass production of chlorine isn’t either. Modern salt chlorination systems also tend to help you reduce the use of chemicals in general as they tend to keep water balanced better than doing it manually.
Pool companies like selling salt water chlorinators because they make more money
Answer: Pool companies will sell you anything that earns them money.
The question of what pool companies want to sell is an interesting claim because it tends to speak to the bias of certain pool companies more than anything. Some only actively promote salt water systems. Some only actively promote regular chlorine. Some are getting into ozone systems and some may sell bromine. Some only sell concrete pools. And so on.
Just like Apple will tell you to buy a Mac and Microsoft will tell you to buy a PC, you have to consider the source and remember that a pool business is just that: A business. They exist to make money.
It probably won’t come as a surprise that a pool company that only makes concrete pools will not sell you a salt chlorination system. They will have a bias towards chemical chlorine because salt water + concrete don’t go well together.
FYI, concrete pools tend to be more expensive to build than both vinyl liner and fiberglass and you need to empty your concrete pool and resurface it every 10 years or so just as a vinyl liner will eventually need replacement and a fiberglass pool might need resurfacing and gelcoat repairs at some point.
The bottom line is that pool companies are businesses in the business of making money and they’ll sell you what they can profit from.
These days, you don’t even need to need to buy equipment from a pool store: You can buy chlorinators, salt cells, filters, cartridges and other pool parts online, often at a lower price. If anything, you need to buy chemicals like liquid chlorine from a pool store since it’s a hazardous product that often can’t be shipped to a home in a truck in large quantities due to its status.
Plus the shipping cost of a 5 gallon bucket of chlorine adds to the charge due to its weight.
Finally, modern chlorinated pools actually have more sophisticated monitoring systems that they used to. Systems that like salt chlorinator systems can cost several thousand dollars to buy and install. So pool companies are profiting from regularly chlorinated pools too.
So before assuming that one pool type is better than another because a pool company rep told you so, do your research and pick a type that works for you. Understand that they each have pros and cons.
