Your salt water pool is pretty low maintenance compared to other pool types once it’s up and running and water chemistry is balanced.
But that’s not to say that you can’t have trouble from time to time during the pool season and especially at pool opening time in the spring. A number of things can go wrong and from time to time, even the best salt chlorinator won’t ensure that water chemistry is balanced 100% of the time.
Here’s a salt water pool troubleshooting guide to refer to when things go wrong and help avoid chemistry going out of range in the first place.
Salt water pool troubleshooting guide
What should you do when the water in your salt water pool falls out of range?
What is the ideal range for each?
Check out the table below for the main aspects of salt water pool chemistry and what you need to do to keep them in line.
| Water Factor | Ideal Range | Remedy |
| Free Chlorine | 1.0 ppm to 3.0 ppm | Low: Increase Desired Output % or increase pump running time. High: Decrease Desired Output % or decrease pump running time. |
| pH | 7.2 to 7.8 | Too high: Add muriatic acid to the water. Too low: Add soda ash to the water. |
| Alkalinity | 80 ppm – 120 ppm | Too high: Add muriatic acid to the water to lower alkalinity. Too low: Add baking soda to the water to raise alkalinity. |
| Salt | 2700 ppm to 3400 ppm | Too high: Drain some pool water and replace with fresh water. Too low: Add salt to increase (click here for specifics). |
| Stabilizer | 60 ppm to 80 ppm | Too low: Add stabilizer (cyanuric acid) as needed. |
| Calcium | 200 ppm to 400 ppm | Too high: Drain some pool water and replace with fresh water. Too low: Add calcium as needed. |
Common problems in your salt water pool
Here are common problems you will experience in your salt water pool and how to quickly deal with them.
| Problem | Remedy |
| Cloudy water | Lack of chlorine production most likely. Check your cell and measure your chlorine level. Ensure salt level is within range as during the summer, salt levels usually drop. |
| Green algae | Lack of chlorine. Use an algaecide to clear up the algae but first figure out why chlorine is low or even if you have any chlorine present. Yellow or black algae is something different. |
| No chlorine production | Check for a salt cell error and inspect the salt cell for damage or for debris on the metal plates. Double check to see what Desired Output % chlorine production you have the chlorinator set to. |
| Salt corrosion | Salt corrosion can be caused by too much salt or it can occur over time even when chemistry is kept in check. Clean corrosion the moment you see if or replace the corroded part as soon as possible. Typically you’ll see this on a metal pool ladder. |
| Salt cell problems | If you have an automatic reverse polarity feature, your salt cell should clean itself on its own. But inspecting your salt cell perhaps twice each season is a good idea to ensure it is actually being cleaned. If debris gets stuck on the metal plates inside the cell, the cell can fail and chlorine will no longer be produced. If this is the case, check your owner manual to see how to clean a salt cell manually. |
| pH problem | pH tends to rise in a salt water pool more so than a regular chlorine pool. Check your level of stabilizer to ensure it’s within range. Some people believe that the stabilizer level in a salt water pool should be 80 ppm to 100 ppm to account for this but keeping it around 80 ppm means you’re either at the top end of the low suggested range or at the low end of the high range! You’re covered either way. You may be running the chlorinator too much so either decrease pump time or turn Desired Output % chlorination setting down. Check free chlorine level too, in case it’s too high which is another reason to decrease the pump time or chlorinator setting. To decrease pH, you can either add a dry acid or muriatic acid. |
| Bad water flow | Salt chlorinators have a water flow detector because you need a consistent flow of water running through the cell when it’s on. Poor water flow can occur due to a filtration system that needs cleaning or backwashing, a leak, a skimmer basket that is full or partially stuck open, a valve (main drain or side skimmer or both) that have been partially or completely closed. |
Quick checks to avoid salt water pool problems
Your pool has a number of things that could potentially go wrong but the good news is that many times, you can quickly troubleshoot things yourself. Often, something gets loose and needs tightening or it’s another minor issue that needs to be addressed.
Here is a list of things to check every so often to ensure your salt water pool is running properly:
- Ensure that the skimmer basket by the pump is hand tightened and not leaking. Vibrations from the pump can loosen it and cause the basket to suck air and leak.
- Double check that seals around your pool filtration system are hand tightened. They can also become loose due to vibrations from the pump.
- Double check that your salt cell is hand tightened and that the brackets at each end don’t come loose over time as it can leak and suck air.
- Regularly check the skimmer basket at the side of the pool and empty it on a regular basis. This is especially true if you have trees and plants in your backyard or have experienced a heavy wind and rain storm.
- Deal with cloudy water ASAP. It usually means you don’t have enough/any chlorine.
- If you have a gas pool heater that is cycling on and off or won’t start up, you may have cobwebs blocking the gas flow.
- If your gas heater keeps shutting off on windy days, investigate adding a baffle at the top of the heater to deal with wind.
- Check salt levels regularly with test strips that specifically measure salt. During the summer with increased pool usage, splashing, backwashing and any leaks you might have, salt will be lost and eventually you will need to add salt to replace it.