Salt Pools

 The number one question we get about new pools is do you build Salt Pools?  This is also one of the most misunderstood terms in the industry.  Any pool could be a salt pool, what this means is that you are creating your chlorine sanitizer with a chlorine generator and salt that is dissolved in the pool.  This can be done as part of a new constructions process or can be retrofit to an existing pool. 

How it works

Once your pool is up and running you add a large quantity of regular salt into the pool.  The pool salt is designed to disolve better than other salts but the chemical make up is still NaCl.  The salt generator breaks the salt molecule into Sodium (Na) and Chlorine (Cl).  The chlorine while in the water will sanitize the bacteria and organic materials.  It is during this process that it will kill the bad material and recombine with the sodium to make salt, thus creating an endless cycle. Although the costs involved are higher up front, the studies show that these units will pay for themselves or at least break even with typical chlorine delivery systems.  Another nice feature of salt pools, is the chlorine generation process does not affect the pH level as much as typically solid or liquid chlorine products.

Why Choose a salt pool?  The chlorine generator is a semi automated unit, so once it is setup the unit will continue to produce chlorine as long as the level of salt is at the proper level.  This means that you spend less time filling your chlorinator.  The salt will not leave the pool unless pool water is removed or water leaks out.    

There are a number of different manufactures of salt chlorine generators, below are some details about Pentair's Unit.