salt system vs Nature 2 mineral sanitizer

[Fargo]

I have a pool salesman suggesting I save money and get a $500 Nature 2 Mineral Pool Sanitizer rather than a $1700 Autopilot chlorine generator. This sounds suspicious to me. Any advice?

[chem geek]

The Nature2 system adds silver and copper ions to the water to inhibit bacteria and algae growth, but it does not kill bacteria as quickly as chlorine. For example, it is less likely to prevent person-to-person transmission of disease (mostly via the fecal-to-oral route). So it is not something approved by the EPA as a sanitizer by itself and you won't find it in commercial/public pools unless supplemented with chlorine. If you supplement it with chlorine in your own pool, then you might as well use chlorine alone as it is less expensive. You will also need to add some sort of oxidizer, such as non-chlorine shock, on a regular basis so need to factor that into the cost (mineral ions do not oxidize urea/ammonia/organics while chlorine does).

It's up to you as it's a spectrum of risk. The Pool Wizard advertised on this forum is similar in that it also uses mineral ions.

Another alternative to the SWG would be to use chlorinating liquid or unscented bleach (Clorox Regular or off-brand Ultra) that you can automate with The Liquidator you can read more about in this thread. You would still need to buy and haul chlorine from the store, however.

Richard

[Strannik-au]

The advice would be - shop around.
AutoPilot is not the only company who manufactures salt water chlorinators, and there are cheaper alternatives. You can pick one up around 700-800 dollars.

Nature 2 is useless by itself, you still will need to add chlorine.

[Fargo]

Appreciate the response and the additional info. I keep reading this forum to educate myself. I'm trying to learn as much as possible before I buy.

[Fargo]

Strannik-au...I'll take that advice and consider finding my own salt sys., rather than using the builder's. The salesman made the Nature 2 sound like an alternative, not as an "in addition to" chlorine. Now I know. Appreciate it.

[Strannik-au]

You can use www(dot)saltcells(dot)com to compare different models and prices.

[packerhawk50]

I fell for the Nature 2 purifier speech when I first got my pool. I used it for a year and really didn't see much of a difference the second year or in my chlorine usage. I cut it out a year later. He was really able to pitch it to me because I have a yellow lab who loves to swim in the pool. He said it would be better for us and her and we wouldn't even use hardly any chlorine. In my opinion it is a bunch of crap.