Saltwater or traditional pool???

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DennisJVeal
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Joined: Mon 12 Feb, 2018 05:31
My Pool: My swimming pool is 82 ft in length

Saltwater or traditional pool???

Postby DennisJVeal » Wed 14 Feb, 2018 22:41

Hi guys,
I am from Boston, living with my family. I am thinking of building a swimming pool of around 40 ft in our backyard. I am thinking of beach entry or Sun shelf. My wife and I haven’t quite decided on that part. We have already contacted a swimming pool installation team. We are thinking of starting the work after winter.
One biggest question I have here is whether to get a saltwater pool or a traditional one. I don’t know much about the saltwater pool. I’ve heard from one of my friends that they are easier to maintain. Is that true? Is the saltwater pool expensive to install? Is there anyone who has a saltwater pool installed? Waiting for your valuable suggestion…


Denniswiseman
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My Pool: 10k inground fibreglass, Telescopic Cover, Hayward Powerline pump, Quality filter with glass media, 27kw output heat pump, K-2006C test kit
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Saltwater or traditional pool???

Postby Denniswiseman » Thu 15 Feb, 2018 03:09

A salt water pool is exactly the same as any other pool that is chlorinated with sodium hypochlorite but you have a salt water chlorine generator (SWCG) which generates the chlorine, you put salt in to a predetermined level for this purpose
They are a lot easier to maintain as you don't have to add chlorine daily
There is an upfront cost but that is offset by the fact that you don't have to buy chlorine
You will want to get one twice the size recommended for your pool size so that it isn't running 24/7 at 100%
Teapot
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My Pool: 12 x 24 (45m3) liner pool, Triton TR60 filter with AFM glass media (Activate) and variable speed pump running 0.08HP
Location: UK

Re: Saltwater or traditional pool???

Postby Teapot » Thu 15 Feb, 2018 03:32

Adding to what Dennis has said, The salt chlorinators add a bit of automation to looking after your pool that hand dosing doesn't hence the easier to look after bit. Buying an automatic chlorine doser brings the same automation so is just as easy to look after.
Salt chlorinators generally cause an upward drift in pH due to off gassing of hydrogen from the salt cell so buy a pH minus dosing pump if it isn't already built in.

Some people don't like having to cart home gallons of strong chlorine and carry heavy containers which will occasionally mean bleach spot on your trousers (pants) and or shirt. But you'll normally have to do that anyway but hopefully less often with muratic acid (pH-).

The chlorinating cell will wear out and they are not cheap, however compare that to running to the store over 5 years for chlorine and that depending on how close your store is has a cost to.

Some say, without proof that salt water feels softer, however after a while in a chlorinated pool the salt level also builds up so kind of stops that theory (Chlorine, (sodium hypochlorite) breaks down after use back into sodium chloride)

As Dennis has said and I agree, a lot of units are undersized maybe to win the contract by saving costs but if they don't produce sufficient chlorine that's when you have issues.

That then leads to filtration, the better the filtration the less there is for chlorine to do, so less chlorine is used. Simple things that are often not done are a large enough filter to do the job, (the labels are wrong and whatever they quote as through put should be halved for good filtration).

Don't go oversized on your pump, it just not needed, you are not in competition with your neighbour as to who's got the biggest! A variable speed pump will save you a lot of money but they cost more to purchase. Don't let your pool builder install pipe work that is to small or with lots of 90 degree elbow fittings these lower the flow and cost more money to run the system.

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