salt water swimming pool....

[lukenick1]

thinking of changing my pool from chlorine to salt water next season. Is salt water cheaper and less maintenance? I know nothing about taking care of it. How do you shock it? How do you maintain it? How would I change it over, anyone do this??
Thanks

 

[Tanzanite]

I have a chlorine pool thought about changing it but every time my daughter goes to a friend who has salt water comes back with sore red eyes.My pool guy told me that you also have to replace liner every ten years.

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

We haven't done it yet but are planning to next year. My SIL has a salt water pool and she LOVES it. Definately less maintence and less expense. I believe she does still have to shock but I am not sure how often - I will need to get all the details before we make the switch.

I have swam over there a few times and I will say that love how it makes your skin feel after swimming in it, no drying out like you get with chlorine, and no funky green hair. We've never had any problems with red eyes from it.

Like everything some people are going to love it and some not so much. Everyone I know who has a salt water pool LOVES them. The only people I have really ever heard say anything negative are the pool supply places, which makes me think it is because they do not make as much money on the salt water pool owners because they use less chemicals

 

[EC0323]

We switched 3 years ago. You have to buy a salt generator. then you add salt and swish it around the pool to dissolve. Then you just have to check your chorline levels. SUPER EASY! As for the person whose eyes burned, the salt level was probably incorrect. Your eyes are naturally saline. So saltwater is generally better for your eyes than chorline. We only have to shock when the temps stay in the 90s for a long period of time. Then it just for piece of mind to keep algae from starting.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I have a chlorine pool thought about changing it but every time my daughter goes to a friend who has salt water comes back with sore red eyes.My pool guy told me that you also have to replace liner every ten years.

Yep! I asked my pool guy about changing mine over but he advised me not to do it. He changed his own pool over a couple of years ago and he has had a lot of trouble.

We haven't done it yet but are planning to next year. My SIL has a salt water pool and she LOVES it. Definately less maintence and less expense. I believe she does still have to shock but I am not sure how often - I will need to get all the details before we make the switch.

I have swam over there a few times and I will say that love how it makes your skin feel after swimming in it, no drying out like you get with chlorine, and no funky green hair. We've never had any problems with red eyes from it.

Like everything some people are going to love it and some not so much. Everyone I know who has a salt water pool LOVES them. The only people I have really ever heard say anything negative are the pool supply places, which makes me think it is because they do not make as much money on the salt water pool owners because they use less chemicals

I don't think that's the problem at all. My pool guy said that they have a hard time getting parts for them & getting the companies to back up the warranty's. Which is one main reason that he doesn't like to put them in, or work on them. I would do lot's of research before I put one in.

 

[lucigo]

I have had a 24 foot round above ground salt pool for 2 years now and absolutely love it. We keep the salt level on the high side. I take in a water sample about every 1-2 weeks and 90% of the time its perfect. Only after a huge rain do we need to add anything, more salt, calcium, etc. "Shocking" a salt water pool just means turning the converter up to 100% for a day. We live in Florida and the water temp stays between 87-92 most of the time. We have only had a green pool once and that was in March when it had rained all winter and we had done nothing to the pool. We added 10 bags of salt along with all of the other start-up chemicals and ran the pump and it was perfect the next day.

We have never had problems with red eyes. I notice when we swim at a friend's chlorine pool that our suits smell afterwards...we don't have that. It is great for your hair and skin.

Our salt converter was around $800 and it has easily paid for itself already.

Now for the bad news. Salt is corrosive. It eats floating lights, battery operated fish, etc. We had to replace our underwater light after 1 year. The liner is plastic and I don't see why the salt would harm it.

I have heard a lot of pool stores are against them. I would bet its because the maintenance is so low!! When I stand in line at the pool store the people in front of me generally spend $50-100, where I might buy a float just because I feel guilty for never spending any money in there! LOL

I LOVE my pool!!!

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

We just finished our built in pool about a month ago. We considered salt but the pool company told us that it would be much harder on the plaster, would eat it away.

 

[mizzoumom]

We have had a salt water pool for 5 years now and we totally love it. Very low maintenance. We start the year with a gallon of shock and then put in 2 bags of salt. We add another bag of salt half way through the summer and thats all. There have been many times this year that we had to shock it more that usual but thats because it greened while we were gone on vacation. But other than that we have had nothing but great things to say about our salt water pool. I would recommend it. I haven't seen any changes in our liner from the pool. Its more economical than say the chlorine, baquisil or the other thing that you use in your pool.

 

[FLAngie]

We have had a salt water pool for a little over 4 years now and love it. When we were getting the quotes all of the pool companies were using the salt water systems. Since all of my neighbors have salt water too, I am guessing that it is pretty much standard around here. Over all it is pretty easy to maintain. I have to add salt after a really big rain and once in a while some muriatic acid. We shock/algaecide the pool once a summer to keep the algae out of it once the pool temp gets into the 90's. I also have to add stabilizer once or twice a year. I probably spend about $100 in chemicals a year.

We have had one of the wireless automatic actuators go bad but it was under warranty and we didn't have a problem finding someone to replace it. I would guess that a lot of the cost and maintenance depends on what part of the country you are in and what type of pool you have. FWIW my pool is about 20,000 gallons and concrete gunite.