Salt vs. Mineral

[rlcottrell]

Looking for input on salt vs. mineral pools. My salt generator is not performing - + 5 years old. I've been told by one pool professional that mineral is now a better alternative. Anybody had good or bad experinces with conversion or is Salt still the better alternative?

[PoolDoc]

"Mineral" = copper.

It is not now a "better alternative", nor was it 25 years ago when some promoters first started pushing it.

Copper is a good algaecide, a poor bactericide and useless as a viricide, but it's great at staining and turning hair green. It's not inherently a 'scam' but the way it's marketed often is a scam.

Salt (salt water chlorine generation) is a better alternative some things, but not others. It's a GOOD way of feeding chlorine into a pool, but at the cost of increased corrosion, which is a problem on some pools but not others. It is typically cheaper than being repeatedly "Pool Stored", but not cheaper than running a plain BBB method pool with bleach or dichlor.

Ben

[chem geek]

And "poor bactericide" means that it does not kill nor even inhibit fecal bacteria at all and only kills non-fecal bacteria slowly (except for Legionella). See this post (http://www.troublefreepool.com/converting-my-ecosmarte-system-to-chlorine-t24194.html#p205939) for technical details. If you absolutely have to use a metal ion system and don't care about staining or blond hair turning greenish, then at least use a copper/silver ion combination since that will at least prevent uncontrolled bacterial growth of even fecal bacteria though you still won't have any reasonable protection against viruses or protozoa.

[CarlD]

Run, do not walk, as fast and as far away from that "pool professional" as you can! He will get you and your family sick.

Instead, it sound like your SWCG needs repair. Are you sure your salt level in your pool water is correct? If it isn't, correct it. If it is, well, certain items on SWCGs do fail over time and need repair or replacement.

Carl

[waterbear]

Most likely your salt cell has failed and needs to be replaced. The average life of a salt cell is about 5 years. Run and do not walk away from the 'mineral' system!