Can anyone say definitively that adding salt won't harm heating unit or vinyl liner? I have both.
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Can anyone say definitively that adding salt won't harm heating unit or vinyl liner? I have both.
I can't.
I have a vinyl liner but no heater.
Based on all the discussion from last year (which were lost :( ) and the fact that SWG sellers don't warn against using with a vinyl liner, I feel pretty comfortable. I can't see why the ppm of salt we're talking about would degrade vinyl. I bet Gatoraide has a higher salt content and it comes in plastic bottles :)
I added another 40# bag this afternoon. Might get a chance to swim late tonight.
Golftop
I think the chances of it hurting a vinyl liner are near zero. But many vinyl liners are supported on the outside with steel frames. A lot of splashing from kits might accecerate corrosion. Some may be very well galvanized or otherwise protected.
The heater issue will depend on its construction design for electrolytic bonding and corrosion of the heat exchanger. I'd ask the manufacturer about that.
Thanks. I'll proceed with caution.
So, may I make these following assumptions:
- Adding salt to a non-SWG pool will NOT affect the BBB chemistry
- Salt at the low non-SWG levels discussed here will not damage a vinyl liner - IG or AG
- Salt may damage steel IG or AG walls (although SWG manufacturers don't refer to it)
- It will improve water feel - especially iof you have hard water
- it won't hurt the eyes
- When adding to the system, do so through the skimmer slowly and it SHOULD dissolve in the same time frame as adding it
And ask these addl question:
- Drinking water softener salt in pellets or crystal with NO additives (what are they) is what we want to buy? Or is there another form?
Rangeball
The solar panels bumped the temp about another5-6 degrees today. Now 81.
Took the plunge. Brisk at first. The water was not so gentle feeling as last year.
Last fall after close up I drained about 10" to clear the jets and it fill up so I took out a bit more before freeze up. Say 13" now. This spring with the snow melt I drained off another 4-5". Now its up 3-4" high again. So there has been a significant dilution of the salt. Tha's when I concluded that the number I got last year must have been 2200. So today I downloaded the Autopilot manual for the SWG and it will run at 2500. I was almost there last year. They say
3000 is ideal.
=========================
Kirsten
You might not have much to worry about on the steel frame for the vinyl lined pool.
1) It might be well protected by a good seal on the concrete walk ... if there is one.
2) if its will galvanized or otherwise protected, it might tolerate a lot of salt with little to no corrosion.
From here I don't know and if you got your pool like we got ours, inherited when we bought the house, you may never know.
Why do I feel like I'm being no help at all to you.
Anyway, good luck with it.
Interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by brent.roberts
So you were up to 2200 pm of salt last year, quite a bit less than the ideal recommendation, but could taste it? From other things I've read I didn't think it was supposed to be tasted at SWG concentrations.
I had about 5 minutes to jump in the pool last night after putting the other bag of salt in. It didn't feel much different, but I was in a hurry and may not have had my placebo high enough :) I had also added muratic acid to lower ph/alk yesterday afternoon, so that may have been it. I plan to leave it alone (salt wise) for awhile and see how it feels and if anyone else notices.
Could this be done with a small 15' Dolphino pool also?
I'm just trying to get the pool as inviting as possible for the kids and wife. I already replaced the pump filter (junk) with a used Hayward pump and sand filter and besides a small bromine mistake the pool is crystal clear.
Just wondering if the same advantages would apply to a AG 6000 gallon pool and if anyone had an approx ammount needed. Perhaps I'll just go grab a bag and start with that and adjust as many have stated.
thx in advance.
[QUOTE=Rangeball]Interesting.
So you were up to 2200 pm of salt last year, quite a bit less than the ideal recommendation, but could taste it? From other things I've read I didn't think it was supposed to be tasted at SWG concentrations.
I am really trying to figure where I was last year, because I did not record it.
Now at about 1600, I don't notice the taste at all. Last September before dilution, you could taste something. Some guests could not tell it was salt and some guessed that is was salt. Certainly not a "slap you in the face" flavor.
When I jack it up to 2500 - 3000 for the soon to arrive SWG, I'm going to guess it will be pretty obvious to the taste buds.... despite the fact that AutoPilot claim otherwise.
I don't know any reason that it wouldn't be of some benefit to the feel of anyone's water. Maybe some chemist might come up with a wierd situation that you wouldn't want to add a bit of salt. Other than the slight risk of additional corrosion, I don't know of any negative issues. It sure isn't expensive.Quote:
Originally Posted by LennPrice
Btw, if you're curious what the water tastes like at the ppms needed for a SWG, check out http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...ght=salt+taste.
Not sure how accurate it is, however.
does anybody have a problem with salt water that splashes out on the deck or coping evaporating and leaving a salt residue/stain on it ? Or perhaps a waterfall that would have the same problem ?
I haven't seen any on the deck. But we don't have kids (any more ) splashing.
I do see it on the solar cover. I leave it on the pool and hose it off a couple times a season.
How does the salt affect a pool heater? Is it corrosive?
Thanks!
Scarlett
Hi Guys,
Last year we had an Intex EasySet 12' pool. I followed the BBB approach from this forum and everything went very well - no major problems, no algae, etc..
Unfortunately my sister-inlaw's black labs ATE our pool last fall!!!! (and the pool toys, and the lawn furniture, and the insulation off the central ac lines!!! The puppies are no longer welcome guests . . . (and the jury is still out on whether my sister-inlaw is still welcome! <grin>))
This year I was set to buy a 16' pool, but a friend of ours gave us their 14' EasySet pool . . . they kept having algae, cloudy water, etc. last year and didn't use it much so they decided it wasn't worth the effort. I'm pretty sure it was just inattention to the water quality that was at the root of their problems last year.
They did a good job cleaning it up before storage last year - it was very clean when we got it, but I added enough bleach to bring the chlorine up to 20ppm last night and put the solar blanket on it. I bumped the chlorine high just in case any algae ickies were still lurking about. It's been cold here so we wont be swimming for a few days anyway, and I just added enough CYA to bring it up to 30ppm (used bleach calc to figure the amount) and it's currently disolving in a sock tied to the ladder so I figured with a low CYA level the bleach will dissipate fairly quickly anyway.
Well, onward to my question . . . I've been reading the discussion in this thread on adding salt to improve the water feel but there doesn't seem to be a clear target ppm. I've seen 900 to 1600 mentioned, and then 2,200 or so mentioned.
Anyone care to give a SWAG of what ppm to target? Maybe 1500 and call it good one way or the other??
Thanks for any input!
Steve
I want to add the softener salt in a Esther Williams aluminum extruded vinyl 18x36 pool.
Questions:
how much to add to achieve 2k-3k ppm in 14,000 gallons?
Will it destroy the extruded aluminum or not affect it?
what is solar salt? IS it the same as water softener salt?
I want to try it soon.....
thanks, Scott
Hi Scott,
According to BleachCalc you will need 291.8 pounds of salt to reach 2,500 ppm in your 14,000 gallon pool.
TTYL,
Steve
This thread is getting ridiculously long - 58 posts already. There have been numerous people who have tagged onto this thread with their particular problem. It is usually best to start your own thread. Please wrap up any loose ends that need to be finished and then we'll close this thread soon. It is getting unmanageable and hard to keep track of who needs what, etc.
Thanks.
Poulboy,
That amount of salt will not affect the aluminum extrusions.
I have a SWC so I know I need to have salt in my pool, but I am a little confused as to why people think that soft-water = salt-water.
I was always under the impression that water softeners used salt in a brine solution that backwashed the resin or media that is used to take those hard minerals out of the water to make it soft. Salt is not added to the water to make it soft, even though I have read where softeners have warnings to people that are on a low sodium diet, and I assume thats because a small amount of salt is left in the softener media after backwashing it which can get into the soft water coming out of the softener.
I think we're getting confused in terms/meanings here.
I think many are saying the water "feels" softer and slippery and is less irritating to the eyes with salt in it. This is opposed to "being" soft as in having less calcium, etc..
It's a difference of a technical term versus a descriptive term.
/Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by SLR_65
Wow ! 291 pounds of salt... 8.5 bags@40#. Not bad I guess since about $4 a bag. Where did you see that chart? just for future reference.
Thanks Scott
It's not a chart...it's a program that one of our members created. Here's the download link. http://home.earthlink.net/~mwsmith70/data/BleachCalc262.exe Just save it to your desktop. And don't forget to change the units of measure in the settings from metric to imperial if you use gallons instead of liters.;)
I just added 2 of the 40 lbs bags of salt. worth a try. thanks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by poolbuoy
Yesterday I added four 40# bags of salt. the water feels great...but it tastes salty. I do not have a test kit to check it. I can't imagine putting in 8.5 bags of salt! I would order at test kit here but my season will be over by the time I get it.
That made me chuckle.....I picture some of you wine tasting your pool :DQuote:
As you add more you go from bland crispy harsh sensations in the mouth, to knowing it's not the same any more, then to actually tasting something ... but it's hard to put a name to it, then to yeah, I think it's salt.
I have to add 850 lbs of Salt to my pool for my SWG. Filling it now as I type this.
850 lbs is a lot of salt!
I'm starting the install on my SWG and increased the salt level to aobut 2800 last night.
Yeah there's something you can taste but in sure ain't likey the ocean. In fact it's not so easy to tell it's salt.
Based on the year this ended, am I to "assume" that this died out and no one adds salt to their pool anymore like what has been discussed here? I would be interested to learn more "if" this was still going on.
We add salt to our bleach AGP at the beginning of each season and have done for the past three summers. It softens the water and seems to make it more sparkly.
We put in enough to bring it to between 1,800 and 2,200 ppm, calculated rather than measured since I don't have salt strips. Some time in the middle of the swim season we might add a bag or so to replenish what's lost from splash out and refilling.
We use "solar salt" which is something like 99% pure, either Morton's or Diamond Crystal. We slit the bag open lengthwise and drop it into the pool where it takes a couple of days to fully dissolve. I don't know if there would be any harm to the liner if the salt crystals were just dumped in; by dropping in the entire bag we avoid contact with the liner.
Hope this helps.