Salt Water Chlorine Generator for New Pool Build

[JimK]

I have both test strips and Taylor K-1766 chloride test drops. Taylor drops are more accurate BUT here's the deal - don't get too crazy trying to exactly measure your salt levels, it'll only drive you nuts. Once your PB loads the salt in your pool at startup and assuming the SWCG cell is happy, you only need to test salt levels maybe twice per swim season or after a major (>10%) water exchange. Too many SWG owners get way too crazy trying to figure out their salt levels to the last signigicant digit. The available tests are, at best, +\- 200ppm accurate. If your salt cell says it's happy, then you're good. The whole point of making SWCG practical is for the process to be insensitive to salt concentration over a wide range or else it would be too much of a hassle for the user.

Just my $0.02 opinion.

You're right, salt isn't something you have to check often.

One thing to be careful about though, one sign a salt cell is starting to fail is it can give incorrect low salt readings. Some have gone ahead and added salt without verifying level and ended up with way too much salt. If my SWCG reports low salt, I always verify the level before adding.

We get a bit more rain here on the mid Atlantic coast, so I usually have to add salt a few times a year. I usually go through 150# to 200# a year.

I thought about trying the Taylor kit, but the strips seem to be accurate enough and are easier to use. Do you also find this to be the case or are there circumstances where you find the Taylor kit more helpful?