Tonight I add salt to my non SWG above ground pool

[waterbear]

If you dissolve sodium chloride in deionized water and test the pH it will be neutral (pH 7) as will the deionized water! Salt will have NO effect on pH. The saline solution you are talking about is probably buffered and NOT pure sodium chloride to compensate for the acid leached from the PVC bag it is packaged in. Most medical saline is packed in PVC bags and then heat sterlized. The PVC leaches some acids into the saline and lowers the pH. This is why the pH is listed as being in the range of 4.5-7.0!

[brent.roberts]

I put a few bags in our pool mid - season last year and did not tell the wife I had done it. The very first time she went in she commented on how nice the water felt.

This summer we topped up the salt to 2800 ppm and put in the SWG system.

The only negative we've seen so far is that water that gets on top of the *&^%%$$ solar cover and evaporates, leaves a bit of white powered. A few minutes of hosing or a rainfall clears it.

Even at the levels this year that are much higher than we had last year, I still prefer it to straight fresh water.

[cheshamjim]

I want to do this because my wife has been complaining that her skin feels dry since I have started using BBB. Because I have >120 ppm CYA, I maintain a high chlorine level following the Best Guess chart.

Before adding salt, I wanted to know what my starting point was, so I bought the Taylor Salt Water Test Kit (K-1766). It shows that my water is already at 1,000 ppm salt content. That seemed high, so I called them. They confirmed that the kit was O.K. (the test sample didn't act like I thought it should when adding the reagents) and said that since I have been adding so much chlorine it was probable that the chlorine was the sorce of my salt. Incidentally, I was very impressed by Taylor's telephone support. I talked with a very compentent individual and experienced no waiting.

Anyway, after reading Poolsean's post (#56), I'm going to shoot for 3,000 ppm in my non-SWG pool. Can't wait to be a hero to my wife.

[DavidD]

(the test sample didn't act like I thought it should when adding the reagents)

Can you say Bloody Mary? That's the first thing that came to my mind after I did the first test. My salt was around 800 ppm when I tested before adding salt and I've used mainly bleach for a few years. I'm now down to around 3200 ppm (from 3400 ppm) and love it. The kids, and a few other adults say they can taste it slightly but I only get a hint after first jumping in.

Good luck and make a fun time of it spreading the crystals/pellets around.

Dave

P.S-If you have a vinyl pool, I'd recommend the pellets as there are no sharp corners.

[cheshamjim]

"Can you say Bloody Mary? That's the first thing that came to my mind after I did the first test."

My test sample looked more like like cream of tomato soup ...

[Watermom]

Question - I have long since stopped reading this thread since it is so long. Is it still on topic and productive? It is getting ridiculously long. How about if we stop this one and lock it and start a new thread if there is a need. This one is way longer than we like threads to be. I'll wait a day or two for loose ends to be wrapped up in this thread.

Thanks.