Tonight I add salt to my non SWG above ground pool

[Rangeball]

If you have an open mind I recommed you do a search for adding salt.

Guess not...

[The Raddish]

Cleancloths, I'm not sure I understand your objections here. Many people use salt water chlorine generators to generate chlorine in their pools. They keep a salinity level around 3000ppm. Not all of that salt has been processed into chlorine at one time, so there will be salt in the pool.

Aside from the chlorine generating aspects of the equipment, I gather that the rest of the chemistry is identical to a non-SWG pool. In other words, it has no effect on the rest of the pool chemistry.

I'm shooting for roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the levels of salt for my non-SWG pool. I don't worry at all about corrosion, since everything in a pool is designed to be around chlorine. Since the reason salt is corrosive is because of the the reactance the world has to the chlorine in the salt molecules, there is no 'additional' corrosive effect from salt in the water.

As for a chemical that is not needed, as you have already pointed out, there is already salt in every chlorine pool, just at much lower levels. I don't need salt in my water, but salt in my water will make the water feel better on my skin and hair and eyes. Since my skin and hair and eyes are all important to me, adding salt to my water to make them feel better is a benefit. Since (as you have already pointed out) salt is a 'buffer' and has no adverse effects on the rest of the pool chemistry, I fail to see one single drawback of putting a modest amount of salt (approx. 1000ppm) in my pool water.

For everyone else, I'll post how much difference adding salt to the water feels after a few days of swimming in it.

[cleancloths]

Cleancloths, I'm not sure I understand your objections here. Many people use salt water chlorine generators to generate chlorine in their pools. They keep a salinity level around 3000ppm. Not all of that salt has been processed into chlorine at one time, so there will be salt in the pool.

Aside from the chlorine generating aspects of the equipment, I gather that the rest of the chemistry is identical to a non-SWG pool. In other words, it has no effect on the rest of the pool chemistry.

I'm shooting for roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the levels of salt for my non-SWG pool. I don't worry at all about corrosion, since everything in a pool is designed to be around chlorine. Since the reason salt is corrosive is because of the the reactance the world has to the chlorine in the salt molecules, there is no 'additional' corrosive effect from salt in the water.

As for a chemical that is not needed, as you have already pointed out, there is already salt in every chlorine pool, just at much lower levels. I don't need salt in my water, but salt in my water will make the water feel better on my skin and hair and eyes. Since my skin and hair and eyes are all important to me, adding salt to my water to make them feel better is a benefit. Since (as you have already pointed out) salt is a 'buffer' and has no adverse effects on the rest of the pool chemistry, I fail to see one single drawback of putting a modest amount of salt (approx. 1000ppm) in my pool water.

For everyone else, I'll post how much difference adding salt to the water feels after a few days of swimming in it.

GOOD Points, maybe it won't hurt anything. Won't you end up with white stains on everything once water splashes dry. Also doesn't salt dry out your skin.

[Rangeball]

Are you eyes dried out? There's salt in tears.

Do you have white patches on your skin? There's salt in sweat.

Adjusting the salinity of pool water to more closely resemble the bodies natural salinity to make the water "feel" better doesn't take as much salt as I think you're imagining.

Post salt my skin and hair feel much better after getting out, and I've yet to see any hint of white residue.

[JohnInSoCal]

I did this recently and everybody likes the feel. I didn't tell anybody before I did it and the kids & wife noticed the difference imediately and asked about why the water felt different. It feels nicer/softer on the skin and is nicer on the eyes. You already have some salt in your pool but you can always add more. Most SWG's need around 3000 ppm in order to generate enough chlorine. I didn't go that high and decied to start with just a little and see how it went. Since all I wanted was the nicer feel I didn't need to go that high. Salt water in the ocean is much higher, about 35,000 ppm .

I have an inground gunite pool/pebble finish. I would worry about an above ground pool though as you have metal and more salt means quicker corrosion. Any water is going to corrode metal, add salt and it will do it quicker.

-- john

[The Raddish]

I would worry about an above ground pool though as you have metal and more salt means quicker corrosion. Any water is going to corrode metal, add salt and it will do it quicker.

-- john

Not any quicker than chlorine since it is the chlorine in a salt molecule that makes salt corrosive. Salt by itself is not corrosive. Salt has to react with something else (like certain kinds of metal) to be corrosive. When salt comes into contact with something that reacts with it, what happens is that the Na is split from the Cl in the salt molecule. When the Na is split from the Cl, it is the Cl that reacts to the world around it and corrodes metal. Since Cl is easily split from Na, that is the very reason that 'salt' is considered corrosive.

Pools are designed to be around Cl. All the metals in an above ground pool are designed to exist in a Cl environment. Simply adding NaCl to a Cl environment won't have any more effect on those metals than the Cl that is already in and around the pool. Make sense?

[JohnInSoCal]

I'm not sure I understand the salt doesn't add to the corrosiveness. Boats are designed to be around water, however when used in salt water they have much more and quicker corrosion. Perhaps it's something else in the ocean water but it's far more destructive to equipment, pumps, engine water jackets, hoses, etc. than fresh water is. I used to live on a boat in the ocean and the water is incredibly destructive.

Also doesn't areas that use road salt cause more damage to car undersides ? I understand that the car is not treated to handle a chlorine water environment or salt.

But I would think that any type of protection/galvinazation for pool equipment metal will eventually breakdown or have a few places that protection wasn't applied correctly and when that salt does get into contact with the metal that it might corrode quicker than if it was just water with very low salt levels would ?

[The Raddish]

But I would think that any type of protection/galvinazation for pool equipment metal will eventually breakdown or have a few places that protection wasn't applied correctly and when that salt does get into contact with the metal that it might corrode quicker than if it was just water with very low salt levels would ?

This is true. However, the galvanized metals are designed to exist in a Chlorine environment. It is the Chlorine in the salt that makes salt corrosive.

The examples you gave are indeed good examples, but the concentrations of salt we are discussing are minuscule compared to sea water or road salt. In perusing the documentation about SWGs, I haven't come across anything that states any additional corrosive properties or warnings when using them. Frankly, I think that the levels of salt we are talking about are just so low that it really doesn't make that much of a difference.

[JohnInSoCal]

oh yes, I understand that SWG is much lower level of salt than the very harsh ocean, orders of magnitude. And if all you want is the "feel of softer water" then you don't even need the 3000 ppm that a SWG might need. So far I like the feel and so does the rest of the family. I haven't heard of anybody that added salt to their pool but then wanted to undo it. I may eventually go to a SWG but for now I just added the salt ot get the feel and make it nicer on the eyes for the kids.

[PatL34]

In the 8 years that I have been using a SWCG, I have never had any problems with corrosion from salt, from any equipment at all.

My wife who was a pediatric nurse, appreciates the "silky" feel that salt can give, no itchy eyes, no scaling on the skin.

John, with all due respect, you do not take your car for a swim in your pool, but you are fully prepared to drive it on salty roads, knowing that you will have corrosion if you do not wash the undersides with fresh water. Been there, done that.

Seawater has a concentration of 3% salt, whereas a pool has 3,000/1,000,000* 100 = 0.3%. This is apples and oranges.

If you have to talk corrosion, then aluminum, copper, carbon steel, iron, brass are the metals you have to worry about. On a boat at sea, you had to have zinc anodes to reduce the corrosion on other metals.

The only areas that salt will give a problem is with a concrete border next to the pool, and aluminum rakes. Beyond that there should be no other effects.

Hope this helps.

Pat