Tonight I add salt to my non SWG above ground pool

[Phillbo]

Don't forget to test your salt levels prior to adding or you may shoot over your target. My pool with a fresh fill already has about 600ppm of salt in it .

[sevver]

I got Solar Salt, Extra course salt granules, but it says that it is naturally evaporated by sun and rain now that I am reading it, I take it that it is not what I want? I will not add it until I get an answer. thanks

It is 99.8% pure salt though.

[The Raddish]

This stuff?? Seems okay to me.

I bought a salinity test kit today, and I am less than 1000ppm at this point. We will be adding at least one more bag to the pool, probably tomorrow.

[ellenicol]

Where did you get a salinity test kit? How do you know how many ppm you should have in your pool? Thanks

[PatL34]

Taylor has a Salt test kit, (K1766), that you can order from your pool store.

Pat

[The Raddish]

Sad to say that no one near me had a dropwise test kit for salinity, so I *GASP* bought some salt test strips.

I figure that I don't need an exactly accurate reading on the salt, so test strips will do fine. It's not doing much more than giving me a ballpark figure anyway.

ellenicol, the conventional wisdom seems to be to add about half the amount of salt required by a SWG for the best benefits. SWG's need around 3000ppm, so I'm shooting for 1200 - 1500ppm. Supposedly you can't taste the salt at these levels, but you still get all the benefits of silky smooth skin, manageable hair, and non-stinging eyes.

Even at around 800ppm, these benefits are already beginning to be present.

[Rangeball]

I got Solar Salt, Extra course salt granules, but it says that it is naturally evaporated by sun and rain now that I am reading it, I take it that it is not what I want? I will not add it until I get an answer. thanks

It is 99.8% pure salt though.

This is what I used. No problems

[haze_1956]

There is one potential problem I see for salt added to an above ground pool.

And I believe someone else has mentioned it on at least one other thread.

When salt water splashes over the wall, it flows down into the lower track. where it will evaporate and form salt crystals. I am not sure how corrosion resistant the track on an average AG pool is, and what effect there might be.

This is the one factor that has been keeping me from adding salt to my AG.

Thoughts ? Opinions?

.

[The Raddish]

My opinion on that is that this is such a small amount of salt that it really won't matter. There is already chlorine in the pool. The bottom track is designed to be protected against chlorine. The reason salt is corrosive is because of the chlorine in the salt molecule.

If we were talking about raising the salt content in our pool water to 20,000ppm or more (to the salinity levels in ocean water), then I too would be concerned about corrosion. But we're talking about 1200 - 1500ppm, which is half or less than the 3000 - 3700ppm that recommended by most SWGs.

I haven't found any corrosion warnings associated with any SWGs.

I think that at the levels we are talking about here, there are no drawbacks at all, only benefits.

Oh, and I purchased another bag of salt to put in the water this evening.

[PatL34]

If it is aluminum, it can corrode. Some AG pool vendors may not guarantee the warranty, if you use a SWCG. You may want to check this.

For inground plaster pools with a concrete border make sure to wash any salt spilt on the concrete into the pool with a garden hose.

Hope this helps.

Pat