Are Salt Generators more economical than bleach over the lifetime of the pool?

[CanuckPool]

ok, what about the argument... does having an SWG save the environment from the production and disposal of hundreds of bleach bottles and the manufacturing of bleach. I would think it helps eliminate one more chemical you have to store and move and pour into the pool.

[chem geek]

ok, what about the argument... does having an SWG save the environment from the production and disposal of hundreds of bleach bottles and the manufacturing of bleach. I would think it helps eliminate one more chemical you have to store and move and pour into the pool.

Well, I can tell you that my chlorinating liquid bottles are reused since I pay a deposit for them and for the case (of 4) that they come in so there's no waste there (I return empty bottles to the store and get different bottles that are full -- I presume they take the empty bottles back to the manufacturer for rinsing and refilling). Standard bleach bottles are a different story and can be recycled, but that's not as efficient as direct reuse. As for the manufacturing, it's probably not much different doing that in a central facility as doing it in your home as far as energy used to generate the chlorine, but you are right that you would be helping the environment in terms of transportation energy usage in terms of hauling what is mostly water (sometimes the chlorine is delivered at higher strength and then somewhat diluted, but even so it's still mostly water).

If one is concerned with the environment, then the most effective expenditure would be using a pool cover. If having an automated (electric) cover would have you use the cover more frequently, then that would be worth it (that's what I have). The use of a cover significantly cuts down chlorine consumption -- my 16,000 gallon pool consumes less than 0.5 ppm FC per day during the summer. That probably cuts down my chlorine consumption by a factor of 4 or more. And when I get my IntelliFlo...well, we'll just see what happens to pump electric usage.

Richard

[CanuckPool]

For about 7 months of the year, my SGW is disconnected (Canada), so lets say my cell is rated for 10,000 hours. My cell can sustain proper chlorination at a rate of 40% per hour on average. So in one day lets say the cell is on 9.6 hours (this is assuming you are running your pump 24/7) 9.6 x 31 days (month) = 297.6 hours per month of cell runtime x 4.5 months = 1339.20 hours a year, that gives me 7.4 years of cell life... so lets say for arguments sake it really doesnt last that long, so lets just take 1 year off its life. 6.5 years. So in 13 years it would have cost me 2 cells, about $2000. and I am sure in 6.5 more years the cost of cells might even come down a little. So lets see.

Amortized over 13 years it would cost me approx 153.86 per year to own an SWG, divide that by the 4.5 months I have my pool open, thats $34.19 a month. Ok, as stated in previous posts, there are electricity cost to run it, heck, I'll even round up to $40 per month, and yes there is salt costs and acid costs, but there is also costs associated with putting gas in your car to go and get bleach (I'm not even going to try and figure that cost out) Lets just assume your cost of gas vs. salt is a wash. I am not sure what the real cost of bleach over a month is, it appears to be anywhere from 8.80 to 16.80, I guess the bigger the pool the more the chlorine. Lets take the middle and go with $12.00. So 40.00 - 12.00 gives me $28.00. Now what about the days where you go away for a long weekend or vacation, what costs do you associate with having to have a neighbor pour the bleach in, or having a pool service do it. And what if they mess up, there are far more costs in bringing it back up to speed. Now, an SWG isnt foolproof, but it can save you from that neighbor that was suppose to check on your pool that long weekend but forgot and now it has become green. Lets talk real world here, not everyone can stay home the entire season and check on their pool everyday. I'll pay that $28 insurance, especially when my swimming season is very short.