Neat product! The concept and the design of this product reminds me of an HHO generator. Search “HHO” on youtube for more info. Very cool technology!!
Everything you need to know.
I’ve had a Salt water pool for three years now. My brother also has a salt water pool. the salt content is about the same as your tear drops so there is no eye burning.
The science behind it is very simple. You can find loads of information about it online. By the way those of you who don’t understand the similarities behind the clorine you use in your pool (sodium hypoclorite), and the salt you eat (sodium cloride), don’t post your ignorant comments here, do the research first.
This is what a lot of new pool builders are reccomending because it is much safer and enviromentally friendly than handeling clorine or other chemicals. Any pool can be converted to a salt system. I can’t say how good this one is. I can tell you that once you have a salt water pool you won’t go back.
One thing you do need to be carefull about is don’t back wash your system, near plants that are salt sensitive.
The ocean has about 20,000 parts per million (ppm) of salt in the water, while a saltwater pool has only about 3000 parts per million salt. At 3000 ppm, you generally cannot even taste the salt. Any water under 6000 ppm is still considered fresh water. Your eye contains about 9000 ppm salt.
There isn’t sodium building up because it’s recombining with the chlorine to make salt.
I failed chemistry twice. This isn’t hard folks.
You dump a 10 pound bag of pool salt in, BAM, now it works in any pool
I have a salt water pool.
The idea is that chlorine in pool evaporates quickly, and costs lots of money to maintain, you also have to maintain a balance, and keep your chlorine topped off in the pool. A large bucket of chorine + stabalizer (slows evaporation) can easily run over $100.00 / year.
You can go to Sams Club buy some 99.9 percent pure table salt in a 40lb bag, and dump it into your pool for about 4 bucks. I have had my pool for 12 months, and I have had to put 4 bags in. The reason that number is so high is because of the large amount of rain that has ‘diluted’ my pool and then gone down the drain.
A salt water convertion to any pool is quite easy, just put the chlorinator right after the filter on the return side. You are done. No more chlorine.
No nasty green hair in the summer, no nasty smell of chlorine. This is not meant for people with salt water pools (unless their chlorinator is busted), this is meant for people w/out salt water. $700 is not a bad price, but I am not sure about quality, but since there are no moving parts, how bad can it be?
[QUOTE=tonygua, post:203, topic:163100]
One thing you do need to be carefull about is don’t back wash your system, near plants that are salt sensitive.
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Or at the same time buy a cartridge filter instead of a DE filter. They both suck because you have to clean them out, but not having to add DE is pretty nice. Plus you are not flushing water down the drain.
Th0r wrote:Less than 2 Amps is about 400 watts.
400 watts cost about $40 per month.
Assume running 24/7 and watt hours cost $0.15.
[QUOTE=chuckbennett, post:200, topic:163100]
You really shouldn’t be running your pump 24/7. Depending on the size of your pool only a few hours a day. How long do you leave you PC running a day? It’s probably close to 400 watts if it’s a desk top. Not counting you monitor. Probably longer than you should be running you pool pump. I have a 5,000 Gal pool and I run my pump two to three hours a day. It’s a salt water pool. Doesn’t kill the grass when I empty it in the fall ether. Not much salt is used.
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My PC is on 24/7. I won’t go into the details, but about 200 Watts.
Anyway, the thing said it cost $5 per month to run. But it did not say how many hours per day.
24H per day = $40
12H per day = $20
6 hours per day = $10
3 hours per day = $5
I run my pump 6-10 hours per day (as a guess). So the $5 per month seemed like a lie to me.
I have this exact thing on my pool and it works great. I bought in early 2007 from a moron pool guy that my daughter was seeing at the time and I paid about $1400 for it including his labor. He warned me that I should “seal” all my flagstone rock in and around the pool but after researching that, I decided not to pay attention to anything the moron said. I figured if saltwater was not eating away all the rocks on the California coast, it probably would not eat my rock either. I was right; he is a moron. Everyone loves swimming in my pool and I don’t spend any time fooling with it. My chemical cost is about $20 per year for salt and I don’t notice any difference in the electric bill. If and when my daughter meets someone that can afford a pool, I’ll buy them one of these as a wedding present.
[QUOTE=jgentsch, post:19, topic:163100]
The description says it produces chlorine gas. That’s a load of shit. If you don’t add chlorine to it, it can’t. Chlorine is an element. That would be like saying it could generate gold!
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You can generate gold if you start with the correct compund!
Found on web…regarding gunite pools and salt water vs. chlorine. Bottom line can use either…just control ph to preserve gunite. Saline is MORE expensive to operate (replace cells) but feels better and is easier maintained…add salt once or twice a year. (based on very quick reading).
A saltwater pool is a chlorine pool, the salt is added so that a chlorine generator is able to create the chlorine electronically. Both salt and chlorine are corrosive to some extent depending on their concentration, However there is no appreciable difference in whether you use salt in a chlorine pool or just chlorine The difference on the Gunite is negligible. Keep an eye on the calcium levels in the pool for the best results.
• I have never seen any pool articles stating that salt generators would contibute to calcium build-up in pools. However, pools using salt generators run a much higher total dissolved solid build up than standard chlorine pools. The best thing you can do for any gunite pool is to run your pH about 7.4 to 7.6, the alkalinity about 80-120 ppm, and the calcium 200 to 400 ppm. This will protect the surface of the pool. You use the term “better”. Chlorine generators, even if they work perfectly will never have a payback. If you take the cost of the generator, plus the cost of replacing the cells every couple years you will never be able to justify a chlorine generator. Good old chlorine is still the best and cheapest chemical you can use in your pool.
• The water in a salt water pool is approximately 1/7th the saltiness of sea water and about the same level of saltiness as the human body. Salt water pool systems definitely do not create any buildup of any kind in a swimming pool and do not harm gunite or any other pool surface. Incidentally, for a vinyl-lined pool, salt water systems are much better for the liner than adding chlorine. Salt water systems are better for pools and for the people who use them - No toxic chemicals to be stored or handled; no chlorine smell nor stinging eyes; & lower maintenance.
•
• I have a plaster pool that was maintained for years with normal chlorine type methods. And the plaster is that rough, so I don’t think it’s the salt, but I’m no scientist just an observation.
• I have not used a salt chlorine generator on my pool, but I have been in pools that do. I did not like the heavy feel of the water. My pool is gunite with a pebble tech finish but plaster or pebble seems to hold up the same with either chemical method. If you want to reduce the odor or sting of chlorine, I would suggest adding a ozone generator. It injects treated air into the filter pump in small amounts. This does part of the work on the water that the chlorine is intended to do and the result is that you have a very small difference between free chlorine levels and total chlorine levels. I have found that I can keep my chlorine level relatively low and always have nice clean and crisp water that I actually enjoy swimming in. Depending on your local water conditions (I live in the Phoenix area), you might see some build up on the tile but there are fixes for that as well at your local pool supply.
• I have been a pool technician or service manager in the pool industry for 15 years. I do not have all the answers but here is my input. I have never known chlorine to effect the roughness of plaster finishes. Salt water pool systems create chlorine, therefor there should not be any complications with your plaster due to either of these. My experience has been that the roughness of plaster is always created by the age, the application, or a problem with the calcium hardness levels in the pool. If calcium hardness levels are high you will get deposits, if the levels are low you will get pitting because you pull the calcium from the plaster when the water desires the calcium. Also if your pool has been acid washed too many times over the years or had 1 bad acid wash it will be rough. The one thing about the feet is that always keep in mind the in the beginning of the year everyones feet are tender as we can remember as kids and then amplify that because you stay in the pool and they turn prunny. It takes awhile to get your feet toughened up. An interesting resource for chemicals is www.deh.enr.state.nc.us/ehs/quality/wph.htm. Note the section on Calcium Hardness.
• 7 year pool service guy here. The most common way for that hard buildup (lets call it scale) to form is actually a high pH and Alkalinity. Some customers have it build up so badly that it cuts their feet when they get in. There are several products on the market that help to remove it (Jack’s magic for one). Keeping your pH low helps to slowly remove the scale, along with constant brushing with a stainless steel brush. A salt chlorinator has a byproduct of a Caustic agent, which tends to raise the pH and the alkalinity quickly and severely. Keeping the pH down in a plaster pool is very important to prevent this scale buildup.
I ran a pool service in FL in the 80es. My job was to make money on the service. And keep the customer’s pools blue and clean.
Note in advance that I’m not going to spell check this!
A normal pool in FL. back then cost abot $2 per week in chemicals. It’ll be about $8 now. That’s retail. Pay back on that machine will be far in excess of it’s lfetime.
FL is a very difficult state to maintains Pools.
Get a test kit, learn to use it. Be skeptical of the advise from poeple who make a living selling you chemicals. Make sure you get a Cyanuric acid (stabilizer) test kit.
on average for a 10 to 20 k gallon pool
You need liquid cholrine (1 to 5 gallons per month depending on size and conditions) (You can substitute granular, but clean your filters more often)
1 8 oz tablet trichlorotriazanone per week.
Stabilizer about 5 lb per year. (Cyanuric acid)
Ph adjusters: sodum bicarbinate, Muratic acid
Keep your filter clean, and brush the sides one per week (use a nylon brush not steel)
Note the the liquid and granular chlorine raise pH. The tablets lower pH and raise the stablizer levels
You lose stabilizer thru dilution. Keep it around 100 ppm
Keep the pH between 7.2 and 7.6
Then learn to maitain the hardness as appropriate for your finish. If you have a marcite pool, and let the harness or pH, get too low, you will destroy the finnish.
[QUOTE=SilverStar830, post:64, topic:163100]
Yeah. Just ask this guy about ingesting silver. He swears by it!
http://www.bartonpublishing.com/images/blueman.jpg
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I read that he is a conductor.
Anyone?
[QUOTE=thedutt, post:115, topic:163100]
Before I become the next sucker, 2 questions for the pool experts:-
- How does this compare with the newer NASA clear water ioniztion technology? My neighbour is getting and he suggested that may be a good unit to have
- How good is this price ($750ish here in texas)?
Thanks in advance. I have been thinking of getting a Salt Water system, currently manually use the Tabs in the pool. With a newborn, if this improves the quality of water and lowers the irritation factor, then I may just go for it. COst wise, its a bit harder to justify as my pool takes about $90 worth of chlorine every year, so recovery will take over 7 years.
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I just looked at the Woot! map, boy, did Florida light up!
[QUOTE=jgentsch, post:19, topic:163100]
The description says it produces chlorine gas. That’s a load of shit. If you don’t add chlorine to it, it can’t. Chlorine is an element. That would be like saying it could generate gold!
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Are you an idiot? NaCl is salt. Cl is chlorine. F is your 6th grade science grade.
Jeepers… you mean all I have to do is plug a 220 volt thinga-ma-bob in and then toss it into my pool? Wow… Couldn’t I just toss a couple of toasters and get the same effect.
Sorry, but dropping 220volts into my pool when I’m in it doesn’t sound like anything I want to do.
[QUOTE=jgentsch, post:19, topic:163100]
The description says it produces chlorine gas. That’s a load of shit. If you don’t add chlorine to it, it can’t. Chlorine is an element. That would be like saying it could generate gold!
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OK DIngbat … listen up:
Put TABLE SALT in the water Na CL (Sodium CHloride) … and it will seperate the sodium from the CHlorine - putting the sodium into the air (where it instantly oxidizes) and the Chlorine back into the water. Q.E.D.
Salt-Water DOES NOT EQUAL SEA WATER .. sheeesh!
[QUOTE=AndyMartin826, post:87, topic:163100]
…I have a salt-water aquarium so I’m used to the seawater salinity, this is nowhere near that kind of salt water.
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What, you go swimming in your aquarium??
Tons of salt water pools here in NC. It converts salt to chlorine so no matter how you look at it, it’s still chlorine, you just don’t have to buy chlorine and handle it which is dangerous etc etc etc.