Salt water pool misconceptions you should be aware of.
In recent years, custom pool builders have seen an increase in the number of saltwater swimming pools that they’re asked to install. With these types of pools, there’s no difference in the styles you can choose, the size of the pool, or any associated features such as underwater seating, diving boards, and slides. We’ve noticed that there are several common misconceptions of salt water pools – pardon the pun – floating around out there on the internet. Today, we’d like to take a few minutes and clear up some of these for anyone who may be considering getting one installed.
Salt Pools Don’t Contain Chlorine
Perhaps the biggest misconception is that salt water pools contain no chlorine. The truth is that although these pools don’t regularly utilize traditional chlorine tablets, they use Electrolytic Chlorine Generator (ECG) salt cells to produce chlorine from salt. Even though you don’t need to add tablets or chlorine in other ways except in specific situations (which we’ll touch on below), a salt pool is still considered to be a chlorine pool.
Salt Pools Are Just Like the Ocean
This is another thing that we hear a lot and it actually makes sense when you think about it. After all, everyone knows that the ocean has salt water, so it would stand to reason that a salt water pool might be exactly the same.
This can be a turn-off because swimming in the ocean for an extended period of time can irritate your eyes and cause other issues. The good news is that a salt water pool only contains 1/10 of the salt you’ll find in the ocean. And… absolutely no sharks!
Salt Water Will Damage Your Pool
We’ll rank this one as a half-misconception. While the salt water isn’t going to damage the pool itself, you still need to be careful of corrosion in the pumps, filters, heaters, and metal pipes. However, this also happens with a traditional pool, especially when you use liquid chlorine. It typically happens due to either a lack or incorrect bonding of metallic pool equipment.
Salt Pools Require No Maintenance
If you were hoping that the installation of a salt water pool system would allow you to “set it and forget it,” we’ll have to disappoint you a bit. You still need to watch the pH level of the water because it will increase as the salt cells produce chlorine.
In certain situations, such as environmental issues or an increased number of swimmers, the pool may need to be boosted or shocked to keep the water sanitized or may even require you to add a bit of chlorine yourself.
Contact Larsen’s Pool & Spa for More Salt Water Pool Information
Now that we’ve cleared up the most common misconceptions of salt water pools, you should have a better idea of whether it’s a good choice for your particular household. Larsen’s Pool & Spa can assist you with the design and installation of custom pools in Tampa Bay. If you have any questions or would like a free, no-obligation estimate, give us a call at (727) 786-POOL (7665) today.
