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Saltwater Pools By NICOLE PRIOLO

The words salt pool might conjure up unappealing thoughts of the smell and taste of ocean water in a backyard pool. But in reality, salt pools don’t feel, taste, or smell any different than traditional pools, and have the added benefits of being environmentally and budget friendly.

Matt Ratliff, founder of Sunshine Fun, Inc. in College Station., thinks salt pools should be renamed because the name is so misleading. Despite the confusion, salt pools have become the pool of choice for many consumers and builders. About 99 percent of the pools Ratliff now installs are salt pools. But the shift toward salt pools has been a recent change, occurring within the last five years or so.

According to Ratliff, the technology for chlorine generators (the device used in salt pools) has come down drastically in price over the last several years, and this shift has caused an increase in the popularity of salt pools. Chlorine, used in traditional pools, has risen in price following gas prices, so although five years ago you could buy a 35-pound bucket of chlorine for around $15-20, that same bucket now costs about double. Ratliff says customers easily spend $300-400 a season if they’re operating a traditional pool. Installing a chlorine generator for a salt pool costs about $1500, it easily pays for itself when compared to how much consumers spend on chlorine.

“Customers, like gas consumers, are looking for alternatives to something besides just buying chlorine,” Ratliff says, and that alternative is basic table salt. With a saltwater system, consumers add salt to the pool water, and then the saltwater gets pushed through the plumbing, where the generator sits. A small DC (direct current) charge, equivalent to that of a 9-volt battery, is passed through the water.

“What it does is it instantly separates the sodium from the chloride. That water gets pushed out through the plumbing. As it goes in the pool, it’s chlorine now, so it’s killing the bacteria,” Ratliff explains.

With a traditional pool, the owner has to put in about 8-10 ppm (parts per million) chlorine to shock the pool or to add high doses of chlorine. “What we’re doing with the chlorinator is we’re putting in a constant dose but at a really low rate, so about 1-2 ppm. We’re keeping low doses of chlorine all the time in the pool,” Ratliff explains. “The best part about it is when the sun hits it, it turns it back into salt, so it just regenerates itself over and over.” It’s like a car that can recharge and run on its own fuel.

A common concern with consumers is their assumption that a saltwater pool will feel and taste salty like ocean water. However, the level of salt is kept around 2800 ppm, compared to around 28,000 ppm in the ocean. It is below taste level, and Ratliff says you can’t even tell the salt is in there.

Besides economic incentives for operating a chlorine generator, there are environmental incentives as well. With a saltwater system, chlorine is not added to the pool as with a traditional pool. In the process of manufacturing chlorine, chemical plants are releasing harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. “We’re cutting that back by using salt and creating our own. In other words, we’re creating our own little miniature chlorine factory in the pool.”