Several Questions

[Sallie]

I don't have a SWG, but I know I need one. Here are my questions.

I saw that the salt comes in large bags. Where do you get them - pool store? How much are they? How big are the bags? About how many bags would I need to get started and then about how often do you have to put more in? Would I still need bleach?

 

[JasonLion]

Salt comes in 40, 60, and 80 pound bags. You can get it at a pool store, but I recommend getting water softener salt from a place like Home Depot or Lowes. Look for salt that is 99.4% pure or better and doesn't have any rust inhibitor or other additives. The best choices include Diamond Crystal® Solar Salt Extra Coarse Crystals in blue bags, Morton® White Crystal® Water Softener Salt in blue bags, or Diamond Crystal® Sun Gems® Crystals Water Softener Salt in yellow bags.

A 40 lb bag of water softener salt costs around $5. With a 25,000 gallon pool you will need somewhere around 500 to 600 lbs of salt. Be sure to measure your current salt level before adding salt. You usually only need to add salt once a season, occasionally more if you have a lot of water replacement.

You still need bleach only when you need to shock. It is rare than a SWG pool needs to be shocked, so that isn't very often.

 

[Sallie]

Well, if I could ever get my FC to hold overnight and if I had the money, I'd go right out and get one. Thanks for your detailed answer.