Salt in new pool

[rinaldok]

I posted in another thread, but my remodel is wrapping up and I have a new mini pebble surface that's about 3 days old.

My plan is to convert to SWCG ASAP.

PB *strongly* recommends against SWCG with all the typical reasons (it causes corrosion of the decking, it doesn't produce enough chlorine, etc.) but I have no doubt that it's not a coincidence that they're trying to steer me toward their very pricey UV sanitizer. I said "no."

I'm going SWCG whether he likes it or not.

HOWEVER, he didn't really want to answer my questions about how long I had to wait to add salt to the new pool. At one point he said "at LEAST 30 days" but then he kept circling back to "don't use salt."

Words of caution? Advice? I looked at past posts and it seems to be a consensus around 30 days on pebble, but I also saw one thread where a PB blamed a pebble surface failure on adding salt within 6 months.

So, oh mighty exalted gurus of all things pool... how long should I / must I wait to add salt (and borates) to my new pebble pool?

I have 10 bags of salt on standby which should get me to 3200ppm, and I'll be ordering a T-CELL-15 (probably with the PL-PLUS) from Inyo here in the next day or two.

Fun fact: my fresh fill tested at 200ppm salt

Thanks!

 

[mknauss]

Pool School - Start-up New Plaster

Read the article. I believe it is advised to wait 30 days.

 

[Deb04]

I can’t comment on the
Pebble because I don’t have that, but you are going to LOVE your SWG. We’re on our 11th summer and no corrosion anywhere.

 

[rinaldok]

Pool School - Start-up New Plaster

Read the article. I believe it is advised to wait 30 days.

I did read that and I noted that I'd seen general consensus of 30 days, but that page specifically addresses plaster and I have not seen anything that states if all startup parameters are the same for pebble vs. plaster, or any specific differences between procedures for the surfaces.

 

[jblizzle]

Best to treat the pebble as if it was plaster and wait 30 days.

 

[riley00dog]

Best to wait the 30 days advised by your pb. In Australia our salt goes in pretty much straight after fill unless you have a jewelled or other fancy type of pebble in which case it is typically two weeks. Almost all concrete pools here have a mini pebble interior. Our salt went in on day 3. Your pb holds your warranty so as much as you are itching to get get salt in you are best off waiting.

 

[rinaldok]

Best to treat the pebble as if it was plaster and wait 30 days.

I figured that was safe and wasn't going to rush it, but was that < 6 months issue just a goofy PB and an isolated incident or have we heard of any other similar occurrences?

 

[jblizzle]

I can't see how salt would have caused a problem after 6 months. It had to be a bad install and it likely would have failed even without salt

 

[rinaldok]

I can't see how salt would have caused a problem after 6 months. It had to be a bad install and it likely would have failed even without salt

That's about what I figured.

I have a feeling PB is going to keep telling me "don't use salt, get this UV system" so I wanted to make sure I had a safe amount of time.

 

[Ocgasman]

My PB put in salt after 2 weeks.