So I salted my chlorine pool. A review.

Jump to latest Follow Reply
n240sxguy said:
I added salt to my pool twice several weeks ago. I used pool salt both times. I don't remember the brand from the pool store, but the second addition was Morton from Walmart. The stuff from the pool store was almost completely dissolved by the time it got to the bottom of the pool. I had to brush it for about 2 minutes to help it finish dissolving. The Morton from Walmart took 15 minutes of pushing huge piles of salt around the bottom to get it to dissolve.
Click to expand...

It's all the same, you're just paying for smaller particles that disolve faster. For me it is not worth $15 a bag for the small granules at the pool store when Morton's at Walmart is $5. I'll wait the 15 mins....

Ok, question. Adding softener salt to a chlorine pool is for softening only, right, not for chlorine production? Maintaining the pool would be the same as before and the only difference is the pool has salt in it, no change in filters or anything? Thought many people added borates to pools for the same softening effect plus other benefits.....? Could you use both or is it an either or thing? Still learning.... Many thanks in advance for the clarification.
Click to expand...

Salt does both. And softener salt, after it's disolved, is the same as pool salt. Maintenance is the same. Can't speak to borates. Personally, I don't think there's much difference with 2000-3000ppm of salt in the water. I do love having a SWG though, and I haven't had a algae bloom since I installed it last summer.
 
The pool store I went to just happened to have 10 bags that she had ordered for someone and they backed out. We started the conversation about how much it was at walmart, which she knew all too well. We settled on $6.50 a bag. She buys her pool salt for about what walmart sells it for, and then doubles the price. I still need to go back and get the other five bags just to have around.
 
Get the Taylor salt test kit. It matches what my SWG says, so I'm assuming that's accurate. I like it better than the strips. Plus you get more tests out of the kit too.

I looked at the solar salt at home depot, but I didn't see on the bag where it listed all the ingredients, so it scared me off. When I first salted my pool, I think I had 500 pounds of morton's in the walmart shopping cart. Those things are sturdy...
 
Just in case anyone is interested, I had my level tested and it was 1780. Feels pretty good to us. I doubt I will bother raising it any more. I should also have mentioned that during the time that it takes for the water to bond up with the salt (whatever it is that happens - I know it isn't actually softening the water because there is the need for an ion to be replaced or something) - anyway, during the time before the water was feeling all nice, we were getting some "salt scum" on our skin. It only lasted for a couple of days, but we were a little "crusty" for lack of a better term. Like a little dust of powder on our skin when we got out of the pool. Just in case anyone does it, don't freak out that you screwed up if everything doesn't fall in to place the first 24 hours.
 
Feel only.

And regarding buying salt, it took over 1000 lbs to bring my pool up to 3500. Here's how you buy that much salt from Home Depot... order it online and select the "pick up at store" option. You'll get a text when it is ready, and when you go to the store they will forklift the salt into the truck for you. The only way it could have been easier is if they came home with me and dumped it into the pool.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply