SWG pool opening, replenishing salt and metal remover

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M

Mpet

Active member
May 9, 2019
33
Hopkinton, NH
Our pool is being opened this week and the shop doing the opening is recommending metal remover as we have to replenish the salt. Last summer was our first with salt, and we did not use metal remover and had no issues. Do we need this?
 
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If you're buying quality salt it shouldn't have unwanted metals in it, as far as I know.

If you haven't had issues with metals before, it sounds like they're just trying to sell you something.
 
Did they do any tests to decide this? If they did test please share your results and experts will figure out what you need to do. On the surface sounds pretty bogus to me. We don't add anything to the pool without a test method that's known to be accurate and a result that demonstrates something is needed.

Salt is not normally removed from the pool unless you drain water and replace with fresh water. Salt is not consumed in the disinfection chemistry, it's 100% recycled back into the water. Get a Taylor K1766 test kit and test your water to determine if you need any salt. You can use any pool or water softener salt that has no additives. It's super easy to do, just dump the amount required in the shallow end. Normally it's gone in 30 minutes or less. If not just push it back and forth a couple times with the brush... much easier to do in the shallow end.

Chris
 
setsailsoon said:
Did they do any tests to decide this? If they did test please share your results and experts will figure out what you need to do. On the surface sounds pretty bogus to me. We don't add anything to the pool without a test method that's known to be accurate and a result that demonstrates something is needed.

Salt is not normally removed from the pool unless you drain water and replace with fresh water. Salt is not consumed in the disinfection chemistry, it's 100% recycled back into the water. Get a Taylor K1766 test kit and test your water to determine if you need any salt. You can use any pool or water softener salt that has no additives. It's super easy to do, just dump the amount required in the shallow end. Normally it's gone in 30 minutes or less. If not just push it back and forth a couple times with the brush... much easier to do in the shallow end.

Chris
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Thanks. The salt is 400 presently per the Taylor K1766. The pool was drained partially at closing and then we had to drain more as the snow melted/it rained a lot this spring. They didn't do any tests, but said that if you add 3-4 bags of salt, they'd recommend a quart of metal remover. Pool Math says we need 18 bags of salt. Planning to skip the metal remover as I've not read anything here about it but thought I'd ask first.
 
Mpet said:
Thanks. The salt is 400 presently per the Taylor K1766. The pool was drained partially at closing and then we had to drain more as the snow melted/it rained a lot this spring. They didn't do any tests, but said that if you add 3-4 bags of salt, they'd recommend a quart of metal remover. Pool Math says we need 18 bags of salt. Planning to skip the metal remover as I've not read anything here about it but thought I'd ask first.
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M,

Sounds like you're doing very well. Proper test kit is important and you've got the right one. I get 18 bags required also. I'd put in about half and circulate 'till gone plus a couple hours then test again just to make sure you don't over shoot. You can use any water softener salt that has no additives. Morton make one that comes in pellets or granules both dissolve very quickly. It's also 99.7%+ pure. I read here often that may use the generic brands also with good success. No idea why they recommend the metal remover with no analysis. Is your water known to contain rust or other metals? Even with that I'd want to test first. I'll ask a few others more knowledgeable than me on pool opening to comment on that issue. @ajw22 @JoyfulNoise is there any reason to add a metal remover when opening a salt pool?

You're asking all the right questions. Please do keep us posted!

Chris
 
I would run the pumps for a while and circulate the water while also brushing. Fresh water and brackish water do not homogenize well especially if the water is cold. You could have a layer of fresh water sitting on the previous high salinity water. It would be extremely unusually to go from 3200ppm (avg salinity needed by an SWG) to 400ppm over one winter even with heavy snow and rain. DO you really believe that you transferred out over 88% of your pool water?

Wait, let the system circulate for at least 48 hours and then test your salinity using a water sample drawn from about 3-4ft below the surface in the deep end. You may find that those 18 bags of salt you needed suddenly turned into 8 bags.

Skip the metal remover....
 
Mpet said:
What would be quality salt vs non quality salt?
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Low quality salt is Clorox Pool Salt or water softener salt with additives.

I have been very happy with Diamond Crystal or Morton’s pool salt.

And there should be no reason for the metal remover other then the pool store making a sale. You getting the salt from the pool store?
 
setsailsoon said:
M,

Sounds like you're doing very well. Proper test kit is important and you've got the right one. I get 18 bags required also. I'd put in about half and circulate 'till gone plus a couple hours then test again just to make sure you don't over shoot. You can use any water softener salt that has no additives. Morton make one that comes in pellets or granules both dissolve very quickly. It's also 99.7%+ pure. I read here often that may use the generic brands also with good success. No idea why they recommend the metal remover with no analysis. Is your water known to contain rust or other metals? Even with that I'd want to test first. I'll ask a few others more knowledgeable than me on pool opening to comment on that issue. @ajw22 @JoyfulNoise is there any reason to add a metal remover when opening a salt pool?

You're asking all the right questions. Please do keep us posted!

Chris
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Thanks. No known issues with the water, but last year we replaced the liner so the pool was filled with truck water so as to not stress our well. This year the water has been replaced with rain water/snow melt as we dropped the water level at least twice to accommodate. So not much is going to come from the well.
ajw22 said:
Low quality salt is Clorox Pool Salt or water softener salt with additives.

I have been very happy with Diamond Crystal or Morton’s pool salt.

And there should be no reason for the metal remover other then the pool store making a sale. You getting the salt from the pool store?
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Thank you. I asked them for their cost and will compare to other store prices. Obviously now want to make sure I'm comparing quality salt. They would deliver to pool deck since they are doing the other work which will also factor into my decision slightly.
 
Do you get your fill water from a well? That's the only other reason I can think of to use metal remover, but I still wouldn't add it without testing for metals first.
My question posted just as yours did. I bet the well is why they recommended metal remover. Test your well water at a pool store. Iron would be the most common problem with well water. You probably won't need metal remover unless your well is saturated with iron. Well water conditions can change over time so its a good idea to have it tested annually.
 

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Mpet said:
Thank you. I asked them for their cost and will compare to other store prices. Obviously now want to make sure I'm comparing quality salt. They would deliver to pool deck since they are doing the other work which will also factor into my decision slightly.
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I am suspect if the store is selling you the salt and recommending metal remover to protect against what may be in the salt they are selling you???

A pool store should sell known high quality pool salt. If they are selling low quality salt to pad their profits along with metal remover I would not set foot in that store again.
 
Mpet said:
Thanks. No known issues with the water, but last year we replaced the liner so the pool was filled with truck water so as to not stress our well. This year the water has been replaced with rain water/snow melt as we dropped the water level at least twice to accommodate. So not much is going to come from the well.

Thank you. I asked them for their cost and will compare to other store prices. Obviously now want to make sure I'm comparing quality salt. They would deliver to pool deck since they are doing the other work which will also factor into my decision slightly.
Click to expand...
M, you can get Morton's or Diamond at Loews for under $5 a bag. It's 99.7%+.
 
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