I just moved to Texas last year and bought a house with a pool that needed some rehabilitation. It was “in working condition” according to the contract, but that probably means they had poured in a bunch of “shock” and clarifiers. I found the packaging. Shortly after moving in, our DE filter blew its top (thankfully after my small children and I had walked away from it after rescuing a frog that had jumped into the skimmer). It turns out that the filter had been cracked and epoxied.
All that to say, we had an opportunity to make equipment replacements and we opted for a SWCG. The company we hired are actually the ones who taught me about the FC/CYA relationship, told me to get the Taylor FAS/DPD kit, not to use the tab feeder but to use liquid chlorine. They weren’t pushing salt, but I was interested in it. Their biggest concern was to make sure that I understood that a salt pool is still a chlorine pool, not some sort of “chemical-free” water, whatever that might mean. I do remember their explaining that salt levels in residential pools are still considered “freshwater” for other equipment so not to panic that my DE filter was labeled as such. They said that there is a lot of misinformation about SWCGs, especially in Texas, among pool builders. My stone looks very similar to yours, and it flakes and chips, but they told me it’s the nature of the stone, and adding a few hundred pounds of salt to the pool won’t accelerate it particularly. (The pool had plenty of deteriorating stone in the months before we went to salt.). I have to manage my pH frequently by adding muriatic acid a couple times a week (no fancy setup like Dirk’s), but I do really like having my chlorine added consistently throughout the time the sunlight hits my pool.
I think that was just a long-winded way of saying that Texas seems slow to hop on the SWCG bandwagon, and the concerns that are often raised about corrosion don’t really seem to have strong science behind them. Do your research, ask your questions, and see if you can find a good installer if you need one. (I don’t do electricity and plumbing and have no advice for you there.)
All that to say, we had an opportunity to make equipment replacements and we opted for a SWCG. The company we hired are actually the ones who taught me about the FC/CYA relationship, told me to get the Taylor FAS/DPD kit, not to use the tab feeder but to use liquid chlorine. They weren’t pushing salt, but I was interested in it. Their biggest concern was to make sure that I understood that a salt pool is still a chlorine pool, not some sort of “chemical-free” water, whatever that might mean. I do remember their explaining that salt levels in residential pools are still considered “freshwater” for other equipment so not to panic that my DE filter was labeled as such. They said that there is a lot of misinformation about SWCGs, especially in Texas, among pool builders. My stone looks very similar to yours, and it flakes and chips, but they told me it’s the nature of the stone, and adding a few hundred pounds of salt to the pool won’t accelerate it particularly. (The pool had plenty of deteriorating stone in the months before we went to salt.). I have to manage my pH frequently by adding muriatic acid a couple times a week (no fancy setup like Dirk’s), but I do really like having my chlorine added consistently throughout the time the sunlight hits my pool.
I think that was just a long-winded way of saying that Texas seems slow to hop on the SWCG bandwagon, and the concerns that are often raised about corrosion don’t really seem to have strong science behind them. Do your research, ask your questions, and see if you can find a good installer if you need one. (I don’t do electricity and plumbing and have no advice for you there.)
