A Whole Lotta Salt

[TheRydad]

I moved into a new house last July. The pool builder had another guy do the pool startup for the first month. I'm pretty sure he miscalculated the volume of the pool, and he put in a LOT of salt. After almost a year, it still is reading 5400ppm per the IntelliChlor.

I know from my last pool it ideally should be in the 2800-3200ppm range. Or, at least that is where I kept it and life was good.

Besides it tasting and feeling a little salty, is there any reason for me to partially drain and fill? I now use a weekly maintenance service and everything else (chlorine, pH, etc.) are all fine according to the reports they leave behind. I have not asked them yet about the salinity because I forget about it until the weekend when I can't call them.

Everything is brand new (as of July 2021) Pentair- 3 filter pumps (circulation, in-floor cleaning and waterfall feature), DE filter, heater (might not be Pentair) and IntelliCenter panel. Am I risking corrosion with this much salt?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Am I risking corrosion with this much salt?

That really depends on what is in the pool in terms of metallic components and if you trust your pool service to keep the pH in the proper range. Metal corrosion is driven by pH, specifically low pH. The presence of chloride or sulfates changes what particular mechanism of corrosion is dominant (pitting corrosion, crevice corrosion, etc) but does not determine if corrosion will happen or not. Cheap steel ladders or light niche rings will corrode more easily than good quality stainless steel materials. Aluminum tracks on autocovers can suffer from chloride attack if the salinity is too high and the pH is not in range. Higher TDS due to the salt levels will enhance galvanic corrosion but only if dissimilar metals are in close contact with a good pathway for current flow.

As for stone or cementitious materials around the pool, salinity is not what determines their failure. Proper pool water balance goes a long way to keeping those materials in good shape.

I would suggest you lower the salinity through periodic hard draining and refills. When you know a storm is coming with a good amount of rain forecast, lower the pool water a few inches and let the rain refill it. Rain water is free of almost all dissolved solids with minimal alkalinity and very soft.

 

[TheRydad]

@JoyfulNoise - This is fantastic information. Thank you!

(Bob Ross Chia head for the win.)