Anode for Salt Pool?

[427vette]

I see anodes being recommended by som for salt water pool, worth it or just snake oil?

 

[Bperry]

I see anodes being recommended by som for salt water pool, worth it or just snake oil?

Snake oil.

 

[Newdude]

It's real science misapplied to pools. Everything a pool owner adds is either a salt, or breaks down into salt. Their salinity rises and nobody ever tests it. But call it a 'salt pool' with similar low levels of salinity and people think sea water which has 10X the salinity.

It's a pool and not the ocean.

 

[Jimrahbe]

427,

You'd be the only pool in Texas to have one...

All Magic, but no Rabbit...

I have three 10 year old saltwater pools in the DFW area.. No Anodes, and not a sign of corrosion of any kind...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[nuttyp]

All good to know, thanks all. Even some of the anode sellers point to keeping the chemistry balanced as primary protection of components, as they refer to the LSI (Langlier Saturation Index), etc. Balanced chemistry being something TFP hammers home consistently. But can we then explain why the anode in a domestic water heater works, but not for a pool? Or do we think that's all hooey too? Manufacturers of water heaters insist on a maintained anode rod in order to ensure the warranty. Maybe they just want to sell the replacement anode rods - suggesting we replace it very 1-3 years or so? I surmise there is more to it, at least in the case of domestic water heaters. I recently replaced the one in my water heater, it had indeed "sacrificed" itself

 

[ajw22]

All good to know, thanks all. Even some of the anode sellers point to keeping the chemistry balanced as primary protection of components, as they refer to the LSI (Langlier Saturation Index), etc. Balanced chemistry being something TFP hammers home consistently. But can we then explain why the anode in a domestic water heater works, but not for a pool? Or do we think that's all hooey too? Manufacturers of water heaters insist on a maintained anode rod in order to ensure the warranty. Maybe they just want to sell the replacement anode rods - suggesting we replace it very 1-3 years or so? I surmise there is more to it, at least in the case of domestic water heaters. I recently replaced the one in my water heater, it had indeed "sacrificed" itself

List the materials in your domestic water heater compared to the materials pool water comes in contact with?

Two very different environments.

 

[Newdude]

Water heaters are a different animal altogether and possibly contributes to the 'if it works there it has to work here' premise.

Some pool heaters or lights have them, and we're ok with the manufacture installed anodes at that point.

For the pool itself though, they don't even follow the accepted practices of approximately 2% of the surface area of the metals needing protection. For a steel walled pool where they are frequently pushed, they'd need a cinderblocks worth of anodes spread all around. Placing a rando anode away from the areas it's meant to protect, and far smaller than need be is almost laughable.

Nor are there two dissimilar metals touching anywhere that's supposedly protected which is another biggie for the need for an anode.

 

[nuttyp]

Great feedback & answers - thanks guys. I too was thinking along these lines per @Newdude : "Placing a rando anode away from the areas it's meant to protect, and far smaller than need be is almost laughable."