Caution! - stay away from Clorox brand pool salt

[FnC80]

I’ve been staring at my crystal clear water all winter, and now that the pool temp is near 70 I figured it’s time to do the spring chem balance and tweak everything to its optimal range. In anticipation of this I bought a couple bags of Clorox pool salt from Lowe’s a month or so ago as it was on sale. I always buy it from Leslie’s, but I figured salt is salt and it said 99.9% pure. Plus I was already at Lowe’s buying other things. Why not save a few $$ and what could go wrong? Well long story short, it says 99.9% pure but that extra 0.01% that isn’t is nasty. It left a brown stain on the plaster and when added to a bucket to dissolve with water, the water turned brown and left foamy scum on the side. In my days of using bleach I knew Clorox wasn’t great, low concentration and $$$. It seems their salt is something to steer clear of too. The pics below speak for themselves and a fair warning to others eager to open up their pools this spring.

 

[cwswifty]

Yikes! Thanks for the heads-up!!

 

[Newdude]

Way ahead of ya sadly. Most salt brands are dirty but Chlorox salt has had iron in it enough times that we advise against it. Or anything else from them besides their CYA.

Mortons gave some people issues last year too.

Did you know you can also use water softener salt next to the hot water heaters at HD/Lowes ? It's usually a few bucks cheaper per bag but it fluctuates like anything else. Make sure it's the 100% / pure one. The chunks are a little bigger so it takes an extra 30 mins to dissolve. I dump mine on my stairs, then brush it into the shallow end (so it's easier to toddler with). Then I return for a re-brush every half hour until its gone. It rarely needs a 3rd visit.

 

[FnC80]

I’ve heard of using water softener salt, and having a water softener I use it regularly just not in the pool. Since I converted to salt I’ve just always used Leslie’s. It’s pure, fine grained, and dissolves really fast. Pour in, a quick brush, then it’s nearly gone. Though I do pay extra for that as it’s $12 a bag.

 

[ajw22]

That is a known problem with Clorox Salt and a good reminder at the start of the season…

Salt - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Investigation: Clorox Selling Pool Salt Made From Fracking Wastewater

You might be shocked to learn that a Clorox product used to treat swimming pools came from fracking wastewater.Public Herald has discovered that Eureka Resources, a company based in Pennsylvania, has been treating wastewater from shale gas development — a.k.a. “fracking” — and packaging the...

publicherald.org

 

[Newdude]

Though I do pay extra for that as it’s $12 a bag.

Last year I was surprised that the water softener salt was $10 each at HD while their fancy pool salt was $8, so I saved and had one less brushing to do.

Most years it's the other way 'round. Thanks for the reminder I should start looking soon.

 

[bayoub]

I’ve been staring at my crystal clear water all winter, and now that the pool temp is near 70 I figured it’s time to do the spring chem balance and tweak everything to its optimal range. In anticipation of this I bought a couple bags of Clorox pool salt from Lowe’s a month or so ago as it was on sale. I always buy it from Leslie’s, but I figured salt is salt and it said 99.9% pure. Plus I was already at Lowe’s buying other things. Why not save a few $$ and what could go wrong? Well long story short, it says 99.9% pure but that extra 0.01% that isn’t is nasty. It left a brown stain on the plaster and when added to a bucket to dissolve with water, the water turned brown and left foamy scum on the side. In my days of using bleach I knew Clorox wasn’t great, low concentration and $$$. It seems their salt is something to steer clear of too. The pics below speak for themselves and a fair warning to others eager to open up their pools this spring.
View attachment 555711View attachment 555712

Omg I’m having same problem. I have bought 16 bags ( that’s about $135!) of Clorox salt from Lowe’s in this last week. When I add it to my pool it turns brown. After putting in and it dissolves, I test it and it still registrars no chlorine. I even tested it the next day thinking it had to run through the system. Still 0 chlorine! Thank you for sharing. There should be a class action suit against Clorox for this!

 

[Chief2505]

I used this salt and had no problem with it just in the past couple of weeks. It dissolved fast, easy to pour into the pool, super fine and had no troubles with it. But, I got mine off a brand new pallet at Lowes. The pallet still had the shrink wrap on it. Different manufacture dates? Age of salt? Do these things make a difference?

So far mine has given me no problems and has worked as intended, maybe even better than intended since I did not have to add as much as all the tables said I would have to add.

 

[wireform]

Omg I’m having same problem. I have bought 16 bags ( that’s about $135!) of Clorox salt from Lowe’s in this last week. When I add it to my pool it turns brown. After putting in and it dissolves, I test it and it still registrars no chlorine. I even tested it the next day thinking it had to run through the system. Still 0 chlorine! Thank you for sharing. There should be a class action suit against Clorox for this!

I wouldn't blame the no chlorine on the salt but rather how you're testing. Can you tell me what test kit you have. You have not filled in your signature yet.Can you show the full testing levels in the following format.
FC
CC
PH
TA
CH
SALINITY
CYA
The issue with Clorox brand isn't the not making chlorine but rather the impurities that are left behind after the salt is in solution from the mining process. You may have something else going on which is eating your chlorine faster then it's being produced.

 

[Icicle278]

I’ve been staring at my crystal clear water all winter, and now that the pool temp is near 70 I figured it’s time to do the spring chem balance and tweak everything to its optimal range. In anticipation of this I bought a couple bags of Clorox pool salt from Lowe’s a month or so ago as it was on sale. I always buy it from Leslie’s, but I figured salt is salt and it said 99.9% pure. Plus I was already at Lowe’s buying other things. Why not save a few $$ and what could go wrong? Well long story short, it says 99.9% pure but that extra 0.01% that isn’t is nasty. It left a brown stain on the plaster and when added to a bucket to dissolve with water, the water turned brown and left foamy scum on the side. In my days of using bleach I knew Clorox wasn’t great, low concentration and $$$. It seems their salt is something to steer clear of too. The pics below speak for themselves and a fair warning to others eager to open up their pools this spring.
View attachment 555711View attachment 555712

I used the clorox salt the past few seasons and it appeared very much white in the bag and clear in the pool. This year it appears off-white in the bag, and leaves my pool looking exactly as you are complaining about, dirty with a brown foam on the surface. Yuck! Seems to me they have changed the makeup of the mixture significantly since last year and it is horrible.