- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,775
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- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Walmart accepts manufacturer’s coupons for in store purchases ( no store/grocery pickup or online).
Morton Pool Salt from Home Depot really messed up my pool
- Thread starter blueman2
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- morton pool salt
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A few thoughts:
- I see nothing that prevents disposing of salt in the garbage in California. Yes, it might have to be one a a week just for space/weight, but it's not hazardous waste.
- Morton should at the very minimum be willing to reimburse you for all of the bags (or instruct you to return the unopened ones and reimburse for the opened ones). I think you can and should ask them for your other costs also, but refunding their defective product is a baseline.
- If they are not, you should return the unopened bags to Home Depot for a refund.
- What makes you think Home Depot won't take those coupons -- who said that? I believe they don't take *competitor's* coupons (i.e. a Lowes coupon), but from everything I've seen they do take regular manufacturer's coupons.
If you could find a bag not labeled from that Mexico plant, it would be interesting to compare the contents side by side. But personally, from all the reports here I'm going to just stick with the Diamond Crystals brand going forward.
Day 4 update:
Discoloration of the plaster is definitely reducing. I can see a somewhat brown hue still in the deep end, but the water is finally clearing up and a natural blue color is returning. I have been monitoring chemistry very closely and aside from the lower than expected salt content, everything else has remained spot on. I have to remove and spray off my cartridge filters each evening, as well and shop-vac the inside of the filter housing to get rid of sand and brown/black gunk, and have put clarifier in a couple times now, but things seem to get getting back to normal. I feel good enough now to switch to the new filters I bought, and will throw away the old ones that were discolored from the salt gunk.
So thanks everyone for the support and ideas. I helps to have a community to bounce ideas off of and to commiserate with.
Discoloration of the plaster is definitely reducing. I can see a somewhat brown hue still in the deep end, but the water is finally clearing up and a natural blue color is returning. I have been monitoring chemistry very closely and aside from the lower than expected salt content, everything else has remained spot on. I have to remove and spray off my cartridge filters each evening, as well and shop-vac the inside of the filter housing to get rid of sand and brown/black gunk, and have put clarifier in a couple times now, but things seem to get getting back to normal. I feel good enough now to switch to the new filters I bought, and will throw away the old ones that were discolored from the salt gunk.
So thanks everyone for the support and ideas. I helps to have a community to bounce ideas off of and to commiserate with.
Did they pick up the salt?
Are you asking for compensation?
If yes, what are you asking for and have they replied with an answer?
Are they going to do an analysis of the salt?
If yes, are they going to let you know the results of the tests?
Are you asking for compensation?
If yes, what are you asking for and have they replied with an answer?
Are they going to do an analysis of the salt?
If yes, are they going to let you know the results of the tests?
@JamesW and @jmastron , thanks for the ideas. I did learn that if I need to dispose of the salt, even in California it is OK to just put in trash (subject to weight limits). So that remains an option. I still resist returning to Home Depot since they would probably resell to someone else and I don't want that to happen. I only have 4 bags left, and it was only $8 per bag, so no big deal. They did say someone would come to pick up the bags, but I have not heard anything from them as far a when. But good idea to ask for report of what was in that salt so that I can know if I need to take other actions to clean the water.
As for Morton company, I told them my costs so far and asked for help with those costs. I have not asked for any compensation for the discoloration since I am hoping that will resolve itself over time. So far, they have not offered to pay for anything, not even a refund for the cost of the salt (16 bags x $8). Luckily the amount of money at this point is small (under $500 for the salt, water clarifier, and new filters) so if they ignore my request, I will just live with it. I will report back if I hear anything else from Morton.
Thanks again everyone who has replied with ideas and support.
As for Morton company, I told them my costs so far and asked for help with those costs. I have not asked for any compensation for the discoloration since I am hoping that will resolve itself over time. So far, they have not offered to pay for anything, not even a refund for the cost of the salt (16 bags x $8). Luckily the amount of money at this point is small (under $500 for the salt, water clarifier, and new filters) so if they ignore my request, I will just live with it. I will report back if I hear anything else from Morton.
Thanks again everyone who has replied with ideas and support.
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I'm sure they need as much as possible to try and determine which batch #s it came from, how many might be affected and if it's recall worthy. Especially at HD, the pallet on the shelf could have been stacked from several pallets from different batches/locations. They need as much info as they can get to see how to proceed.
I wouldn't expect any company to just blindly compensate anyone without doing their due diligence first. Hopefully they make things right after being given the chance.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,775
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Hunt up some TSP to soak your filters in.
Hopefully they can be saved & then you will have spares.
Hopefully they can be saved & then you will have spares.
In addition to direct costs, you can ask for pain and suffering for the emotional damage and costs related to any therapy required to help you process the trauma.
............ i'll never eat a seasoned hamburger again. 
*judge bangs gavel and awards me 17 million dollars*
*judge bangs gavel and awards me 17 million dollars*
- Jul 17, 2019
- 3,721
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- 13000
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- Plaster
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- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Edit - The below could be a rumor so take it with a grain of salt
At one point I saw that they were making salt from the brine/slurry from fracking at oil wells. The brine contains huge amounts of salt and other stuff you do not want in water and is hard to dispose of.
On paper, you can extract the salt, remove the other impurities, and re-introduce the purified water back into the water cycle. Sometimes things look better on paper, and I'm guessing your brown oily salt came from something like this.
At one point I saw that they were making salt from the brine/slurry from fracking at oil wells. The brine contains huge amounts of salt and other stuff you do not want in water and is hard to dispose of.
On paper, you can extract the salt, remove the other impurities, and re-introduce the purified water back into the water cycle. Sometimes things look better on paper, and I'm guessing your brown oily salt came from something like this.
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- May 3, 2014
- 58,505
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- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
To the best of my knowledge from my friends (and old colleagues) working in the business, this is fake news.
Saturn94
Bronze Supporter
- Mar 11, 2015
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This was my first thought as well based on the OP’s description and pictures.
Saturn94
Bronze Supporter
- Mar 11, 2015
- 1,749
- Pool Size
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- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Interesting. I thought Clorox was one if the companies getting salt from fracking brine waste?
The OP’s description and pictures certainly look like the salt is contaminated with oil. I guess this could of happened in the processing as well (machinery leaking oil into the product).
The Fracking Industry Is Selling Radioactive Waste Brine to the Public as a Road Deicer and Pool…
Yes, the government knows about it.
medium.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
I don't want to jump to any conclusions on what was in the Morton Pool Salt I used in my pool. Though I referred to it as oily, it did not smell like a petroleum product. I also did not see any rainbow effects on the surface that you get with petroleum products. My guess is that it was just very dirty with perhaps organic compounds that gave it the oily gunky characteristics.
I have been hit with the tainted Morton salt. I bought mine from Home Depot in Antelope, CA. I dumped two bags before realizing it. Interestingly the 3 bags of Morton salt I bought earlier in the week from Home Depot in Roseville, CA were crystals and not the fine sand-like bags containing the brown slick. I will be returning the remaining bags and only buying the ones that are not so fine.
Mine cleared up but it looks like the sludge created from decaying waste film that I used to get in my bio filter for my koi pond. If you have ever been talked into Phos-free it looked exactly like that garbage.
Mine cleared up but it looks like the sludge created from decaying waste film that I used to get in my bio filter for my koi pond. If you have ever been talked into Phos-free it looked exactly like that garbage.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,775
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Definitely Call Morton’s & report the lot numbers.
If nothing else, now I know to check for crystals and not fine sand when dumping in bags of salt. Sorry y'all had to go through this.
I wonder if it might make sense to put a warning on TFP site to avoid Morton salt for now, or at least avoid the mfg code I listed earlier (Mexico LB23065002). This seems like the 3rd confirmation? Certainly appears like this was not just a few bags. I don't want anyone else to go through this. That is why I refuse to bring my remaining 4 bags back to Home Depot, to avoid someone else getting their pools messed up if Home Depot tries to resell them.
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