Potassium Chloride with SWG?

[focalboy]

Greetings Everyone,

This is my first post and it may be a real noob question, but here goes. I am about to be a first time pool owner in about a week. I am getting a 12x24 Kayak pool and have ordered a Aquatrol SWG. My question is: I use Potassium Chloride in my household water softener, instead of Salt. Will it work with the SWG electrolytic process? If so, I would not have to worry about the corrosive effects other negatives.

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

You want to use sodium chloride. You can use a very similar salt sold for water softener use. Look for solar salt 99.4% pure or better with no additives (particuarly avoid rust fighting), typically sold in blue bags for around $5 for 40 lbs. Crystals disolve slightly faster than pellets but either will work.

 

[focalboy]

Thanks JasonLion. I appreciate your advice, and how fast you responded. Check this out, I just got an email back from the Tech Support people at Goldline Controls. The good news is that yes I can use Potassium Chloride ( I have 6 bags in the basement already). The only difference is I'll need to increase the amount by 17%.

I would like to know if anyone else has already tried this and what their experiences were.

 

[itabb]

I recall potassium chloride being twice as expenseive as sodium chloride, back when I had a water softener in Florida. I'd take the potassium to Wally World and exchange it for Sodium. Then I'd use the extra money to buy bananas and get my potassium from yummy tasting fruit.

 

[focalboy]

I get 10 bags of potassium delivered delivered at a time. The cost per bag is about $9.00/bag. $3.00/bag additional for initial set up is not that much of a deterrent. If the table I found is correct, I'll need approximately 213 lbs of Sodium Chloride as opposed to 250 lbs of potassium Chloride.

It seams from my point of view as a person educating himself on the technology, that Potassium Chloride removes the cons to SWG, such as corrosion of stone/concrete and rusting steel. If it is this easy, why have not more people gone this route?

 

[Guest]

Actually, there would be no difference to speak of in terms of corrosion whether you use sodium chloride or potassium chloride. The potassium chloride would just cost you more money. Both are 'salts' that can be corrosive. The main reason postassium chloride is used in water softeners is because of people who are concened about sodium intake.

 

[JohnT]

Anybody know if the salt test kits can accurately measure KCl like they do NaCl? I can't imagine the KCl would be any better with corrosion issues.

 

[focalboy]

I did not know that they were both salts. So much for that plan.