Salt level of 1600: at what level do we worry about damage to pump and filter?

[TominCT]

Hi there, I’ve been maintaining my mom’s pool using the TFP method for 2 years now (previously she used pool place tabs and had the issues that accompany using those products) and I can’t say enough great things about how well it all works. She’s got an 18’ round above ground pool with a Hayward DE filter, and water chemistry (posted below) is stable and easy for her to maintain (although the pH does creep up week to week so I bring that down with some MA as need). Anyway, she’s had this pool for at least 15 years and since it’s a DE filter we don’t backwash, and we don’t drain it much for the winter. To me, compared to my pool the water tastes a little salty, and based on my chemistry knowledge and what I’ve read on these great forums all chlorine adds salt, so to just see how much was in there I grabbed an AquaChek Salt test strip kit and it tested at about 1600 ppm. She doesn’t mind the salt (she thinks the water feels nice and soft) but I would like to know at what salt level I’d need to worry about damage to the equipment like the pump and filter (the liner already has green stains from prior years of using copper based algecide from the pool place, we don’t care about that and don’t use that stuff anymore!) Thank you in advance to anyone who can let me know at what salt level we really should change out the water to protect the pump and filter - if it’s not an issue, we’re going to just let it be. Thanks!

FC = 8
CC = 0
pH = 7.6
TA = 70
CYA = 50
CH = 110

 

[reggiehammond]

Two things:
Test strips are very inaccurate.
All pools have salt and it's a non-issue in regards to algae, equipment damage, etc.

 

[TominCT]

Ok, that’s great to know. Thank you for your insight.

 

[Newdude]

The ocean is 35,000 ppm to your 1,600. It's nothing.

 

[jmastron]

For comparison, most Salt Water Chlorine Generators call for 3000-4500ppm salinity (varies by unit). As you mention, all chlorine turns into salt when it's "done". Ironically, with a SWCG the salt level doesn't keep rising because it's being reconverted back into chlorine over and over.

When I was using liquid chlorine, my salt level went from ~1900ppm to ~2400ppm over the course of 4-5 years, in a pool with little rain-drain (a few inches a year generally). Personally I might start to think about doing something once it crept over 5000-6000ppm, but even then it's probably not a big deal.