Salt water pool? travertine?

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lynnden

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Jun 1, 2017
8
Gilbert, AZ
Help! We can't figure out if we should do a salt water pool or chlorine pool. We've heard a lot of bad things about salt water eating away at the deck, basketball hoop, furniture, equipment, etc. Is this true? We are in Arizona. Pool will be 20x40 diving pool plus spa 35,000+ gallons.

What is everyone's experience with salt water pools? Do they destroy everything?

Does anyone have travertine around their salt water pool?

(We have 5 small kids so water will be everywhere.)

Thanks!
 
I've been wondering the same thing myself. We just replaced our old concrete deck with travertine and resurfaced our existing saltwater pool. Our builder advised us against using the salt system going forward saying that it'll destroy the travertine. His suggestion is to use liquid chlorine and ozone however my wife and I already miss the feel of the saltwater.

Our old concrete deck did have some wear on the edge that looked to be erosion from salt, but it was also probably 20 years old and had salt exposure for half that.

My gut tells me that everything will be okay if I rinse off the deck after each use, but I'm curious what others have experienced.

I am also in Phoenix.
 
Experience from the thousands here who have SWCG's is that they either show no effects on surfaces, or nothing that could specifically be attributed to salt. Some stones flake, some don't, its more about the nature of the stone. Travertine is highly popular and hasn't shown ill effects for the vast majority (can't say I've seen any with issues). The effects of salt at pool concentrations are vastly overblown to say the least. PB's by and large are quite a conservative group by nature, not interested in new or different things. Nor things that affect maintenance, because they don't have to deal with it. Or if they do pool maintenance, they don't like SWCG's because then they can't sell you overprice pool store concoctions. It's easy to say "salt is bad" and still sell you a pool. It's much harder to become knowledgeable as to the effects of salt and go from there. Also, for whatever reason, certain areas of the country seem to like SWCG's better than others. Again, not fact based reasons.

Get a SWCG and don't look back. It will be the best addition you make to your pool.
 
Remember, all chlorine pools contain salt, added through any form of chlorine, muriatic acid, and body sweat.

I have not added anything but 12.5% bleach, & CYA to my pool over the past two seasons. I will be installing a SWG this year, so I did a salt test (Taylor K1766) to know how much salt to buy, result is 1200ppm of salt. A few more seasons and I'll be at the same salt level as a pool with a SWG, and I would not of directly added any salt.
 
We are going on year 3 with salt water and travertine, the key is to seal it immediately after it is installed, we swam for a few weeks and saw some signs of wear on the coping as a result. Since sealing it we have not noticed any further damage.
 
Thanks all! I suspect with proper care it won't be an issue at all. I'm gonna take the plunge and start up the salt system when I get to day 60. The benefits sure outweigh the risks, which there seems to be no evidence of. Having followed the TFP method for years now with an SWG, I'm not sure I can go back. If that means sealing the stone and hosing off he deck from time to time, so be it.
 
Uncontrolled pH is a far higher risk to stone surfaces and other items near the pool than the salt. Most people were told if you have a salt pool it is 'maintenance - free!". WRONG. You still need to manage the pH (which in AZ will be rising consistently).

We love our SWCG. We leave for weeks at a time and the only item our pool service monitors is pH and they add some acid.

Take care.
 
lynnden said:
Help! We can't figure out if we should do a salt water pool or chlorine pool. We've heard a lot of bad things about salt water eating away at the deck, basketball hoop, furniture, equipment, etc. Is this true? We are in Arizona. Pool will be 20x40 diving pool plus spa 35,000+ gallons.

What is everyone's experience with salt water pools? Do they destroy everything?

Does anyone have travertine around their salt water pool?

(We have 5 small kids so water will be everywhere.)

Thanks!
Click to expand...


so what did you do and how did it turn out?
 

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