thinking about going to salt water

[benny27]

I am thinking about going to salt water in the hot tub with the Saltron Mini Salt System. I am looking for any good write ups or pointers for a first timer with salt water.
my tub is not that big 280 gallons.
Does the salt I get mater that much? Just get pool salt for pool sore?

 

[cowboycasey]

Best thing I ever did Just go to lowes and get the blue bag salt for conditioners 5 bucks each... you will only use about 3 pounds or so, mine was 9 pounds for 600 gallons...

Make sure you have CYA in the water to protect some of the chlorine, I did 30 CYA...

 

[jseyfert3]

I also got the blue bag (solar salt), though from Home Depot not Lowes. Same stuff. Just don't get stuff that advertises eater softener life extension or iron removal, those have things added.

My Saltron Mini is awesome. Due to the summer heat, we didn't use the tub for a long while. I last checked it 20 days ago. Today when I checked it before using it had FC of 7.5, just about perfect for a CYA of 30. You can NOT leave it that long if you add chlorine manually!

I have it set to 6 hrs a day which seems to maintain FC while not in use on our 450 gallon tub. When we use it I manually add chlorine to counter the bather waste, and then the Saltron handles the in between uses.

 

[benny27]

My Saltron Mini is awesome. Due to the summer heat, we didn't use the tub for a long while. I last checked it 20 days ago. Today when I checked it before using it had FC of 7.5, just about perfect for a CYA of 30. You can NOT leave it that long if you add chlorine manually!

That is the big thing I like about going salt. come winter with the cold and sort days I will not like checking levels every day.
For checking salt are the test strips the way to go?
Salt is like CYA just add once and when water is topped off add some more?

 

[cowboycasey]

Just add once, really no need to add more unless you have massive splash out... test strips are not the way to go, get the Taylor salt test kit as it is much more accurate..

K-1766 Taylor Salt Test

 

[Dirk]

We advise pool owners to allow salt to mix in for a day or two before turning on the SWG, as wide swings in salinity are hard on an SWG. I expect that advice would apply to your Mini, too, though in a spa the amount of time for a good mixing would be substantially less than for a pool. Just be a little patient before first "flipping the switch," and give your salt a chance to mix in well.

Chlorine leaves salt behind as it gets used up. Depending on how old your spa water is, and how much chlorine you've added to it, and your fill water, you might already have quite a bit of salt in the water. Don't just add the amount of salt as per Pool Math as if your starting point is 0 salt. You need to test the existing water first, and plug that into Pool Math so it can calculate the correct amount to add. Otherwise you could end up with too much salt. No biggie for a spa, I suppose, as you can just dump some water, but a proper salt test kit and Pool Math can help you dial in just the right amount.

 

[benny27]

We advise pool owners to allow salt to mix in for a day or two before turning on the SWG, as wide swings in salinity are hard on an SWG. I expect that advice would apply to your Mini, too, though in a spa the amount of time for a good mixing would be substantially less than for a pool. Just be a little patient before first "flipping the switch," and give your salt a chance to mix in well.

Chlorine leaves salt behind as it gets used up. Depending on how old your spa water is, and how much chlorine you've added to it, and your fill water, you might already have quite a bit of salt in the water. Don't just add the amount of salt as per Pool Math as if your starting point is 0 salt. You need to test the existing water first, and plug that into Pool Math so it can calculate the correct amount to add. Otherwise you could end up with too much salt. No biggie for a spa, I suppose, as you can just dump some water, but a proper salt test kit and Pool Math can help you dial in just the right amount.

I did not know that about chlorine. That is just was I was looking for some thing I did not know or know to look out for.

 

[Dirk]

We do what we can for ya!

 

[Dirk]

Just to be clear (after rereading my first paragraph): I meant wait before "flipping the switch" on your SWG, not your pump. So:
- start your pump,
- let it run a bit,
- test for salt,
- use Pool Math to calculate how much salt to add
- add that amount to the spa, pump still running
- you can smoosh around the salt with your feet or a pool brush to get it to dissolve faster
- then continue to let the pump run and mix the salt for a while
- then test the salt again
- and THEN, if the salt level is correct for your model of SWG, turn on the SWG...

That's the recommendation for a pool. Let me confirm: @jseyfert3, just checking, any issue with undissolved salt on the floor of a spa getting sucked into the pump impeller? Should it be fully dissolved before turning on the pump?

 

[jseyfert3]

That's the recommendation for a pool. Let me confirm: @jseyfert3, just checking, any issue with undissolved salt on the floor of a spa getting sucked into the pump impeller? Should it be fully dissolved before turning on the pump?

I doubt it matters much. I personally ran my pumps to help it mix in quickly. With the heat, moving water, and hand mixing, rock salt can be fully dissolved and mixed in about 30 minutes, or at least that was my experience. When I first added the Saltron, I did a salt test on the water, added salt and ran pumps, then did another test after all the salt was visibly dissolved, and the salt test matched the level I targeted in Poolmath exactly.

My spa has two filters, one for each pump, and two additional inlet grates (non-filters) for each pump. The inlet grates have fairly small holes, and you would think the inpellers would not be damaged by anything that could fit through them, but if the spa has these non-filtered inlets it may be best to keep the salt away from them as it dissolves.

 

[Mdragger88]

I have the saltron mini & i love it!
I also have a small tub - a little over 200 gal.
i add my salt in the morning & then turn on the mini that night- never had an issue.
I supplement with bleach for heavy/ extended bather loads. If its just me soaking i just turn the swg manually.
Mine runs on a little timer 3to 4 times a day - in the summer (less use) an hour each time. In the winter 2 hours each time. Every couple weeks i shock with dichlor to replenish my cya. Little tub = more splashout.

 

[benny27]

What happens if the SWG runs when the jets are not on?

 

[jseyfert3]

What happens if the SWG runs when the jets are not on?

It shouldn't matter. I know my tub kicks on one pump on low every 15-20 minutes or so for a couple minutes to check water temp, not to mention the twice daily double pump high speed filter cycle. So even if heat isn't needed, it's not like the water is uncirculated for hours. I would think the only real issue is if you tried to run the SWCG with the tub completely turned off for some reason, so it never circulated any water.

 

[Mdragger88]

Since the cell hangs in the tub it doesn’t matter if the pump is on or not -no risk of building up chlorine gas w/out flow like in a closed cell. It gets diluted immediately.