I was originally planning on going with a salt system, in fact I ordered it when we bought the house. We used the pool company they did to replace the liner as the liner was not in good shape when we bought it, and at the end of winter (we bought it right when the pool was getting closed) the liner fell apart.
Anyway, they did a horrible job on the liner, it kept falling in, we told them they should have used liner lock, so they came and put little tiny pieces where ever it fell in, 7-8 calls we finally convinced them to liner lock entire pool. Instead of one strip, they used tons of tiny strips and we still have issues with pieces falling out.
I just told them to cancel the salt system, I don't want them to do anything else to the pool. It has been a few years, but I am not sure I'd like a salt system and want to swim in one before I make the decision. We have a friend that has one, just never got around to trying it.
The system I use is great, but it does require tons of bottles of 10%-12.5% liquid chlorine which is a real pain to constantly buy 20 bottles at a time.
I considered putting in a liquid chlorine dispenser, but I'd still have to buy and carry ~20-gallon bottles every few weeks.
I might reconsider a salt system, but I really need to try it before I can commit to it. I don't see either happening this year.
The salt chlorinator cells are very expensive and last only 4 years.... ours stopped working and after seeing the price of a new cell and compared with chlorination pucks in a floating bucket we switched back to chlorine. The salt pool is really chlorinated water.... the cell converts the salt to chlorine.
A well-maintained salt chlorine generator will last 3–7 years. Replacing the salt cell costs $700–$1100. Replacing the control board costs $500–$900. You can extend the lifespans by maintaining a consistent salt level, cleaning the cell only when needed, and using the reverse polarity function.
You can buy a lot of chlorine for $1000 .... and its good to have on hand if you need to sanitize Anything in a pandemic.
The experience you had with that company would make me want to cancel any plans I had with them, too.
Salt is easier to maintain. It doesn't evaporate out so it needs to be replaced less often.
But if you don't mind doing it yourself and do it well chlorine is just as good. My father has a salt system in his pool. I've swam in both. I only hate swimming in chlorine pools with too much chlorine or containments (urine ;)
If you try it out, make sure you ask him about his experience maintaining it.
You would never know there is any chlorine in my pool, yet it is perfectly clean. The problem is most people use pucks which raises the CYA which is required to allow the chlorine to survive in sunlight, but CYA also makes chlorine less effective and it doesn't burn off as chlorine does. So people who use pucks just increase the CYA to levels where you need ridiculous amounts of chlorine to be effective.
The fact my CYA is perfectly calibrated and no more is added the chlorine is very effective without overdosing.
I was originally planning on going with a salt system, in fact I ordered it when we bought the house. We used the pool company they did to replace the liner as the liner was not in good shape when we bought it, and at the end of winter (we bought it right when the pool was getting closed) the liner fell apart.
Anyway, they did a horrible job on the liner, it kept falling in, we told them they should have used liner lock, so they came and put little tiny pieces where ever it fell in, 7-8 calls we finally convinced them to liner lock entire pool. Instead of one strip, they used tons of tiny strips and we still have issues with pieces falling out.
I just told them to cancel the salt system, I don't want them to do anything else to the pool. It has been a few years, but I am not sure I'd like a salt system and want to swim in one before I make the decision. We have a friend that has one, just never got around to trying it.
The system I use is great, but it does require tons of bottles of 10%-12.5% liquid chlorine which is a real pain to constantly buy 20 bottles at a time.
I considered putting in a liquid chlorine dispenser, but I'd still have to buy and carry ~20-gallon bottles every few weeks.
I might reconsider a salt system, but I really need to try it before I can commit to it. I don't see either happening this year.
Salt is sooo nice. I remember swimming in one a long time ago and I loved it. You can swim with your eyes open.
I can swim with my eyes open for 8 hours a day in mine and no redness or stinging.
The salt chlorinator cells are very expensive and last only 4 years.... ours stopped working and after seeing the price of a new cell and compared with chlorination pucks in a floating bucket we switched back to chlorine. The salt pool is really chlorinated water.... the cell converts the salt to chlorine.
I've heard that too and was one of the reasons I haven't done it yet. I think they quoted me $2,600-$2,800 to install it.
The cells alone are $850 and you need to replace them every 4-5 years... https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B005IVZGXC/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new
You can buy a lot of chlorine for $1000 .... and its good to have on hand if you need to sanitize Anything in a pandemic.
The experience you had with that company would make me want to cancel any plans I had with them, too.
Salt is easier to maintain. It doesn't evaporate out so it needs to be replaced less often.
But if you don't mind doing it yourself and do it well chlorine is just as good. My father has a salt system in his pool. I've swam in both. I only hate swimming in chlorine pools with too much chlorine or containments (urine ;)
If you try it out, make sure you ask him about his experience maintaining it.
You would never know there is any chlorine in my pool, yet it is perfectly clean. The problem is most people use pucks which raises the CYA which is required to allow the chlorine to survive in sunlight, but CYA also makes chlorine less effective and it doesn't burn off as chlorine does. So people who use pucks just increase the CYA to levels where you need ridiculous amounts of chlorine to be effective.
The fact my CYA is perfectly calibrated and no more is added the chlorine is very effective without overdosing.