What is a Saltwater Pool? Chemistry, Lifespan, Cost & More - YouTube

Cristian: What's up, guys?

I'm Cristian with River Pools, and today we're talking about all things saltwater pools.

This is Two Minutes In The Pool.

I like that the sun is finally out.

Okay.

Real quick, before we get going, if you find that this video was helpful for you, give

it a thumbs up, subscribe to our YouTube channel, follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more

educational pool content from us here at River Pools.

Now saltwater pools, and we're going to talk a little bit about chemistry, the lifespan,

the cost, just pretty much in general what you need to know about saltwater pools.

However, this is an extensive article that we've done, and I've put a link down in the

description.

It's down in the description for YouTube, and it's up there for Facebook.

So check out the full article when we're done, as I'm going to try to summarize and fit it

all inside two minutes, hence the name of the show, Two Minutes In The Pool.

All right, so you know the deal.

I'm going to set a two minute timer on my phone and try to get to the bottom of it before

the jingle goes off.

Hey, Siri, set a two minute timer.

Siri: Okay.

Your timer is set for two minutes.

Cristian: Fantastic.

Let's roll.

Okay.

First and foremost, what is a saltwater pool?

Well, it's a pool that uses salt, converts it to chlorine, which then becomes your sanitizing

agent.

And how does it do that?

By using a salt chlorine generator attached to your filtration system.

The water, the saltwater, enters the one side of the salt chlorine generator, comes out

the other side, and through the magic and power of electricity and science, chlorinated

water comes out the other side.

So it's still uses chlorine, just like a traditional pool, to sanitize your water.

It is going to have a slightly salty taste, but it's only got about 1/10 the amount of

salt of the ocean, so think of it more along the salinity of a teardrop.

So that's how a salt chlorine pool gets its sanitizing agent, through a salt chlorine

generator.

I won't go into the nitty gritty science-y details, that's in the article, but let's

talk about what type of salt you need to use for your pool.

First and foremost, you're just simply going to put salt into your pool water and then

let the components take it from there, but the type of salt you need to use is the purest

you can get, and we recommend using mined salt, not solar salt, not mechanical salt,

but mined salt with a purity of 99% or higher.

We're not talking about using rock salt, which you would typically use maybe for making ice

cream or something like that, but use mined salt at a purity of 99% or higher.

Anything other than that is going to give you headaches, in terms of the chlorine's

effectiveness after it's been converted from the salt.

So how much does a salt chlorine generator cost?

Well, the initial cost could be anywhere from $600 to $2,000.

Now that's quite a range, but we're talking about brands and any other add on components,

automation, things like that you want to consider it to have with your system.

So you still have a ballpark, $600 to $2,000.

However, in terms of operating that pool system during the year ... You know what?

I didn't think I was going to make it on this one.

I just thought the odds were stacked against me, but you want your answer, so we're going

to keep going on this and we'll call it Three Minutes In The Pool, Four Minutes In The Pool,

whatever it takes to get you the information you need.

So we talked about the initial upfront cost to purchase the salt chlorine generator system,

$600 or $2,000, but let's talk about the annual operating costs.

It could be $50 to $100 bucks per year, versus a traditional chlorine system which could

cost you anywhere from $250 to $300 per year.

Now, over time, over the lifespan of the salt chlorine generator, comparing saltwater pools

to traditional chlorine pools, you're going to spend about the same.

Now why is that, if we're saving during the year?

Well, that's because the cell itself needs to be replaced anywhere from three to seven

years.

Parts in here do break down over time, and so by the time you weigh out the actual cost,

you're spending the same amount of money versus a traditional chlorine system.

But you should weigh in the ease of maintenance, and that's going to take us to the pros and

cons of a salt chlorine Pool.

So the advantages are the water feels silky smooth.

It's incredibly clear, and they're incredibly easy to maintain.

They're virtually hands off, other than you monitoring your pool chemicals to adjust the

amount of electricity going to your generator, which will produce either more chlorine or

less chlorine, depending on the amount of usage and other contaminants that your pool

has to deal with.

So just some weekly monitoring is all you really need to maintain this, so perhaps the

savings in time would edge and out beat a traditional chlorine pool.

So the downside of assault chlorine generator, other than the fact that they're more expensive

upfront, is, well, folks tend to set and forget that they need to monitor their pool chemistry,

and so what can happen is the chlorine itself can creep up into a higher level than necessary,

and even a dangerous level sometimes, or the Ph could creep up and get a little out of

balance.

So as long as you remember to maintain and check your chemicals, you're going to be in

good shape.

Another downside could be its ability to work in a pool with an automatic pool cover.

They do work alongside each other very well, except you're going to need to pay a lot more

diligent attention to the components of your pool cover.

A lot of moving parts, all made of metal, and of course we all know that metal doesn't

like saltwater.

So just taking good care of the automatic pool covers and its components, and you should

be good to go.

So where do you go from here?

Well, just like I mentioned earlier, there's a link to the article down here for YouTube.

It's up there for Facebook.

And if you go to that article down at the bottom, we have suggested articles and other

readings all about salt chlorine pools, salt itself, all the different components, everything

you need to know to become educated.

I'm Cristian with River Pools.

We blew the budget on two minutes today, but nonetheless, you've got your answer about

saltwater pools and everything about them.

We'll see you in the next episode.

Catch the wave.