22 June 2016

What Is Pool Salt?

The majority of in-ground pools or above-ground pools use chlorine as the disinfecting agent to keep them clean or free from algae and bacteria.

Unlike chlorine, pool salt is actually just standard NaCl, sodium chloride. It is really just table salt in a different form. The primary difference is that pool salt comes in a larger cuts or sizes.

The two chemical elements that comprise pool salt are sodium and chlorine. As pool salt is added to a pool, it dissolves and breaks down into sodium ions and chlorine ions. “Through a chemical reaction, the water will convert the free chlorine ions into hypochlorus acid.” Hypochlorus acid, compared to chlorine tablets, has much less odor. Pool salt also does not cause the eye and skin irritation that chloramines from chlorine can.

“Another necessary component of pool salt is cyanuric acid. The chlorine ions and hypochlorus acid can degrade in just a few hours in UV light. Cyanuric acid prevents this degradation and is part of the stable chlorine found in granulated chlorine and chlorine tablets, but it must be added manually to salt pools.”

It can be quite expensive, upfront, to convert a chlorine pool into a salt water pool. But, after the initial expense, salt water pool can be much less expensive to maintain than a traditional chlorine pool. New pool technology has also eliminated one of the big concerns of saltwater pools, which is that the salt water damages filters and pool equipment. All the materials you need to convert your outdoor swimming pool from a traditional chlorine pool to a saltwater pool are available at pool supply retailers. For

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