A Salt Water Pool Chlorinator is highly recommended for busy people who want a very low-maintenance in-ground swimming pool.
The saltwater chlorinator cell passes a very low voltage, high electric current through the saline pool water to produce free chlorine. This free chlorine sanitizes your pool water by destroying algae, bacteria, viruses and other contaminants.
The saltwater chlorinator will automatically generate a sufficient amount of chlorine into the pool to keep the water sanitized and sparkling clear. There is no requirement to manually add chlorine to the pool.
A saltwater chlorinator provides a high level of assurance that your pool has an adequate level of free chlorine every day even when you are on a long vacation.
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What is a Salt Water Pool Chlorinator?
A saltwater chlorinator unit automatically generates chlorine to sanitize your swimming pool water. The chlorinator unit is the last item of equipment in a pool filtration system. The unit must have a connection into the plumbing after the filtration unit and water heater (if you have one).
When the filtration system is operating the filtered pool water passes through the chlorinator unit where a low voltage electric current is applied to an electrolytic cell that splits the salt into chlorine which immediately dissolves in the water. The dissolved chlorine kills bacteria, viruses, algae and other contaminants in your pool which are later trapped in your filter.
The cost of a salt water chlorinator unit starts at $600 to $2000 depending on the size of the pool.
What is a Freshwater Automatic Pool Chlorinator?
A Freshwater Automatic Pool Chlorinator is a device which dispenses a dosage of chlorine into your swimming pool every day.
These chlorinators are for use in fresh water swimming pools (ie no salt water).
Most automatic chlorinators hold enough chlorine tablets to sanitize your pool for at least three to four weeks before you need to refill the unit with more chlorine tablets.
Swimming pools need to be constantly chlorinated to disinfect the water. The chlorination process kills most bacteria, virus and other contaminants keeping your pool water sparkling clean and safe for swimming.
The cost of a fresh water chlorinator unit starts at around $100.
Read our article on Freshwater Automatic Chlorinators
How Salty is a Saltwater Pool?
Pool salt is purified crystallized salt made from common sodium chloride.
The water in a saltwater pool is only a weak saline solution so you can hardly taste the salt in the pool water.
The concentration of salt is 3000 to 7000 mg/l (ppm) for a saltwater pool which is only about 10 to 15% of the salt found in seawater (35,000 ppm).
The concentration of salt in a pool is about equal to the salinity of the tears in your eyes. So opening your eyes underwater will be perfectly comfortable.
Salt Water Chlorinator Controls
All saltwater chlorinators have a control panel to regulate the level of chlorine production and run time of the pump motor.
Turn up or down the chlorine control dial to alter the amount of chlorine generated by the electrolytic cell.
In the summer season or when the pool is in heavy use turn up the dial for more chlorine.
During the winter the dial down the chlorine production as required.
Alter the pump timer settings to run the pump longer or shorter hours as required. In the summer season run the pump longer to generate more chlorine and filter the water for a longer period. During the winter run the pump less hours daily. I recommend to run the pump 8 hours daily in the summer and 4 hours daily in the winter.
Read our article on How Long You Should Run Your Pump
Do I need to add extra salt every year?
Yes. You will find that the chlorination process consumes salt from your pool and every 6 months. You will need to add a bag of salt to maintain the desired level of salinity in the pool water.
The filter backwash process loses water into the drain from your pool.
Rainfall dilutes the salinity of your pool water.
Topping up the pool water after a period of heat and evaporation dilutes the salinity of your pool water.
How Long Should Your Chlorinator Cell Last?
A correctly installed and maintained saltwater chlorinator cell has a normal life expectancy of at least 3 to 5 years. The average life is 4 years.
The life expectancy will vary considerably depending on the use of the swimming pool. A saltwater chlorinator cell that operates for only 4 hours daily will last twice as long as a cell operating 8 hours per day.
Pools in a tropical climate that are in use all year round will have a reduced cell life expectancy. Swimming pools in a cooler climate that are only in use during the summer season may achieve a higher cell life span than normal.
Recommended Salt Water Pool Chlorinators
We recommend the Hayward brand on Amazon.
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