linda Coyle

Just returned from setting up my house in Spain and had a quote for a pool. I have been given the option of salt or chemical and was told it was personnal choice. Not knowing the advantages/disadvantages can anyone advise?

valenciatim

I believe that salt water pools cost a lot more to build due to the equipment costs, but cost less to run afterwards.
Make sure that you get several quotes, from non local builders as well, and talk to other people in the area about their pools.

linda Coyle

Thanks Tim, offer on just now with free salt instalation

Beachcomber

The choice is not between salt or chemical it is between buying chlorine with which to dose the pool or producing chlorine from the salt water. In any event the pool is still ultimately sanitised by chlorine.

Bear in mind that the chlorine is only produced from the salt when the pump is in operation. For me there is no contest. Salt water pools are an expensive gimmick that are expensive to install and are no cheaper to maintain than a chlorine based pool.

valenciatim

Please get more quotes, then at least you will see what the free salt installation really costs. Average 8x4 pool up here is €15 to €20k, so I would hope that it's comparable!

spain

good idea to shop around, agree with Tim....seen adverts in the paper for pools from 8,000€ - subject to site visit of course

Dxf

Hi

Everyone seems to have missed an important point to which Beachcomber alluded; you have to run the pump to obtain chlorine - recommendation is 8 yes eight hours every day during the summer. Pool pumps don't take a lot of electric, but it don't half add up over that period of time.

Dave

Fred James

Most use a kilowatt - I would call that a lot!

Running the pump for 8 hours will cost 1€ a day.

As for the salt option, as Beachcomber says, you have to run the pump to generate the chlorine - if you choose to run the pump for a shorter period ( I only run it for 90 minutes as the pool is not heavily used) then you will have to add extra chlorine anyway.

Another consideration is maintenance of the ionising equipment - anodes are expensive and don't last for ever.

Personally I can see no point at all in going the salt water route - but that's just my opinion. Our pool is about 100000 litres and we spend about 60€ a year on chemicals.

ballin

8 hours a day for 1€, I can't imagine anyone calling that expensive?!

Fred James

Well there are enough people on this forum complaining when their bimonthly electricity bill is over 100€ that a contribution of 60€ just for the pump might be considered expensive.

jdr

I know two people with salt pools that have changed to chlorine tablets as they are more efficient and a lot cheaper.

YMF

I have had a salt water pool for nearly four years, I have no problems with maintainance, never had any algae issues, also have an automatic ph meter.
One of the advantages is that you can go away and not have to worry about the pool, it all happens automatically.

Friends that swim in our pool, including those that have chlorine dosing based pools, say that the water feels softer and their skin does not get dry and itchy.
My Uncle who lives in Florida changed to a salt water system last year, he had previously had a chlorine dosing pool for twenty years. He says that he much prefers the salt water system.

It certainly is not any cheaper, I will eventually have to replace the anode. Also it is still necessary to add some chemicals to the pool, eg chlorine stabiliser, some people add anti algae products but I rarely do. You do need to top the salt up every year but that is very cheap.

So in my opinion it is a good system, easy to maintain and gives produces steady chlorine levels no peaks and troughs.

Yvonne

03630

And that sums it up. A better more accurate and automatic system. But as in all things, more expensive.

Beachcomber

...but, I reiterate, chlorine is still being generated to treat the water. The water is sanitised by the chlorine produced by the salt not the salt itself. Your skin should not feel dry and itchy after using a properly maintained conventional chlorine based pool anyway.

IONman

The salt in the pool has more than one use.
The fact that it is in the pool makes the water feel softer, we all know the antiseptic properties of salt and how good it is for the skin.

Advantage of a saltwater chlorine generator is that it automatically produces chlorine whenever the pump is running while the water is passing through the chlorination cell it is being 'super chlorinated' so there are no resulting chloromines produced which recently have been held accountable for the increase in childhgood asthma and unless you have a bath sized pool or a massive pump then 90 minutes a day is not enough to filter the dead bacteria from the pool into your filter in summertime, any pool instruction manual will tell you this.

Mostly where saltwater systems fail is they can be undersized and that is where you need to be careful, ensure it really is capabull of sanitising your volume of water without having to run 24 hours/day.

Using unstabilised chlorine correctly is just as easy and as Beachcomber says much cheaper, but most people want simplicity and using multi-chemical tablets is not simple or cheap unless you adequatly backwash a lot of water from your pool every week to ensure satbiliser levels are maintained around 50ppm.
With a salt pool you need to add salt and stabiliser annually and adjust pH as you will in all pools.

Hope this clarifies the subject - Dave