We have just bought a house with a salt water system pool. It has not been used or cleaned for a year or two. I have reviewed the "Free Beer" guidance but I am still unsure of what to do to, first of all, get it cleaned and working and then maintaining it. Does anyone have any guidance they can give me and/or recommend someone to take a look and perhaps maintain it in our absence (we are near La Romana, Alicante). Thanks in advance

Sorry,cant help with advice for your pool.

We recently moved from near this area and there will be someone in the La Romana area to help you

There are many english people there and I know for sure there is someone with pool knowledge.

Best thing is to ask around the village,maybe in the english supermarket or one of the bars.

Thanks anyway. We had that in mind but as we will only visit for holidays it is difficult to get that first contact. When we were viewing the area we went into a few bars - including the English supermarket in La Romana (what super, friendly people they are in there! and a terrific bacon sandwich!) - but it was a bit previous to start asking about pool maintenance!

Where did you live? Any tips for us?

Thanks again

We only lived there for 3 months in the Alcana area.It was just too campo for us hence now living in Valencia which again may not be for everyone but for us its great.

Saturdays are a good time to meet people in the village-outside the "village inn" or "bar carlos".You will def find help.I just cant remember the persons name but he deals with lots of issues even the pumps if you have a deposito and house leaks which seem to prevail when it rains down there.

The best of luck to you and I hope you are happy.

Thanks again. Funnily enough, our second choice of house was just outside of Valencia - near Bunol. All the best to you too

Do yourself a favour and change it to chlorine.
All the salt pool does is make it`s own chlorine more expensively.

Type "salt water pools" into the search this forum top left, it will give you some interesting reading from people that have used them and a salesman for them.

Hi

Salt water pools are expensive to run, but don't need quite so much maintenance as in chemicals do not have to be added weekly.

If your pool is full, the first thing to do is test the salt level; you can but a test kit in your local pool shop.

If the pump works, then whenever itis on, chlorine will be produced by separating the chemical components of the salt.
Everything else is very much the same as a chlorine pool.

As I said, advantages and disadvantages in every system.
Davexf

The biggest problem with salt pools is that they only generate chlorine when the pump is running.

If you are not here that works out very expensive compared to overdosing the pool with chlorine and leaving the pump off or possibly running it occasionally for short periods just to circulate the water.

Thanks again people. I found the most useful thread at http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=565362 where you have all contributed previously.

But there is also an interesting one from SA "We use salt water chlorinator pools in South Africa too,if you had a normal chorine pool in the past most of us have made the conversion to the far more reliable salt water type.This done by the addition of an element and a guage whereby you can set the level of chlorine required then leave it to do it's job.

For instance if your climate is prone to high temperatures and thunder storms in the summer months you will spend and arm and a leg on chlorine floating dispensers,pool acid,algaicides often rendering your pool out of action for a day or 2 let alone the frequent testing,backwashing etc.A saltwater chlorinator practically looks after itself and all you need to do is twice a year add 2x20kg bags of salt and change the sand in your filter.Testing is as infrequent as every 3 months and the occasional backwash of a weekend.I personally do all our pool maintainance as my hubby is unreliable in the garden and would never want to go back to the latter."

That sounds like it was written by a salt water system salesman!

Our 6x10m chlorine pool costs less than €50 a year for chemicals and has never been anything but crystal clear all year round.

In the winter is gets loads of leaves but that's what pool nets are for!

There is no way on earth I would ever consider a salt water pool. The biggest problem is that they only generate chlorine when the pump is running which is where the real expense of running a pool comes in.

If you have a heavily used pool where the pump needs to be on for many hours each day that is one thing, but a lightly used pool can get away with far less pumping and that can save a considerable amount of power. A salt water system would preclude that saving.

Also the anodes used do need replacing and they are expensive.