Should I Upgrade to a Salt Water Pool?
I will be
honest with you here and state that the true benefit of a saltwater system is
the fact that it adds chlorine to the pool without you having to do anything.
This means no more trips to the pool store for shock or liquid chlorine. It is
a great time saver for sure. But for me, that is the one and only benefit.
You
really don't save any money when you convert to a salt pool. In fact, it cost a
lot more than using Chlorine or Bleach in your pool. Factor in the cost of the
unit plus install, say $1,000 and then a new salt cell every 3-5 years at $500
and the salt to start $150 and you’re looking at over $1,600 for the first 5
years. So, you would have to spend over $320 a year on chlorine to match that
number. Typically, you are not spending over $100 a season for your chlorine.
I am
pretty honest in this Podcast and relate the only true benefit of a saltwater
system, the fact that it adds chlorine to the pool without you having to do
anything. This means no more trips to the pool store for shock or liquid
chlorine. It is a great time saver for sure. But for me, that is the one and
only benefit.
With that
said, a saltwater system is a preference. And if you can absorb the cost of
the system and don't mind the extra overall cost of a salt pool, then it is the
way to go. I mean who wants to add tablets and liquid chlorine or shock every
week to their pool? With a Salt Water Generator connected to your pool
equipment, you can basically set it and forget it. Of course, there is some maintenance
required like cleaning the salt cell, making sure the salt level is good and
setting the output to the correct setting to chlorinate your pool, but for the
most part it is much easier than trying to maintain a steady chlorine reading
during the season by manually adding chlorine to the pool.
But in the long run, as stated above there is no way it can beat the overall cost of
maintaining your pool with chlorine. So if the salesperson tries to convince
you that a Salt Water Pool is cheaper to operate he is misinformed. Basically
upgrading is a personal choice and one you should make according to your
overall pool care budget. Everything depends on how much more you are willing
to spend on not worrying about adding chlorine each week to your pool. I personally
have a Salt Water Pool and I am so used to the convenience of it that I wouldn’t
be able to go back to a manual chlorine pool. So once you convert you probably
will not go back either.
There are
many very good Salt Systems to choose from in today's market. And many with
installation will be under $1,000 so it is getting more and more affordable. I
would suggest looking into the Jandt TruClear and the Pentair iChlor Salt Water
Systems to start with. Both are great compact systems loaded with the latest
technology. Both are rated for about 30,000 gallons so even if you have a very
large pool these systems will work fine for you. There are also some off-brand
salt systems that start around the $500 range so shop around for the best
system depending on your budget.
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