What many people don't realilze is that chlorine comes from salt. Salt is a natural mineral used by many people throughout history and still widely used today. A salt pool functions by using everyday salt which has been added to your swimming pool water. An important point to note is that the amount of salt added to your pool is very low. A salt generator only requires that you have approximately 2800-3200 parts per million (ppm) of salt in your pool. To help you gain perspective on how low this let's compare this to ocean water which has approximately 35,000 (ppm). Or another way to look at it is that the human body has approximately 4000 (ppm) and the average person has the ability to taste salt at around 3500 (ppm). Obviously, this means most people will not even taste the salt. Ok, so the salt is in my pool, I won't taste it, and chlorine comes from salt. How does this sanitize my pool. The answer is simple - the salt water goes through your regular filtration system and then is passed through what is referred to as the salt cell. In here the salt water passes over specially coated blades where a low voltage is applied (this is a type of electrolysis - a process which has been around for more than 100 years) and the salt is broken down into it's chemical components. Almost instantly, hypochlorous acid is produced which is what sanitizes your pool. Then as your pool circulates it's water the salt is recreated giving you an endless cycle of free sanitizer. In other words, the salt never disappears unless you drain the pool so your pool always has sanitizer at all times |
