The use of salt - a saltwater pool - is rapidly becoming a popular sanitizer for pool water; it will soon be the most popular sanitizer for pool water. Regardless of the sanitizer you are currently using, a conversion to salt and the required salt generator is an upgrade. And, for the most part, it's a simple upgrade - just have a salt generator installed, plumbed and wired inline with your pool equipment.
Salt is a sanitizer, meaning it will destroy and remove bacteria, pathogens, organisms, algae spores, dirt, debris, particles, and other contaminates from pool water as well as help to oxidize organic matter in the pool water so that the end result is clean, clear, and safe water. More specifically, salt is converted into chlorine, and chlorine is the actual sanitizer. Sanitizing the pool is a requirement for maintaining optimal water chemistry and the resulting water clarity.
Although salt is often labeled as an "alternative to chlorine" to sanitize pool water, this is not accurate, because salt generators (also known as chlorine generators) convert salt into actual, albeit manufactured, chlorine. The end-product is chlorine; for all intents-and-purposes, then, salt is chlorine.
While there are dozens of pros for using salt to sanitize your pool water, three of them quickly come to mind:
- having a salt generator is like having a built-in chlorine factory plumbed to your pool; no more hauling heavy - very heavy - buckets of chlorine.
- chlorine, the end-product of the salt, has passed the ultimate test - the test of time; chlorine is a proven sanitizer.
- the chlorine that is produced by a salt generator (often called a chlorine generator) is the best form of chorine available.
Foreign and overseas markets were the first to use salt in pools with absolute success as a sanitizer. As salt passed the test of time overseas, its international success quickly spread to the United States. Just like with the foreign and overseas markets, salt was used in the United States with the same initial success and acclaim. Today, salt is a very popular sanitizer choice for pool water, and its use is growing exponentially every year in US markets.
You can read the Pool Manual for more information about sanitizing pool water, salt, salt generators, and the conversion from salt to chlorine.