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Where are you located in general? North, South? Is it a gunite (concrete) pool with plaster or exposed aggregate walls? Vinyl liner? Fiberglass?
Opening and closing pools for winter can be costly. It also depends on how much you want to do yourself. If you don't mind taking care of the leaves and balancing of the chemicals, you'll save a good bit. If you want someone to do it for you, then it's going to cost significantly more.
Not if you amortize the cost of replacement cells over the life of the pool. I'm not opposed to using salt/chlorine generation systems. They can work great but do require proper oversight and maintenance. The long term cost to run them correctly works out about the same as using bought chlorine if that is done correctly but few people do it correctly so that increases their expenses and makes people think salt is cheaper until they have to replace the anode/cathode cell.
Correct.
Nope. The chlorine levels should be maintained the same whether it is generated at the pool from salt or bought at a pool store or derived from household bleach. All chlorine originates from salt and is produces with electrolysis. And the chlorine level in the pool water does not change depending on the source of the chlorine. Either one can be "highly" or "not highly" chlorinated.
That is a bit of a toss-up on months of use. Would be good to talk to some other people that have them down there. We are going year 24 with an in-ground vinyl-lined pool. There are times it has been a giant PIA. Things did help when we went to the salt generator - easier maintenance, less cost, and no longer got the skin "itchies" from the chemicals.
I'm sorry, but I don't know where you are getting this from. Do any search for salt chlorine generators and one of the main benefits listed everytime is avoiding the harshness of chemical chlorine and other chemicals. I could literally post 10 links out of the first 10 searches that will show that.
I have a concrete pool (chlorine and electric heater) about 90 miles north of you. Here's what it has cost me to maintain each year since putting it in new:
Yeah my buddy switched his pool over and said it's the best thing he ever did. No burning no smell. Every couple weeks he drops done salt in and that's about it
Kinda. The ph goes up with salt, so you need to add Muriatic acid often, which is fairly expensive. you also have to buy a new system every 5? years or so.
You probably had too high chlorine levels before. Salt pools make chlorine gas, you still have a chlorine pool. That being said, my wife swears she can tell the difference and likes how it feels on her skin better.
The salt level should stay consistent for the generator to work properly. he shouldn't be adding salt unless the level drops to below what is recommended.
When we had our pool installed it came with a chlorine cartridge system that we used for the first season. The second season we had the heat pump installed and I had them take out the chlorine system when running the new pipes for the heat pump and I switched to the BBB method (bleach, borax, baking soda.) I got a TF-100 test kit (with refills as needed) and spend 5 minutes each day checking the levels and using an app to make any adjustments.
Bingo. This guy gets it.The Noid said:
You've managed to invent a bunch of new terms here but generally correct.culdeus said:
This is more or less what the poolschool at troublefreepool teaches. That the issue with traditional chemistry is lack of understanding of the conditioner that rides along in the pucks and shock bags is what ultimately makes them horrible to even be around much less swim in.
Do you use the DPD powder to test? That is the gold standard. What's the ph doing?
troublefreepool.com is the best place to learn how to properly care for a residential pool. No question. They have no hidden agendas, just facts.
I have never used DPD powder. What are the advantages? I have suspected that the algae outbreak never fully cleared, but I have shocked it repeatedly (18 pounds) and used three bottles of algicide. There is nothing visible.
What kind of shock? Dichlor, trichlor, and cal-hypo are all sold as powdered shock. Dichor and trichlor contain cyanuric acid at roughly 50% by volume which will build up in you rpool overtime and suppress the chlorine from sanitizing among other problems.
