Salt Water Pool System Basic Components For Beginners

If you’ve taken a peak at our website, you’ve probably noticed that there are a lot of different options that you can choose from when picking a system. We have made our comparison chart so that you can see what features each system offers. Below are some additional features that you should consider in order to get the most for your money.

• Warranty: think you found the right system for you? Great! Before you go to checkout, make sure to double check the warranty on the system you are planning to buy. If you plan on installing it yourself, you’ll want to make sure you won’t void your warranty if you install it yourself (some manufacturers’ warranty terms require that you pay for professional installation.) Also, the life of the cell is usually reflected in the amount of time your warranty covers. Most of our systems come with a three to eight year warranty, which generally gives you a good idea of how long your cell will last before you need to buy a replacement. 

• Boost Mode: Boost mode is great for those of you who live in areas that tend to have heavy rains or for those who sporadically get heavy pool use (a pool party, for example). This is essentially a one-touch “super chlorination” mode that raises the chlorine output to the maximum power for an allotted amount of time to compensate for certain pool situations where you’ll want more sanitation, like after a party or heavy storm. 

• Clear Cell: A clear cell is exactly what it sounds like- a cell that is clear so you can see any mineral-scale, debris or anything you need to fix or maintain. It is another feature that makes salt pools easier to maintain because you don’t have to guess at what is wrong with your system if something goes wrong, you can just look inside the cell and check it out! Ever been unsure if your system is working properly? With a clear cell, you can also look inside the cell and see it operating. With proper water balance, cells will typically only need maintenance or basic cleaning one or two times per season, but if mineral scale or debris gets inside the cell, you’ll want to clean it out. 

• PPM Salinity Reading: This is a feature that many pool owners love to have. Many of our high-end systems come with this feature and it is great being able to know what your salinity range is. 

• Self-Cleaning Function: All modern salt systems have this, and you’ll for sure want your system to be self-cleaning because it minimizes the amount of maintenance and effort you would normally need to put into any other pool. Self-cleaning, or “reverse polarity” reverses the direction of electric flow every so often to help reduce or prevent mineral scaling. This means you can sit back and relax and rest assured that your pool is safe and clean. Without it, older salt systems needed to be cleaned as much as once a week or more; with reverse polarity self-cleaning, salt systems typically only need seasonal cleaning if your pool’s water chemistry is properly balanced.

The Only Thing Left is the Salt Itself:

• Salt -This step couldn’t be easier! All you will need to do is go to your favorite home improvement store and purchase the right amount of salt for your pool (find more info here) and then dump it directly into your pool! After about twenty-four hours, the salt will be completely dissolved and your pool will be ready for use! Don’t worry though, your pool water will not taste like salt, the resulting salinity level  is so low that most people aren’t able to taste anything at all!  After you’ve waited twenty-four hours, you’re ready to turn on your system. From that moment, the unit will create its own form of pure chlorine through a process that uses electrolysis to separate the chlorine and sodium molecules that pass through the salt cell. You may be thinking that if this water is getting moved through the plumbing and turned into chlorine that you’ll need to replace the salt or always keep adding bags, similar to what you may be experiencing with a chlorine pool. Luckily, with salt pools, that isn’t the case! The salt does not get consumed and even when the water evaporates, the salt still remains. The only time you’ll ever need to replace the salt is when water gets physically removed from the pool by outside means, like: a heavy rain that makes the pool overflow, splash-out during a big party, or if you have to drain your pool. That means a lot of saved money for you and a lot less up-keep than a typical chlorine pool. 

We understand that with all our options, it may be a bit overwhelming at first when you decide to take the plunge into salt water pools but we promise it's a lot easier than it looks. However, if you have any questions or need further help, we are here for you! Just give us a call at 866-766-5243