Pool salt vs. chlorine: which is the best choice for your pool?

Are you about to build a new pool, or are you com-ple-tely fed up with the red eyes and strong smell of your current chlorine pool? Then you're facing a classic dilemma: do you go for traditional chlorine or switch to pool salt?

Although both methods provide clean and safe swimming water, the way they do so is completely different. Here we put the myths and facts side by side, compare the costs, and help you decide what the best choice is for your pool.

To make a good choice, it's important to clear up one big misconception straight away: a saltwater pool is also a chlorine pool. The difference lies in how the chlorine gets into the water.

With a traditional system you manually (or via a dosing pump) add chemical chlorine to the water, usually in the form of chlorine tablets, powder or liquid. This chlorine directly kills bacteria and algae. The downside is that the chlorine level in the water constantly fluctuates: just after adding it there's a peak, after which the effect slowly decreases until you add new chlorine again.

If you choose salt, you add pool salt to the water and install a salt electrolysis device into your filter pump line. As soon as the salty water flows through this cell, the device itself generates natural chlorine from the salt via a light electric current. This natural chlorine disinfects the water and then turns back into salt. It's a continuous, circular process.

Pros:

• Lower start-up costs: You don't need an expensive electrolysis device; a simple chlorine floater or pump is enough.

• Fast action: Ideal for quickly clearing up a green pool with a 'chlorine shock'.

Cons:

• Health and comfort: Often causes red, stinging eyes, dry skin, and can fade swimwear.

• The infamous chlorine smell: That typical 'pool smell' is often strongly present (these are actually spent chlorine particles, or chloramines).

• High maintenance: You have to test the water almost daily and keep buying and adding chemicals manually.

Pros:

• Optimal swimming comfort: The water is silky soft, doesn't dry out the skin and causes no red eyes. Ideal for young children or people with sensitive skin.

• No chemical smell: Because small amounts of pure, natural chlorine are produced continuously, the penetrating chlorine smell doesn't develop.

• Low maintenance: The system largely regulates the chlorine production itself. You have to test and correct far less.

• Very low salt level: Worried your pool will taste like the North Sea? No worries. The salt level is about a tenth of that of seawater. You'll barely taste it.

Cons:

• Higher upfront investment: Purchasing the electrolysis system (the machine itself) requires a higher start-up investment.

• Watch out for corrosion: Salt is naturally corrosive. Your pool components (such as steps or lights) must be made of salt-resistant material (such as 316 stainless steel or high-quality plastic).

Although a saltwater pool costs more upfront for the equipment, you more than earn this back in the following years.

Chemical chlorine evaporates and is used up quickly, so you have to keep buying expensive tubs of tablets or bottles of liquid all summer. With a saltwater system the process is circular. You add the required kilos of salt in spring, and because the salt reuses itself, you barely need to top up anything for the rest of the season (only if a lot of water has splashed out of the pool). Certified salt is also a lot cheaper to buy than buckets of chlorine tablets.

If you have the budget for the start-up costs of an electrolysis system, then choosing pool salt is the absolute winner as far as we're concerned. The weekly convenience, the lower running costs and above all the silky-soft, odourless swimming water take your pool experience to a professional level.

Are you convinced and want to start up your saltwater system properly for summer? Then always use 100% pure salt without additives to prevent damage to your installation. View our complete range of pool salt from top brands such as Poolsel and order your 25 kg bags easily online. With our bulk discounts you're well sorted for the whole season, and we deliver those heavy bags to your door without any hassle!