Our saltwater pool system was easy to set up and requires little maintenance or ongoing costs. It also doesn’t irritate our skin and eyes while we swim in our small above ground pool.
Compared to buying chlorine and the constant maintenance and ongoing costs required for those systems, a saltwater pool system can be a nice option.
How a Saltwater System Works
After initially dumping 84 lbs of pool salt (inexpensive) into our ~3,000 gallon above ground pool the saltwater system ‘box’ pictured above takes care of the rest. It has a readout letting you know if the salt level is high or low. And I use test strips to check periodically, but after several months I’ve had to do no adjustments to how much salt is in the pool.
Our filter and saltwater box automatically run for a handful of hours each day. The electricity for these units comes from our rooftop solar panels.
As far as maintenance tasks that are special for a saltwater pool system, I just clean the titanium electrode once a month. This involves wiping it off and soaking it in vinegar for an hour, which they recommend if you have hard water like we do.
Bonus: I can leave on vacation and don’t need to pay a “pool guy” to monitor our chlorine chemical levels.
Water Usage Concerns
I thought long and hard before installing a small pool in our desert backyard, especially because our household has been so diligent with water conservation, I installed a grey water laundry to landscape system, and implemented rainwater harvesting and a native plant landscape.
After last summer’s record breaking heat in Tucson where we saw 55 straight days of temps 105 degrees and above it was often difficult for me to even get in my car and find a pool to hop into in order to get some exercise. I was struggling with heat intolerance and not being able to connect with nature or other humans, other than waking up at 4:30 am for a little stroll. Some stores I’d try to walk in midday had to bring in extra, portable cooling units, and it was often still pretty warm. It was brutal. So I am trying my best to be very careful with water usage in/around our home and limit the evaporation from the pool.
Tips To Limit Evaporation
Here in Arizona it is very hot and dry and this causes pool water to evaporate quickly. I believe the stat is that for an average uncovered underground pool the entire contents of the pool can evaporate each year. Ouch.
Some ideas:
- Use a small pool that isn’t deep. Less water! Using a flotation device you can sit in shallow water happily.
- Make sure to use a pool cover when you aren’t using the pool. This also keeps the pool clean.
- Shade the pool and surrounding areas.
- The less direct sunlight hitting the water, the better.
- The cooler the air surrounding the pool is, the better.
I have several different types of pool covers: general, and one to warm the water in “shoulder” seasons (fall/spring). I positioned the pool close to the patio and next to an outbuilding with a shade sail above.
What unit is pictured? I chose the $164 Krystal Clear™ Saltwater Pool Chlorine System – 4,500 Gal from Intex. A little oversized for our pool’s water volume, but I think this should help with reliability.
Note: If using a saltwater system, make sure your pool is compatible with it. Salt can corrode metal parts.
Questions?
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© May 15, 2024 Chris Graber