How To Add Salt To Salt Water Pool

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Learn how to salinate your puddle with these simple steps

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Common salt water pools are gentler on the peel than chlorine and just as easy to maintain, provided you lot know how and when to add together your table salt. After checking the salinity of the water in your pool with a salt test strip and using a reference table to notice out how much salt to utilise, become around your pool sprinkling in the salt niggling by niggling to make sure it gets distributed evenly. In one case you lot've added the salt, sweep the bottom surface of the pool with a pool brush to forbid the table salt from piling upward and help information technology deliquesce faster.

i
Read your chlorine generator's instructions to observe its target salt level. Unlike systems require different amounts of salt in order to role properly. To find out exactly how much salt you need to add, consult the literature that came with your salt chlorine generator. This information is critical, so it should be one of the first items you lot come across.^[1]
- With some systems, of import information similar salt concentration and frequency of applications might exist displayed directly on the generator itself for ease of reference.
Tip: Most common salt chlorine generators work all-time at a concentration of 2,500-4,500 parts per one thousand thousand (PPM). Your generator will likely autumn somewhere between these ii figures.
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Purchase a few bags of common salt intended for employ in swimming pools. You can buy swimming puddle salt from your local puddle and spa specialty retailer. Any type of food-quality, non-iodized salt will do. Ideally, however, you should shop around for a product with 99% purity or college.^[2]
- Pond puddle salt is typically sold in twoscore–80 lb (xviii–36 kg) bags. You'll virtually likely need at to the lowest degree ii-3 bags for a unmarried treatment. However, information technology'due south a good thought to go ahead and stock up, every bit you'll be treating your pool periodically.
- High-purity salts deliquesce faster and are easier for common salt chlorine generators to process than lower-purity ones.
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3
Exam the salinity of your pool using a salt exam strip. Fill the small vial included with the examination kit with water from your puddle, so insert the test strip and permit information technology sit down for the length of time specified by the instructions. When the strip changes color, remove it from the h2o sample and compare information technology with the colour nautical chart displayed on the test kit's packaging to determine the salinity. The depth of the color will tell you approximately how much table salt is currently in your pool.
- Like your common salt chlorine generator, the concentrations indicated by table salt exam strips are given in parts per 1000000.
- Arrive the habit of checking the salinity in your pool at to the lowest degree 2-three times a week to make certain your generator is operating at its targeted salt level.^[3]
Tip: Proceed in heed that salt exam strips often have a range of error between 200-300 PPM. For a more accurate reading, consider purchasing a digital water quality meter from your pool supply vendor.
four
Look upwardly a salt table to observe out exactly how much salt to add. Your common salt chlorine generator or packaged common salt product may include some general guidelines for treatment. If not, you lot can pull upward a useful reference nautical chart online by running a quick search for "puddle common salt tabular array." One of these tables volition tell you lot how much common salt to use for a puddle of a given size, shape, and book.^[4]
- Nearly salt tables provide measurements in both pounds and PPM, which can make it easier for yous to cascade in merely the right amount.
- For a 12 ft (three.7 m) round puddle that holds 3,000 gallons (11,000 50) of water, you'd need to add 87 pounds (39 kg) of salt, or almost two whole bags, in social club to bring information technology up to the recommended concentration.
- Never add salt to your pond puddle indiscriminately. Doing and so could pb to deterioration of the walls, floor, and other surfaces over time.^[5]

1
Plough off your pool's salt chlorine generator before adding the salt. Head down to your pool'southward command unit, locate the switch that corresponds to the generator, and flip it to the "Off" position. Calculation the salt while the generator is operational can place excess strain on information technology, potentially resulting in damage and costly repairs.^[vi]
- Some salt chlorine generators may need to continue running during treatment to process the salt. Refer to the literature included with your generator to find out whether to turn it off or leave it on.
Tip: Make certain you leave the pump on. The gentle circulation of the water will assistance the table salt deliquesce faster.^[7]
2
Walk effectually the pool pouring in the salt a little at a fourth dimension. Snip the corner off of a bag of salt and begin shaking it in while you slowly circle the pool. This volition help distribute it more than evenly throughout the h2o. Try to sprinkle the common salt 1–2 feet (0.30–0.61 m) away from the border of the pool to go along it from piling up effectually the walls or but drifting into the skimmers.^[8]
- In order to ensure that it dissolves properly and prevent surface deterioration, it'south better to let the salt infuse gradually than to dump it in all at once.
- Some experts recommend adding a greater proportion of salt to the deep terminate around the main drain. The reasoning behind this is that the more than water in that location is, the faster the salt will break down as it sinks.^[9]
3
Utilise a castor to disperse salt that's settled at the bottom of the pool. If y'all happen to detect whatever places where the common salt has piled up, brand a few passes with a long-handled pool brush to spread it out. Focus on low-lying spots, such as the area effectually the main drain. The move of the brush volition also encourage the salt to dissolve more apace.^[10]
- If yous have an above-ground pool that doesn't have a primary bleed, it can also help to plug a vacuum into the thru-wall skimmer input and plow the vacuum caput upside down to pull water up from the bottom of the puddle and continue it moving.^[xi]
4
Go on running your puddle's filter until the common salt dissolves completely. For most standard-sized home swimming pools, this will take xviii-24 hours, depending on the h2o temperature and strength of circulation. Be prepared to look up to 48 hours for the salt to suspension downwards fully in an specially large pool.^[12]
- Hold off on taking a dip until afterward the salt has had time to deliquesce entirely. It isn't dangerous, but it may taste or feel unpleasant.

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1
Check your salt levels again to encounter if they're within the targeted range. The morning later you add the salt, collect another sample and drop in a fresh common salt test strip. After a few minutes, note the difference in color. The shade on the test strip should match that of the ideal salinity for your pool equally indicated on the production packaging.
- If the salinity still looks a trivial low, merely add more salt to bring it up to the recommended level. In one case it's there, allow up to 48 hours for all of the salt to dissolve entirely.
- Call up that in most pools, the salt concentration needs to fall within the two,500-4,500 PPM range to ensure proper sanitation.
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Dilute your pool with fresh water to correct over-salination. Don't worry if yous accidentally add together too much salt. You can correct your mistake easily by merely replacing some of the h2o. Set your pool to drain from the principal control unit, so refill the missing water with fresh water from a nearby hose. A good rule of thumb is to bleed and replace about ane/eighth of your pool's water at a time until it reaches the recommended concentration.^[13]
- To observe out how much ane/eighth of your pool's total volume is, summate the average depth in either inches or centimeters, then separate that number past eight. For a pool that'southward 10 feet (3.0 yard) deep, for instance, 1/8th would be 15 inches (38 cm) of h2o.
- When you're washed, test the water again to brand sure it's at the optimum targeted level and wait some other 18-48 hours before switching on your generator.
3
Plow your generator back on when you're finished making adjustments. Later on y'all've achieved the optimum table salt concentration for your pool, caput back down to the command unit and flip the generator switch over to the "On" position to restore power. Information technology will then go to piece of work converting the fresh salt into chlorine to sanitize the water in your pool. Happy swimming!^[14]
- You're free to dive in as soon as you get your salt chlorine generator up and running once again.

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If you're worried nearly damaging your common salt chlorine generator, it's amend to add together slightly as well little salt than slightly likewise much.
Backwashing, fractional draining, and excess splashing or rainfall can all cause the salt levels in your pool to drop at a faster rate.
If the water in your pool has a strong salty taste, you've probably used too much salt. The human tongue tin't detect salt until it reaches levels effectually 5,000 PPM, which is college than the amount recommended by most saltwater puddle systems.

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Avoid using salts that contain anti-caking agents. These can cause discoloration or oxidization of the metal fittings effectually your pool, or even the surface of the pool itself.

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Things Yous'll Need

Food-quality granulated non-iodized swimming pool salt (99% purity or higher)
Common salt exam strip or digital water quality meter
Long-handled puddle brush
Pool vacuum (optional)
Online salt reference table (optional)

About This Article

Article Summary X

Y'all tin add salt to a pool by pouring it in the pool in increments and making certain it'southward evenly dispersed. Kickoff past turning off your pool'due south salt chlorine generator and so it won't be damaged. Read your chlorine generator's manual to find out how much salt y'all demand to add. And then, open up a corner of a bag of pool salt and walk effectually the puddle pouring it in a lilliputian bit at a time. Sprinkle the salt near 1-2 feet away from the edge of the pool so it tin can dissolve into the h2o and won't drift into the skimmers. Take a long-handled pool brush and spread out the salt that settles on the bottom and so it dissolves. Information technology's also important that y'all continue running your pool'south filter for most 18-24 hours so the common salt tin can fully intermission downward. To learn how to examination the salinity of your pool with a salt test strip, keep reading!

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