SALT WATER vs. CHLORINE POOL: Which One Is Better? | Swim University

Which one is better: a salt water pool or a chlorine pool? Salt water pools tend to have gentler, smoother water than other pools. And you only need to add salt to your water once or twice a year to keep things sanitized. But you’re still technically swimming in water with chlorine. And salt water generators are expensive to buy and more complicated to maintain. So before you switch to a salt water system, here’s everything you need to know about salt water pools vs. chlorine pools.

⏰ Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction to Salt Water vs. Chlorine Pools
00:48 - What is a Salt Water Pool?
01:27 - Benefits of a Salt Water Pool
02:48 - Downsides to a Salt Water Pool
04:36 - Is a Salt Water Pool Worth It?

Swim University has made swimming pool and hot tub care easy for more than 10 million homeowners. And each year, we continue to help more people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting. We know taking care of a swimming pool or spa can be difficult. And it’s hard to find a trusted source of information. We get it! This is the reason we created Swim University.

[SwimUniversity]

We hope this helps you compare salt water pools vs. chlorine pools! A salt water system can be a great investment 👍 And if you need more help with pool maintenance, grab our free Pool Care Cheat Sheet at

[bigal]

Yes yes and yes to salt. I live in Florida so the rain does affect the levels but mostly just add a bit more salt and all good. I just get in the pool with the bag of salt and mix around myself, you cannot do that with chlorine! I also upgraded to the t-15 salt cell and that made a huge difference in generating chlorine for the pool. Of course a few other chems like calcium, stabilizer etc are added periodically throughout the year. Today I just got 100% on my chem levels for my water test! Local store said first one of the day! Great video!

[jonathanparker]

I never had my own pool but I swam in a salt water pool with my eyes open and my God. Best swimming pool experience I’ve had.

[bertkutoob]

I love SW pools but my beef is the hidden costs... I guess this depends on where you live and what products are available at any given time.

My experience is this....

Year 1 : Install unit at considerable expense including modifying pipework if retrofitting.

Year 3 : Need to replace cell (yes - they DO wear out☹️). It will come as a shock to find that the replacement cell costs almost as much as the original entire unit.

Year 4 : Need to replace cell again but find that that cell is no longer available and other cells are not compatible so you have to replace the entire system including modifying the pipework again.

Repeat every 4 years or so....

Do the math before using long term cost as a motivating factor...

[jackdawson]

Great video!. I have a salt water hot tub. Phosphate and water hardness are also of heightened concen.. Definitely worth it for hot tubs.due to less water changes needed. There isn't any Cyanuric Acid in the chlorine which allows less changes i use regular chlorine with Pool Marvel Enzymes. Much easier. I can keep my chlorine lower

[georgeascione]

So much false information about salt water pools. First of all the salt water generator produces an extremely high concentration (super high) of chlorine as the water passes through the cell. This serves to super sanitize the water. As the water passes over the cell the electrical charge disassociates the NaCl to produce Sodium and Chlorine ions (over simplified but good enough for this post). These free ions don't exist in this state permanently and in most cases much of the Cl has already recombined with available Na ions even before it finally returns to the pool. Yes, some chlorine makes it back to the pool. Most test kits measure chlorine levels in the pool water and are a throw back from chlorine dosed pools where you need to constantly maintain chlorine levels. My pool has barely detectable levels of chlorine in the pool. The reality of a salt water pool is that you really don't need to maintain stabilizer levels or total chlorine in the pool. The water will constantly be sanitized as it flows through the cell where there is truly deadly levels of chlorine present, nothing will survive. My recommendation from experience and chemistry knowledge, use a salt water generator and maintain as low as possible chlorine levels in the pool while still having the cell working. My cell rarely operates above 30%, and is only boosted when the pool is first opened for 24 hours. I also highly recommend a UV pool water system to further sanitize and kill bacteria and virus. Forget about stabilizer, you don't need it. Also if you are getting algae forget about chlorine to fix the problem, adding enough chlorine to kill algae will not be a good swimming experience. Take it from a salt water aquarium hobbyist, if you have algae you have phosphates in the water. Use a good phosphate remover regularly and you will remove the food algae needs to survive and you will not have algae. Do not waste money on expensive algae treatments or super chlorinate your pool, unless of course you open it up "green". My pool has run crystal clear for years and years and I ignore chlorine and stabilizer.

[jmbd]

I hated kepping up with the chlorine with our old pools. This year we are switching to salt water based on reviews and people I know that have one.

[Jrbrass]

Had a Salt Water Generator when first got the pool, 1992. After about 1 or 2 years, generator broke down. Never replaced it, went with chlorine going forward. Since the price of chlorine has really gone up, been thinking of going back to a Salt Water Generator. Could you do a video of the top Salt Water Generators or tell us which one is the best or you prefer? Thank you, always love your videos.

[DroidMastertaylor-gang-or-die]

Hey, what’s up
. I was going through youtube to find a video on how to choose the right pool pump & i’ve noticed you haven’t made that video yet. It Would be really helpful.

[Jasheon]

Salt water pools by far especially Hayward

[aussiegolfdoctor]

Hey SU, great video! I was wondering if we could get your opinion on "freshwater"/ copper/silver ion managed pools...a breakdown of the pros and cons like in this video would be magic 👌

[HotSauceStain]

Considering all this, I’ll stick with chlorine. Nice video!

[MrLickMyBallz]

Can you please do a video on UV sanitizers please 😃

[samanthamarasca]

I live in the northeast so the winters are cold. How different is the opening and closing process for a pool?

[ccrx]

Chlorine all day..!!
😎Smooth as Silk 😎

[gettingthatlove]

Question: you say the salt water pool has water that is smoother/silkier and gentler on the skin, but I don’t think you say why? If saltwater pools and chlorinated pools are both kept clean by chlorine, why is it one is smoother/gentler/silkier?

[Antdogg]

Salt water is no where near as hard to maintain a pool... it takes care of its self ... test chlorine once week and adjust generator as needed... add salt when needed depending on amount of rain or fresh water you need to add .... I don't even use any other chemicals and it does its own thingb

[louisfain]

I think PoolRX is more worth it than a salt system. I keep my chlorine levels low and the water is crystal clear.

[richboutin]

Still have to add chlorine if the salt generator can’t keep up with the sun burning off the chlorine produced by the generator. I have to use tablets to subsidize my salt gen.

[ryanc]

Salt water generators are quite cheap. Chlorine is like dumping Clorox in your pool!