How to Change your Pool to a Salt Water Swimming Pool

If you are currently wrestling with balancing the chlorine levels in your pool, are tired of the smell of chlorine, and are sick of having red eyes - maybe it's time to move up to a salt water pool. Salt water pools are easy to maintain, better for your skin, and much more comfortable to swim in. Here's an overview on making the switch from a chlorinated pool to a salt water swimming pool.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Chlorine Generator
• Generator Control Panel
• Tools to Cut into your Tools Plumbing

1. 
   Place the generator and control panel

   Locate the line in your pool room that feeds your main pool pump. The chlorine generator will need to be located in the out-feed line that leads from the pool pump back into the pool.

2. 
   Plug in Control Panel

   After you've closed the line and made sure no water is running through it, cut the piping, insert the generator, hook up the control wiring to the generator control panel, and plug the control panel into a receptacle. The work in the actual pool room is done.

3. 
   Drain and Clean Your Pool

   Drain the water from your pool and give the entire pool a good cleaning.

4. 
   Fill Pool with Fresh Water

   FIll your pool with clean water, or hire a service that supplies clean pool water to fill for you.

5. 
   Add Salt to Swimming Pool

   Pour the right amount of solar salt into your pool. It may vary based on the equipment that you are using, but will be about 2,600 - 3,200 ppm (parts per million). This averages out to about 10 - 12 large bags of salt for a 25,000 gallon pool. You are best off adding one bag of salt at a time, using a cup to sprinkle the salt over the entire pool surface. Check your generator control panel for the salt level after each bag - it can take about an hour or more to update and the pool pump should be left on during this process.

6. After you've reached the desired salt levels, allow the pump to run for about a week. Check your salt levels daily, they should start to level off and hold steady. You can now begin running your pool pump about 7 hours daily.

7. Check your salt level weekly. It should not go down very often, unless you are losing water from your pool or have very heavy rains. Salt does not evaporate when your pool water does, so evaporation should result in a higher salt concentration. Keep a few bags of solar salt on hand though, for the times when you do need to add a bit.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are not comfortable cutting in to your pool lines, contact a reputable swimming pool contractor to help you make the switch.
• Backwash your filter regularly and clean your pool walls and floor weekly.

[MIghtyDreamer]

on 1/1/2009 A salt water pool sounds like a wonderful alternative and natural way to have swimming from in the backyard. Great suggestions and tips on the subject