How to Use Rock Salt in Swimming Pools

Keep your salt pool properly sanitized by adding rock salt.

Swimming pools require regular chemical treatments for sanitation. Pool water left idle without chemical treatments grows stagnate and fills with dangerous contaminants. Salt swimming pools utilize specialized generators to convert salt to a chlorine sanitizer. Salt pools require only the generator and salt to apply to the water. Rock salt applied to swimming pool water primes the salt pool for sanitation and safe swimming. Applying salt to the swimming pool involves dissolving the salt and pouring it into the pool's water.

Things You'll Need

• 5 gallon bucket
• Water hose
• Rock salt
• Stirring tool
• Brush

Instructions

1. Place a water hose into a 5 gallon bucket and turn on the hose. Fill the bucket half way with water then shut off the hose. Open a single bag of rock salt. Rock salt comes from home and garden supply stores in 50 lb. bags. One bag of rock salt is the standard treatment amount for pool maintenance on pools holding 10,000 gallons of water. Increase or decrease the amount of salt used based on your pool's gallonage.

2. Pour 1/4 of the rock salt held in the rock salt bag into the bucket. Add more water to the bucket until the mixture reaches 3/4 up the bucket. Stir the rock salt inside the bucket with a wooden spoon or other stirring tool.

3. Walk the perimeter of the pool and pour the water and rock salt mix in the bucket directly into the pool water. Do not pour any undissolved salt into the pool. Fill the bucket once more with water when the level drops, pour another 1/4 of salt into the bucket, and stir the mixture. Continue applying the mixture to the pool until no rock salt remains.

4. Locate and brush any undissolved rock salt that may have entered the pool and settled on the pool bottom. Some pool surfaces can be damaged by undissolved salts and other chemicals sitting on them for long periods of time.

5. Test the salt pool's salt level with a testing kit. Ideal salt levels reside at 3,000 parts per million, or ppm. Add more salt as appropriate to reach the desired level.

Tips & Warnings

• Test your salt pool's salt level weekly. Maintaining the correct salt level in the pool prevents any chemical imbalances or other problems.

References

• Pool Center: Salt Chlorine Generator FAQ