What is best for swimming pool water? chlorine or salt??(for the cleanness of the water)?
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Actually the salt that is used in a pool is sodium chloride... table salt in a larger grind. You can replace the pool salt with kosher salt or table salt or pickling salt without a problem. The food grade versions are more pure and are what I use in salt pools.
But for cleaning the water, they both are the exact same. When chlorine is added to the water by granule shock (calcium hypochlorite), liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite), or tablets (a stabilized form of calcium hypochlorite) they all form hypochlorous acid in the water. This is the compound that does the sanitation.
In a salt water pool the salt dissolves and creates sodium ions and chlorine ions that free float through the water. As the water passes through the generation cells it electrically converts the chlorine ions into hypochlorous acid. So a salt pool is just another way of giving the water free available chlorine.
There are two types of chlorine found in pools, free available chlorine and combined chlorine (chloramines). The combined chlorine is what gives off the typical chlorine stink and the hypochlorous acid actually has little to no smell at all in the water. Combined chlorine is what gives you red eye, itchy skin, and dried mucus membranes as well as dry hair and skin. This is the stuff you want out of your pool as soon as possible, and it's best to eliminate it as it forms. For this reason it's best to maintain chlorine levels on the higher side at 3-5ppm as these levels will burn off the chloramines as they form. If they build up in the water then you must "shock" the water which is nothing more than adding enough free chlorine to the pool to bring the level up 7 times greater than the level of combined chlorine.
All hypochlorous acid and chlorine ions degrade in UV light quickly, thus in a sunny pool the chlorine will burn out of it in just a few hours. To stop this an additive is used called cyanuric acid. This acid binds portions of the chlorine and stabilizes it against UV light. The "pucks" or chlorine tablets contain stabilized chlorine and they release this as they dissolve. But a salt water pool doesn't contain cyanuric acid unless you add it to the water which is highly recommended.
Hope it helps.
chlorine is the only option salt will wreak havoc on your filter
Chlorine kills more bacteria. So it is better for the cleanliness of the water.
Never add salt to a swimming pool. Chlorine should be added to bring the level to one part per million; that is sufficient to control bacterial and algal growth.
I just had a Dr. client put the salt in his in ground pool and it is "MORTON" salt the same you put on your steak. The unit is called a "Pool Pilot" check it out on line if you'd like, it's easier and the unit tells you when to add salt. The initial dosage of salt we put in was 650 lbs of salt, this yr to start it was 100 lbs, as far as cleaner it's all about the filter, I've had a D.E.filter for the past 25 yrs and I get my water cleaner in a shorter period. I'm not a pro on this subject but I like the D.E. myself but you should punch in your browser Pool Pilot and get the correct info, good luck Les the painter oh yeah and it won't mess up your filter cause there is no metal in a filter and chlorine and salt BOTH KILL bacteria this much I do know!
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