While traditional swimming pools have long made use of fresh water with chlorine and other chemicals added and monitored manually, salt water swimming pools offer a safe and enjoyable alternative as a swimming pool for your home.

The salt water used in typical salt water swimming pools is not the same as the ocean water you swim in on a trip to the beach. Ocean water has a much higher concentration of salt, as much as 35,000 parts per million. At ten times the human salt taste threshold of 3500 parts per million, this is why ocean water has such an unpleasant salty taste. Salt water swimming pools, by contrast, have a much lower salinity; the chlorine generators they employ usually require a salinity between 2500 and 6000 parts per million.

Salt water swimming pools employ the modern technology of chlorine generators to eliminate the need for a pool owner to purchase and handle chlorine as a part of the maintenance of their swimming pool. A properly functioning chlorine generator will be producing chlorine constantly, and so the chlorine level of your swimming pool will be maintained without your constant intervention. The presence of chlorine in the pool’s water is important to keep the water free of algae and harmful bacteria which can be both unsightly and dangerous to the health of those swimming in the pool. Chlorine generators use the water’s natural salt and convert it into chlorine to keep the swimming pool free of these unwanted growths.

While chlorine generators do greatly reduce the time and cost of taking care of your swimming pool, it is important that they be kept in good working order. This means as an owner you must ensure that your generator remains clean and free of calcium and other mineral build-up. With care, chlorine generators can be kept smoothly operating for years, but a calcified or clogged device cannot efficiently process the salt water and generate chlorine, causing a valuable system to go to waste. For many pool owners, a self-cleaning chlorine generation system can be well worth the added investment.

Salt water swimming pools offer other benefits beside lower time and maintenance costs as well. Pool owners who have switched to salt water have described the water as smoother and more pleasant, and swimming overall becomes that much more enjoyable. Swimming in a low saline content pool is in some ways similar to taking a shower in soft water. While traditional chlorine pools often leave swimmers with skin that feels dry and uncomfortable after swimming, the saline solution of salt water swimming pools will leave your skin feeling smooth and refreshed. Traditional chlorinated pools also may leave a whitish, flaking residual on the skin from the pool’s chemicals, which salt water pool swimmers do not experience. Salt water pool owners also avoid the unpleasant stinging sensation traditional chlorine pools often cause to swimmers’ eyes. Even hair, often lent an unpleasant greenish tinge by most swimming pools, will benefit from the change to salt water.