Salt Chlorination vs. Chemical Chlorination

In Uncategorized, Water Tech by The LeverEdge

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Not everyone is a chemist. Even so, you’ve probably heard of the chemical chlorine and its use as a disinfectant in swimming pools. Exactly how chlorine is applied to water is the subject of this week’s blog post, because there is an important difference between at least two common methods of water chlorination. Knowing that difference will help you make the best decision about how to treat your own pool.

 

First, adding chlorine to a pool has traditionally meant dissolving prepared chlorine tablets or solutions that are very harsh to deal with. In fact, concentrated chlorine solution can cause severe skin burns and can even pose a choking hazard if it is present in large enough amounts. Nevertheless, physically adding chemical chlorine to a pool has historically been a necessary, however costly and cumbersome, aspect of pool ownership. In contrast to this method of chemical chlorination, salt chlorination systems like the Hayward Aquarite system remove the burden of having to directly deal with chemical chlorine and decrease costs in the process.

 

Here’s how a salt chlorination system works:

 

  1. Chlorination level is automatically detected by an integrated sensor. When the chlorination level is too low, the system begins the process of salt-to-chlorine conversion.
  2. Dissolved salt is chemically converted to chlorine gas through the application of electrical current. This takes place safely within the salt chlorinator.
  3. The chlorine gas is applied to water that flows back into the pool’s ecosystem.
  4. The system stops producing new chlorinated water until the integrated sensor is triggered again.

 

The benefits of a system like the one described above are manifold. Not least of them is the savings in cost – many pools realize a reduction of at least 50% in chlorine costs over the course of a year. Granting this, a salt chlorination system can pay for itself in as little as a few years. Another benefit of an automated system is the consistency of the pool water. With traditional chemical chlorine applications, the pool must be constantly sampled and monitored, a time-consuming process that is no longer needed.

 

Want to know how easy and affordable pool water treatment can be? Contact The LeverEdge and ask about the various pool filtration, conditioning, and treatment systems we have available. We can customize a solution specific to your pool and our quotes are always free. We look forward to hearing from you!

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