How water chemistry affects your pool liner – Salt

Salt is sodium chloride, and how does salt sanitize your pool? It’s with a saltwater chlorine generator that uses electrolysis to release the chlorine from the salt, putting sodium hypochlorite into the pool water. So you actually manufacture the chlorine from the salt. Having a chlorine generator does not mean that you can just “set it and forget it”, regular checks of the water chemistry are required to ensure the pool water is balanced. It is important to keep all the various components if the water within recommended levels – chlorine, pH, calcium hardness, stabilizer and alkalinity. It is important to note that when chlorine levels become too high in a “salt pool” there is no chlorine smell as there would be with a regular calcium hypochlorite pool, because the chloramines you would smell are burned off inside the electrolysis chamber. This means that there is no smell to warn bathers that the chlorine level is dangerously high. High chlorine levels of either type, along with unbalanced water can adversely affect your vinyl liner. Salt adds flavor to your food, but it adds chlorine to your pool.