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Your salt levels should be around 3,200 PPM. That can be a LOT of bags of pool salt. Keeping your salt in range means keeping your water sanitized. But if they get too high, you risk damaging your pool’s equipment and surfaces.
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What is Pool School?
A podcast for pool owners covering pool maintenance and water chemistry.
Hey, everyone, and welcome to Pool School by Swim University, where we help you keep your pool clean and clear all year. My name is Matt, and I'm the founder of swimuniversitydot com. And on this episode, we're talking about how much salt you need to add to a saltwater pool. Let's dive in. Real quick, if you want more help taking care of your pool, be sure to grab our free pool care cheat sheet at swimu.com/cheat sheet.
Matt Giovanisci:So how much salt do you need in a saltwater pool? Your salt level should be around 32100 parts per million or 3,200 PPM. And depending on the size of your pool, that could be a lot of bags of salt. Keeping your salt in range means keeping your water sanitized. And And if your salt levels drop too low, your salt generator won't work properly.
Matt Giovanisci:But if they get too high, you risk damaging your pool's equipment and services. So first, what's the correct level of salt for a saltwater pool? Like I said, your water salinity should be between 27100 or 2,700 and 34100, 3,400 PBM or parts per million with 32 100 or 3,200 parts per million being ideal. Be sure to check your system's instructions for any specific salinity recommendations. Now once you add an initial dose of salt to your water at the start of the season, you likely won't need to add any additional salt that year.
Matt Giovanisci:That's because salt doesn't evaporate like other chemicals. And as your salt water generator uses salt to produce chlorine, the salt is recycled back into the water. Now remember, a salt water pool is still a chlorine pool. But instead of adding chlorine directly, you're adding salt to the water which gets converted into chlorine or hypochlorous acid. So your salt levels will get diluted when it rains or if you add fresh water to your pool.
Matt Giovanisci:And that's why it's important to consistently monitor your salt levels even if you're only adding salt once or twice a year. Your saltwater generator should provide you with a salinity reading or an average salt reading, But sometimes, saltwater generators can be off, especially if your system needs to be recalibrated or if your water temperature's too low. That's because lower water temperatures produce lower salt readings. So consider manually testing your water once a month with a digital salinity tester. Soil can also accumulate in pockets of your pool if your water isn't cir circulating properly.
Matt Giovanisci:So it's a good idea to to sample from different areas of your pool when you're testing with that digital salinity meter. Now how much salt do you need to add to your pool? That's what we're talking about. So you'll need to add several bags of pool grade salt, pool grade salt to bring your salt levels within range. Pool grade salt or pool salt comes in 40 pound bags normally.
Matt Giovanisci:And to be sure or just be sure that you're using pool grade salt. I don't know if I've said it enough, but I'm saying it again. Now if you have a 10,000 gallon pool, right, and you're starting with no salt water or no salt in your water at all, you'll need to add about 6 or 7 bags or £267. That's a it feels like a lot, but, you know, you gotta remember that, the the ocean's like 36,000 PPM, and you're only dealing with 32100. So on the other hand, if your salt levels are too low, maybe around a 1000 parts per million, you'll only need to add about 4 or 5 bags of pool grade salt.
Matt Giovanisci:I've said it. Pool grade. So here's a quick reference on how much salt to add for 8,000, 10,000, and 12,000 gallons of water. For example, if you have a 12,000 gallon pool and your current salt levels are a 1000 parts per million, you'll need to add 220 pounds of salt to bring your levels up to 32 100 parts per million. And since salt comes in 40 pound bags, usually, that means around 5 to 6 bags will get you £220 that you need.
Matt Giovanisci:Now remember, it's easier to add more salt later. So so just like food, start slowly and let the salt dissolve before retesting your water, because you can't it's harder to remove the salt. Now, here's how to add the salt to your pool. Before adding salt, you wanna test your alkalinity and pH because you wanna make sure both of these levels are balanced before adding salt. Then you're gonna turn off your salt generator, your salt chlorine generator.
Matt Giovanisci:Keep your pump and filter running to help circulate and dissolve the the salt when you add it. And then you're gonna add the salt around the perimeter of your pool. Do not I repeat, do not pour the salt directly into your skimmer. People love to pour shit. Sorry.
Matt Giovanisci:People love I apologize. People love to pour stuff in their skimmer. Please don't do that. Alright? Let it dissolve and circulate in the water as you pour it around.
Matt Giovanisci:It could take up to about 24 hours to completely dissolve. And then once the salt has dissolved, test the water to make sure that your salinity is around 32100 parts per million. Then turn on your salt system. Your system may need a certain level of salt before it starts to run, but the levels but levels higher than 45 100 PPM can reduce the lifespan of your salt cell and even can erode your pool surfaces and equipment. Remember, you likely only need to add salt about once or twice a year depending on how the weather is.
Matt Giovanisci:But you'll also need to add salt if your water's diluted from significant splash out or if you're backwashing a lot or, yeah, you have crazy weather like a ton a ton of rain. Anytime you have to significantly drain or refill your pool, you're probably gonna need to replace the salt in your pool. So finally, what else do you need to add to your pool besides salt? In addition to your salt levels, you'll need to regularly test and balance your pH, your alkalinity, and your cyanuric acid levels. Now pH tends to run high in a saltwater pool, so be sure to monitor these levels weekly, if not more than once a week.
Matt Giovanisci:And your cyanuric acid levels help protect your chlorine from being destroyed by the sun. Finally, it's worth testing your free chlorine levels and your salt levels by hand, just in case your salt water system isn't measuring measuring your chlorine production correctly. Alright? So that's it. Remember, if you need more help with pool maintenance, specifically saltwater pool maintenance, you can grab our saltwater care cheat sheet at swimu swimu.com/saltwater.
Matt Giovanisci:And if you found this episode helpful, subscribe for more pool maintenance tips on your favorite podcasting app. And when you do, leave us a review because your support will help more pool owners just like you find this show and get some help. That's it. Thanks again, and happy swimming.