Chlorine vs. Saltwater pools? (Houston: for sale, real estate, houses)

[LindaIL]

Which is better & why? Chlorine or Saltwater?

I've been looking at real estate web sites, getting ideas of the type of houses that are up for sale in the Houston area, as we may be moving within the next 9 mos. We'd most likely want an in-ground pool. I've noticed that some of the homes have pools with saltwater, but it seems most are chlorine. What are the pros and cons of both?

Thanks.

[mikehtown]

We put a saltwater pool in our last house and loved it. It was an extra $1200 or so, but it was nice not having the chlorine smell or having to stock up on it. Instead, you just dump a bag of salt into the pool every month or two. The chlorine system is definetly more effective, but I think the salt water system works fine for most pools in this area.

[LindaIL]

Chlorine is more effective? Is Saltwater hard to keep clean?

[CanTex]

I question the statement that a chlorine additive approach is more effective that a saltwater system. A saltwater system uses salt to produce chlorine using electrolysis, which achieves the same end purpose of adding chlorine in other forms through additives.

The chemical costs for a saltwater pool are MUCH cheaper. Once you get the pool set-up and running, you rarely have to add chemicals unless you lose a lot of water from your pool (for example, overflow from excess rainfall). In a typical season, I might have to add 2 or 3 bags of salt, and those cost around $5-6 each. You periodically have to adjust pH, which in most cases is adding 1/2 - 1 gallon of hydrochloric acid; I've had to add acid twice this season. Maybe once a season you might have to replenish the conditioner (cyanuric acid). The need for water sampling / analysis is usually much less since so little chemical adjusting is needed once you get things running stable.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by CanTex

I question the statement that a chlorine additive approach is more effective that a saltwater system. A saltwater system uses salt to produce chlorine using electrolysis, which achieves the same end purpose of adding chlorine in other forms through additives.

The chemical costs for a saltwater pool are MUCH cheaper. Once you get the pool set-up and running, you rarely have to add chemicals unless you lose a lot of water from your pool (for example, overflow from excess rainfall). In a typical season, I might have to add 2 or 3 bags of salt, and those cost around $5-6 each. You periodically have to adjust pH, which in most cases is adding 1/2 - 1 gallon of hydrochloric acid; I've had to add acid twice this season. Maybe once a season you might have to replenish the conditioner (cyanuric acid). The need for water sampling / analysis is usually much less since so little chemical adjusting is needed once you get things running stable.

Agreed. I would add that a lot of saltwater pool owners find out the hard way that adding too much salt can be an expensive problem. The chlorine generator, which is essentially two very thin electrodes that pass a current through the water passing between them to "crack" the salt into chlorine and sodium, can corrode with too much salt and having to replace it gets expensive. I think a new unit is about $500.

Either way, I don't think that a conventional chlorine pool is necessarily more effective and the softer, milder water in a salt water system is much easier on your hair, skin, eyes and clothes.

Also note that you can't have slate tile around a saltwater pool. Must use concrete, sandstone or possibly flagstone. Slate will rust out and spall if exposed to water from a salt water pool.

[Va-Cat]

Originally Posted by LindaIL

Which is better & why? Chlorine or Saltwater?

I've been looking at real estate web sites, getting ideas of the type of houses that are up for sale in the Houston area, as we may be moving within the next 9 mos. We'd most likely want an in-ground pool. I've noticed that some of the homes have pools with saltwater, but it seems most are chlorine. What are the pros and cons of both?

Thanks.

I think you may be under the misconception that by "saltwater" it means that its the water is like swimming in the ocean. A saltwater pool system uses a "chlorine generator" type system rather than adding chlorine to the pool. Although there is no chlorine smell, the water certainly is NOT what I would call salty. Personally, I like saltwater systems. Less damage to swimsuits and hair and once the system is operational, I aways found it easier to maintain

[EasilyAmused]

It's a lot easier to bring back a chlorine pool from a hurricane than a salt water pool, just ask my neighbors. 2 weeks without power, turning you pool into a stagnent, green pond, can be cured by a couple pounds of shock and a filter cleaning with chlorine.

that's one of the things that killed me about Ike. No power and AC for two weeks and you couldn't even go in the pool!

[ShelbyGirl1]

We've always had traditional Chlorine pools. When we built our last pool, we went with salt water. Definitely cheaper..throwing a bag of salt in once in awhile...couldn't beat it. But, it deteriorated everything around it! Including the plaster in the pool! We had a zillion guys come out and give us their opinion on why we needed to re-plaster a pool after just 2 yrs! All blamed the salt! We went back to chlorine and have never had a problem since.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

We agonized about this too... but then decided just not to have a pool at all. The best decision we made. We just go to the subsivision pool when we want, or at the YMCA and don't have to worry about maintenance, noisy filters, we enjoy our landscaping and lawn much more than we would a pool. The novelty wears off soon, as do the parties.

Granted, nothing beats jumping into a pool after mowing the lawn, etc. But I guess the main reason is that we started a family, it was too risky. It is very sad for us when we hear about little ones drowning in pools. I know children need to be watched all the time, but as a parent with children between 6 and 2, know how they sometimes just seem to get away, if even for a minute, and that is all it takes.

'Sorry, didn't mean to bum you out, just giving another perspective.

[ShelbyGirl1]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

We agonized about this too... but then decided just not to have a pool at all. The best decision we made. We just go to the subsivision pool when we want, or at the YMCA and don't have to worry about maintenance, noisy filters, we enjoy our landscaping and lawn much more than we would a pool. The novelty wears off soon, as do the parties.

Granted, nothing beats jumping into a pool after mowing the lawn, etc. But I guess the main reason is that we started a family, it was too risky. It is very sad for us when we hear about little ones drowning in pools. I know children need to be watched all the time, but as a parent with children between 6 and 2, know how they sometimes just seem to get away, if even for a minute, and that is all it takes.

'Sorry, didn't mean to bum you out, just giving another perspective.

Child safety should be one's first priority! I am literally sickened each and every time I read of a child drowning in an apt. or private pool!
When my kids were smaller, we installed an inner fence around the pools. WITH A PADLOCK. And on top of that a water alarm. Worth every penny!
Back to pools........