It's Good but it Needs a Little Salt

The last time you heard that statement you may have been at a restaurant. Not any more. Many of our customers are switching over to a salt water pool environment. Why? Good question to ask.

Facilities over the years typically have used one of the "Big 3" for oxidiziers. Lliquid chlorine, calcium tablets, or bromine for their oxidizers.

Liquid chlorine is easy to use if you can get the delivery truck close enough to fill your chlorine tank.
Calcium tablets are expensive not to mention they are listed as a Class III oxidizer (check with your local fire marshal for codes on use and storage of this highly flammable chemical).
Bromine again is very expensive to use and is not a very powerful oxidizer. Bromine can eventually leave your water looking cloudy and smelling like dead fish.

Now there is a new player giving the competition some real competition. ChlorKing® salt generators are becoming more popular with the commercial pool industry. ChlorKing ® Salt generators actually work by converting salt that has previously been added to your pool water into free chlorine. This process is done by passing a small electrical current into a chamber filled with Titanium plates. This converts the salt into chlorine. After the chlorine has done its job in the pool it will revert back to a salt and the process starts all over again. Of course this is the laymans definition of how this process actually takes place but I think you get the idea.

ChlorKing® salt generators eliminate the need to store any expensive "Class III" oxidizers, and free up the filter room of large chlorine storage tanks. These systems are great for the facilities that have no access to the filter room for liquid chlorine deliveries. Plus, you won't have to carry those 50-100 lb. drums of cal-hypo around either.

ChlorKing The hardest part about the system is the original addition of the salt into your pool. After that it is just an occasional addition to keep up the salt content, which is less than the salt content in your eye. We have had phone calls after installing these units that said they are worried because they have not had to add salt to their pool yet. They did not believe that their system was working properly when in fact it is doing exactly that - working properly.

The decision to convert your pool to saline actually creates a much safer environment than with your old pool. Saline chlorination is a safer, more effective and environmentally friendly method for sanitizing swimming pools.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How salty is the water? Is it like swimming in the ocean?: A. Your pool will come nowhere close to the amount of salt in the ocean. The concentration of salt in the ocean is 3.5%, in your pool it is 0.5%. That is almost identical to the human body and your own tears.

Q. Will the salt corrode my pool or my pool equipment?: A. No. The saline level is not sufficiently high enough to create a corrosion problem. The salinity is similar to that of eye wash solutions (very mild).

Q. Is the ChlorKing system approved by health departments?: A. The registered NSF certification Mark confirms that NSF has assessed - and certified - our conformity with the relevant section of NSF/ANSI standard 50 and UL 1081.

Q. I currently use bromine. Can I convert?: A. Pools converting from bromine need to drain their water and change their filter sand.

Q. How does ChlorKing affect the pH level?: A. Our process is closer to pH neutral than other chlorine sanitizers and therefore has less effect on pH. The pH must be controlled as before, and is influenced mostly by the Total Alkalinity of the water, as is the case in any pool or hot tub.

Q. Has the ChlorKing System been safely tested?: A. All electrical connections above the chlorinator are at a voltage of less than 12 volts DC, which poses absolutely no danger of electrical shock. From a cosmetic viewpoint it is planned that suitable electrode caps will be provided in the future to cover these connectors.

Q. Why have I not heard of saline chlorination before now?: A. As with any change, there is reluctance on our part to break away from our age-old chemical habits. The United States pool industry is lagging way behind the countries where natural salt dominates pool and spa water sanitization. At last, with the ChlorKing system, the trend away from packaged chemicals is well under way. We feel that this is a technology whose time has come.