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Salt water pools are the hottest technology Ottawa's pool industry has seen in years. They make the stinging eyes, itchy skin and bleached bathing suits of old-fashioned chlorine pools a thing of the past. First introduced in Australia in the 1960s, saltwater pools have taken off in the last few years to become the fastest-growing technology in new pool installation. Although the initial cost is considerably higher than a standard chlorine system, once you've converted you can never go back.
Though the water in a saltwater pool is saline, it's nothing like swimming in the ocean. The salt concentration in the pool tops out at about 2800 to 4000 parts per million (ppm), compared to 50,000 ppm in ocean water. Saltwater pools are less salty than a teardrop (you usually can't even taste the salt) but the soft, luxurious feel of the water, not to mention freedom from the burning feeling of too much chlorine, is immediately noticeable.
Saltwater pools also use chlorine as a disinfectant, but in a lower concentration, and it's supplied to the water in an entirely different way. Instead of an erosion system, a built-in generator uses a form of electrolysis to separate water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, and then combines them with salt (sodium chloride) to form sodium hypochlorite (chlorine), which sterilizes the water. At the same time, the chlorine thus created is also constantly recombining with the sodium, becoming good old salt again. It's a closed, continuously regenerating process that once started -- with an initial application of chlorine and salt at the beginning of the season -- needs adjustment no more than once or twice a season at most with regular usage.
According to Markus Brunner of Forest City Pool and Patio in London, Ontario, initially installing a saltwater system can cost as much as two to four times as much as a standard chlorine erosion system. But once you factor in the savings in chlorine pucks and other chemicals, as well as reduced maintenance and wear and tear on the pool itself, he estimates that a saltwater pool can pay for itself in as little as three years.
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