A big Rave to pool man Steve Riley in Dallas Texas, who voiced his opinion on WFAA-TV that salt-water pools come with serious disadvantages. When the most common thinking is that salt-water pools are the next best thing to sliced bread, I admire the courage and chutzpah of a pool professional to speak out and say what he sees, despite the enormous pressure and countering of the salt chlorine generator industry. All is not perfect in the land of salt. Here is a video clip that ran on WFAA-TV in Texas earlier this month. The reporting doesn't get too deep into the causes, but speaks of definite problems with corrosion of stainless steel and decorative stone work. If you'd prefer a print version - here.
Another huge Rave to this blog, The Pool Guy, dedicated to exposing salt-water pool problems. This guy has a definite salt-is-bad perspective (I like that) with a lot of detail/theory as to what is causing the corrosion (stray currents, galvanic corrosion) and talk about other problems salt causes besides corrosion (environmental). He doesn't pull any punches and absolutely tells it like he sees it. I swear, one look at his pictures of all the corrosion on everything from your pool vac to the heater thermostat...you'll never even consider a salt chlorine generator for your pool.
Thanks to The Pool Guy, Steve Riley and WFAA-TV; you are all helping to turn the tide and wake people up about what you really get when you have a salt-water pool. Oh, by the way, since this blog is so new - ECOsmarte pool and spa systems are indeed 100% chlorine and salt-free. For reals.
Comments (3)
You know, I watched that clip again, and I'll bet Zodiac is not at all happy about the close-up shot of their Clearwater salt chlorinator in this TV segment. Just imagine the potential lawsuits...
If I had spent tens of thousands of dollars on a custom pool with decorative stone work and wasn't told about the potential corrosion problems of salt chlorinators - I'd be considering it.
Posted by Wendy Stroud | June 18, 2007 3:57 PM
Here in Florida we haven't seen the major problems that have destroyed pools in other parts of the country. We hear all the time that people have just installed a salt system in their pool. It is kinda funny, alot of people have not even heard of, or just recently heard of a salt system. They think that it is something new. I ask people if they have a chlorine sanitized pool, they respond with "no it's a salt pool" so then of course I feel the need to educate them on the system they in fact have. We can't get most people out of their salt pools here, because they just recently dumped a bunch of money in purchasing it. I guess all we can do it educate them on what they really have and wait for the expenses to surface.
Posted by Bob | October 12, 2007 7:11 PM
Hey Bob,
Thanks for visiting and contributing. I know just what you mean - even here in California there are still quite a few people who think salt pools are chlorine-free. Of course the advertising of the salt chlorine generators conveniently leads them to think that. I think they just recently made them start putting the word Chlorine in the ads, didn't they?
I feel compelled to educate people, too. I tell them that although salt pools use less chlorine - it's still chlorine. There is a great blog about the many detrimental effects of salt chlorine generators here:
http://thepoolbiz.blogspot.com/
I have referenced it once before on this blog, but it deserves another mention, because this guy has done his homework all right, and backs it up with tons of experience. And as I said before, he doesn't pull any punches, so it makes for not only informative but entertaining reading.
Posted by Wendy Stroud | October 22, 2007 11:52 PM