My new saltwater pool... I just moved into a new home and the electrolysis unit looks like it has not been maintained. Chlorine level in pool is near 0. A bit of algae growing. Will get pH to 7.0, clean electrolysis unit, add algicide and let you know how things go.
cyanuric acid is used as a stablizer for chlorine in outdoor pools only, because of the effect UV light has on chlorine. In outdoor salt water pools a special salt is added that contains stabilizer.
As far as I know, there is no chlorine left in the pool when you're using a salt chlorinator. I've tested the chlorine level in my pool since I switched to salt and it registers no chlorine. The water is run through the salt chlorinator and returned to the pool as salt water. So the previous poster is incorrect about needing a chlorine stabilizer.Hcantrall 00:16, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
The first paragraph of this page is utterly false - salt disassociates in water ... this is the lie the manufacturers tell you to smooth over the real chemistry that is going on (and that you don't actually have to buy those $1000 units from them).Bobxii 15:15 August 13 2007 CST
What happens to the Na+ thats left over when the chlorine is used up? I have a salt waterpool and it hasn't gone solid with sodium metal yet after 10 years of use. 203.47.209.97 (talk) 21:38, 18 December 2007 (UTC) Allan
I hope you wouldn't get Na+ in the bottom of your pool - Na is strongly hydrophobic! and strongly reacts with water when in the solid phase. I'm curious, if the pool water has 3,000 - 6,000 ppm salt, how is this less than the 35 ppt salt in sea water??? 35 ppt = ppm
I didn't think you'd lose salt via evaporation (water will evaporate, but the salt stays in the pool). Yet this article mentions that you lose salt because of evaporation. Is that really true?
Environmental Engineer here, I have little knowledge about salt systems, but they seem hotly debated. I am thinking that the electrolysis unit must pull alot of kWh, is that the case? I feel that this should be discussed in the article, to compare environmental impact to other pool systems.Shredthegnarbrah (talk) 15:12, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
No chlorine in salt water pool
The most common problem are the electrodes not work properly. They may need to be cleaned or replaced.
Pool Losing Water Video
Article seemingly contradicts itself
The lead claims that the method "uses electrolysis in the presence of dissolved salt (NaCl) to produce hypochlorous acid (HClO) and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO)". But then the section on Operation claims that the method produces sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and free chlorine (Cl2), and that the NaOH drives up the pH, which must then be brought back down by adding muriatic acid (HCl) producing salt (NaCl) and water.
While these seem to be contradictory, what the article doesn't explain is that free chlorine reacts with water to produce HClO and dissociated muriatic acid in the form of hydrogen and chlorine ions. And perhaps the sodium hypochlorite arises in a similar way. Should some reconciliation be attempted here? (I'd do it myself if felt more confident about chemistry, I'm more into physics.) Vaughan Pratt (talk) 03:47, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
After reading a great many websites on this topic over the past 24 hours, I've concluded that if there is a website that explains the chemistry of pool chlorination both comprehensively and accurately then it has somehow managed to fly under Google's radar. It's as though either swimming pool chemistry was stuck in the 19th century, or everyone who understands it has taken a vow not to reveal only obfuscating nonsense about it online. Vaughan Pratt (talk) 04:09, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
Vaughan, see "Science-Based Swimming Pool Maintenance" (http://members.iinet.net.au/~jorobbirch/) or go straight to the details in the article "BABES: a better method than "BBB" for pools with a salt-water chlorine generator" (http://members.iinet.net.au/~jorobbirch/BABES.pdf). It explains the chemistry in pools with a salt-water chlorine generator with full referencing to the scientific literature. R Ge B (talk) 21:37, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
It is misleading in this Wikipedia article to say "Thus the consumable supplying all the chlorine is in fact the hydrochloric acid .... Net reaction : 2 HCl ---> H2 + Cl2 (as gases bubbling off)". In fact, chlorine gas is produced by electrolysis of NaCl in water. The chlorine gas is highly soluble, rapidly forming the sanitizing agent HOCl in water (it does not bubble off). So the net reaction in the electrolytic cell is: 2H2O + Cl- ---> HOCl + OH- + H2(gas). HCl has to be added to the pool because a proportion of the HOCl in the pool is consumed in reactions that do not perfectly balance the original production of hydroxyl ions (OH-) in the electrolytic cell. An example of the reactions that would (if they consumed all of the HOCl originally produced in the pool) perfectly balance the whole process (with only the loss of some H2O through bubbling off of hydrogen and oxygen gasses) is photolysis of HOCl: 2 HOCl <---> 2 H+ + 2 OCl- ---> 2 H+ + O2(gas) + 2Cl-. But any HOCl lost in pool overflow, or reacted with some organic compounds to be lost in volatile organo-chlorine products, does not return H+ (or Cl-) to the pool water; so most salt-chlorinator pool managers have regularly to add HCl to make up the deficit (i.e. to control rising pool pH). Acid may also be needed to counter rising pH from outgassing of CO2 if bicarbonate has been added to the pool as a pH buffer. Even so, the amount of chloride added as HCl is a tiny fraction of the amount from NaCl in a pool with an operational salt-water chlorinator. The sanitizing chlorine (HOCl) is overwhelmingly derived from electrolysis of chloride ions added in salt (NaCl), which also has to be replenished when it is lost in pool overflow. R Ge B (talk) 22:38, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
Incorrect Statements about Bromine
The last paragraph: Sodium bromide can be used instead of sodium chloride, which produces a bromine pool. The benefits and downsides are the same as those of a salt system. It is not necessary to use a chloride-based acid to balance the pH. Also, bromine is only effective as a sanitizer, not as an oxidizer, leaving a need for adding a "shock" such as hydrogen peroxide or any chlorine-based shock to burn off inorganic waste and free up combined bromines. This extra step is not needed in a sodium chloride system, as chlorine is effective as both a sanitizer and an oxidizer. A user would only need to "super chlorinate" or increase chlorine production of the cell occasionally. That would normally be once a week or after heavy bather loads.
This contradicts other Wikipedia articles that lists bromates as an oxidizin agent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Oxidizing_agents Michaelassad (talk) 18:31, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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