How much does a salt water pool system cost?
It depends on the size of the pool and on whether the system is built for an above ground or an inground pool. At today's prices the complete systems named here run from $729.00 to $2,109.99. A CaliMar system for an inground pool up to 15,000 gallons is $729.00. A CaliMar system for an inground pool up to 40,000 gallons is $999.00. A Hayward AquaTrol for an above ground pool is $1,169.00. A Hayward AquaRite for 25,000 gallons is $1,999.00. A Hayward AquaRite S3 for 40,000 gallons is $2,109.99. Each price is for the system alone. Salt, any plumbing fittings and an electrician are extra.
Am I buying a whole system or just the box?
Read the product type before anything else, because both are on this page and they look similar in a listing. A complete system is the power center and the cell together and is what most people want on a first install. A power center on its own suits somebody whose cell is still good but whose electronics have died, which is a common enough failure to be worth carrying separately. A power center listing says so in its title, and some add that the salt cell is required and not included.
How much salt does the pool need?
Roughly the level your generator asks for, and it is far less salty than the sea. Systems here are built around a target in the low thousands of parts per million, with 3,500 ppm a common default that the unit lets you adjust. The important part is that salt is not consumed by making chlorine: it cycles, and you only top up for what leaves with splash out, backwashing and rain overflow. So the big addition is at startup, and after that it is small corrections rather than a regular purchase.
Will salt water damage my pool or equipment?
At the level a generator runs, the risk is real but narrow, and it is about materials rather than the salt itself. Natural stone coping and some soft mortar can spall over years where splash out dries and leaves salt behind, and untreated metal near the water does not enjoy it. Modern heaters, pumps and fittings are built for it. Two things do more damage than the salt: letting the water sit out of balance, and running the generator to mask a chemistry problem rather than fixing it.
Does a generator work in cold water?
It slows down, then it stops, and that is the unit protecting itself rather than a fault. Electrolysis gets less efficient as water cools and the plates are more prone to scaling at the same time, so most systems cut output below a threshold in the fifties Fahrenheit. That is one of the reasons a salt pool still wants closing properly rather than being left to the generator, and why the chlorine you add at closing comes out of a bucket.
