Table Salt vs. Pool Salt in Salt Water Pool System?

Question

Is there a real difference in what kind of salt I use for my salt water pool system? Can I just buy the 50 lb bag from Smart & Final for $5 as opposed to the 40-lb "pool salt" bag for $10 from my local pool supply company? Aren't they both the same form of salt, so long as I don't use rock salt? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!! :)

Answer 1

A beautiful question and one that deserves a proper answer! Thank you for coming to the realization that there are pool chemicals out there that aren't designed for the pool.

Table Salt = Sodium Chloride = Pool Salt
They are the exact same thing. In fact the food grade table salt is finer milled so it will dissolve quicker.

Here's a few others you may not know about:
Alkalinity increaser = Sodium Carbonate (latest chemical name) = Sodium Bicarbonate = Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

pH Increaser/Buffer = sodium tetraborate pentahydrate (or decahydrate) = 20 Mule Team Borax from your detergent isle of your grocery store in a green box.

Since the first two (salt and baking soda) are food grade they have been more finely milled so they dissolve quicker in water, plus they have undergone rigid testing to ensure their quality and purity. Would you trust the purity of chemicals from a pool store to eat?

Soda Ash is generally used to increase the pH of a pool, but it doesn't buffer the pH against fluctuations. To do this you will need a secondary chemical, borax. But wait, when you add it it will increase the pH of the pool considerably... much higher than soda ash alone. So why buy soda ash to do part of the job when borax will do the entire job? Why indeed. Since 20 Mule Team is sold as a detergent it must meet stringent EPA standards for phosphates and other chemical additives. So you can be sure that there's nothing in the box besides borax.

BTW, did you know that borax is the primary ingredient of many patented pool aids and algistats? Yellow OUT, Mustard Master, Proteam Supreme, Biolab Optimizer, Yellow Treat, No Mor Problems, and a few others. Also, Yellow OUT doesn't actually kill algae it "decolorizes" it. Leaving you with a pool full of algae that you can't see.

There is far more information here than you originally asked for, but I thought it might be helpful.

Answer 2

Where To Buy Pool Salt

Answer 3

Don't use table salt. You can either Google and learn or simply trust your pool guy. Table salt can have additives in it. Iodine, as an example, will stain your pool. No idea what the other stuff that's added will do.

Pure table salt is NaCl, pool salt is either NaOCl or NaOH. No idea about the difference but the guy that's takes care of our 30,000 gallon pool doesn't even want Home Depot salt in it. He charges me $14 for 50# of what he uses. Not worth saving a few cents for whatever other solutions are available.

Answer 4

I would recommend you get the pool salt for $10, and get it done the right way. It probably has something to do with the filter, but you should definately do it the way you are supposed to...

Answer 5

Yes, you can use table salt they are the same thing....

Answer 6

I don't know. I never owned a swimming pool..........Got anything yummy in the fridge. Burrrrrrrp. :)