Salt Chlorination and the Summer Sun
Ah - summertime is here! We at Harrison Pool & Spa are out there opening pools and getting families ready to enjoy the sun! Right now your water is on the colder side, so you don’t have to worry much about algae growth (remember, algae needs heat to grow), but what will happen when the spring months move past us? And what does that mean for your water quality?
For those of you with a standard chlorine pool, you’re likely used to adding additional shock to keep up with algae growth. But what about those of you with salt chlorination?
For those of you without a salt water pool, salt is a fantastic way to both decrease chemical costs and keep your water clear - if you’re interested in a salt system please reach out and we would be happy to install for you, but more on that in a different post.
Regardless of if you have a Hayward Aquarite, a Pentair IntelliChlor, or one of the many other systems out there, your salt chlorine production needs to be adjusted as the days get hotter. As mentioned above, algae needs heat to grow. For the most part, there can be algae growth in your pool at any temperature greater than 40 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water is warmer, like in the hotter months when your pool is heated by the sun, it’s shockingly (ha) easy to wake up to a green pool. So while having a salt chlorinator does make your life much easier (and saves you a small fortune on shock), if you don’t have a service technician regularly adjusting your parameters you’ll need to manage it yourself.
On most systems it’s quite easy to turn your chlorine production up. The Aquarites have a twist dial on the panel itself, while IntelliChlors have a soft-press button on the cell. When I open a pool in the spring I tend to set the output at around 10-20% depending on a few other items (tree cover, initial water quality, etc). As April moves to May, and May fades to June, those outputs are increased. By the time July hits many pools will have a set-point of 65-75%. As many of us know, it’s also quite easy to have too-high a chlorine level too - but more on that next time. Until then… swim on!