If we told you that you could chlorinate your pool using table salt I still wouldn’t recommend that you add 20 kg of table salt to your next grocery list. But yes, rather than using chlorine tablets, or liquid or granular chlorine, the majority of people on the Gold Coast now own a salt water chlorinator that forms part of their swimming pool equipment. Some, perhaps don’t actually know the difference between this salt water chlorinator and the pool pump, but that’s okay…. It took me a few years to teach my own wife this.
When water, that contains sodium chloride (salt) has a small electric current applied to it, the salt converts into chloride ions, and then into chlorine gas. Once this chlorine gas dissolves back into the swimming pool water a pure form of chlorine is created and distributed to your swimming pool.
So, how does a salt water chlorinator work? The Chlorinator contains something called a salt cell. This cell has a small electric current running through it, and is placed into a tube that is strategically part of the circulation journey of the swimming pool water.
Large amounts of salt are added to the swimming pool water and as the swimming pool water passes this salt cell, the salt is converted into chlorine.
Its’s important that your salt water chlorinator is placed after the filter, so that the impurities are filtered from the water before running past your salt cell.
Salt cells build up over time, and become less efficient in producing these ions and gases. It’s recommended that they are either cleaned once a month, or that you consider a “self cleaning” chlorinator. A Self cleaning chlorinator merely runs in a reverse polarity cycle to self clean.
