Everything here is about running a salt pool, not selling you one. Calculators that show their working, guides that say when the common advice is wrong, and no pretending a salt pool is a chlorine-free pool.
What brought you here
The panel says LOW SALT. Before you buy a single bag, read why your salt system cannot measure salt. It reads the cell, not the water, so a dirty cell, cold water or a wrong model setting will all show you a low number while your salt is fine.
Three tests gave you three answers. Strips, a meter and the pool store disagree because they measure different things with different precision. There is an order of trust, and it is in salt levels and testing.
You added salt and nothing moved. Almost always a volume problem, not a salt problem. Get your real gallons from the pool volume calculator before dosing anything again.
You are deciding whether to go salt. Start with salt water pools: what they are and what they cost. Short version, a salt pool is a chlorine pool that makes its own chlorine.
Where the money goes
A 40 lb bag of salt costs $10 to $25 and the salt is never consumed. A replacement cell costs $700 to $1,100 and lasts three to seven years. Almost every expensive decision in a salt pool is really a decision about the cell, which is why protecting it matters more than anything you do with the salt.
We explain how we test and who writes this.
