I'm trying to gather information along similar lines of a pool reno. It is very hard to gather any useful information about ozone here and only a little easier to gather info on salt.

What I am hearing from people in the industry where I live and some online is that salt is losing some of it's favor as people have had it for some time and have to start making expensive repairs or replacements. Still, I have neighbors who love it and I am not sure that repair costs outweigh chemical savings over the long run. It may just be a different cash flow and the cynic in me wonders if the industry doesn't just figure a way to get x dollars per pool owner and price accordingly. On the plus side, it does give you a more consistent level of chlorination than tablets that tend to peak and fall as tablets start to dissolve and then get smaller. The salt chlorine generators don't generate stabilizer, so while you still need it, you aren't building up the levels until they bind up the chlorine and you have to drain off water. What I am getting is that some stones are more susceptible to break down by saltwater than others. The moving water of a waterfall would accelerate any breakdown you might get, so you would want to use a stone that is more resistant. Seems like limestone (which I like) is one of the worst.

We know of two pool builders in our area who really like ozone. I think one uses a UV and the other uses a corona discharge type. Both will still need some chlorine in the water. One of these guys had salt already installed for his pool, so he used that turned way down to 1% and added a timer to run it only 15 min a day. That's the most high-tech, most expensive way to sanitize your pool I've heard of, but he backed into it and is a pool builder and can do it for a lot less.

Again, I've tried to get info to balance or strengthen what else I have seen and this is one area where this forum is least helpful. Prepare yourself for a couple of soapbox stands and a regurgitation of the same information and misinformation. It is confusing, but I am sad to say that what you are likely to see here is not going to help. Sorry.

mjpt...there's a lot of opinions on this topic.

As a long time garden webber and owner of both a salt water pool and a hot tub with ozone system...here's my thoughts.

Regarding SWG's...we've had ours for 4 years now on our pool and have not had any problems with corrosion of metal or rock around our pool. We also have not had to replace the cell yet, but I'm anticipating having to do so soon as our PB told us they normally last 3-5 years.

We have stainless steel posts that stay in our pool for months at a time for basketball and volleyball...no corrosion problems. We have lots of rocks around our pool and a large waterfall...no problems with stone erosion or pitting. We have stamped concrete for our decking....no pitting or erosion.

I've read on this forum that the corrosion problems are due to stray currents and that proper electrical bonding reduces these stray currents. Makes sense to me and we bonded all metal items in our pool and surrounding areas accordingly.

The addition of salt to the pool water does make it noticeably smoother to the skin...everyone who swims in it comments on the pleasant feeling.

Regarding ozone....the hot tub has a flourescent ozonator and does a good job of sanitizing the hot tub. But, we also have to supplement the ozone with bleach after every soak to keep a residual sanitizer in the body of water. While the small circulation pump runs 24/7 generating ozone 24/7, the hot tub manufacturer still recommends a supplemental sanitizer such as chlorine or bromine that stays in the water continually sanitizing.

The ozone system did not provide a silky smooth feeling as some on this forum have claimed. We ended up adding salt to our hot tub to get the same feel we like from our pool. Actually, we use our pool water to fill the hot tub periodically which provides properly balanced water for the hot tub along with the salt for the smooth water feel that we like.

It makes sense to me that an ozonator reduces chlorine demand, but to what extent I'm not sure and I'm skeptical that it will provide any meaningful return on investment as a result.

If your budget allows, I think both SWG and ozonator work together OK. A SWG will provide smooth water plus sanitizing without any supplemental needs. Ozone, on the other hand, needs supplemental sanitizing help which costs extra money.

Hope this helps.

I'm not really going to comment one way or another, because I'm not knowledgeable enough on the subject or really able to compare....however in my research I learned that the erosion of the rock situation depends on the area in which you live. Natural stone in the south (Texas) vs west (California) and east coast differ in the relative amounts of minerals contained within the rock. Someone in one area might not have a problem while in other areas with the same "rock" the minerals might erode at a faster rate. If this is one of your concerns, I would check with LOCAL people regarding the rock issue.

Remember a SWG will not produce smooth water. It is the salt that does that and you can add salt to any pool. A SWG will not save money. At $1000+ to install can't see any savings there......

Agree with neilaz regarding addition of salt to water for the smooth feel. That is why we use salt water from our pool for our hot tub. We still have to supplement the ozone system with chlorine but the salt is what makes the water feel much better than just the use of ozone and chlorine.

Based on our experience so far, I estimate the costs to be better for SWG vs BBB method. Here's our experience...$1000 SWG in use for 4 years now ($250/yr) plus the costs for salt and acid is another $200/yr. We use the BBB method during the winter time when water drops below 52 degrees and SWG will not produce chlorine. During the winter months, we spend about $40/mo on chlorox for about 4 months or $160. If we were to use the BBB method year round, the expense would probably be nearly $500 per year since the chlorine demand would be higher in the summer months.

A replacement cell will be around $400 and if we get another 4 years from it, the costs will definitely be in favor of SWG.

Just my thoughts and experience so far.

Hope this helps.

I've heard that for those people wanting the "softer" feel of the water without using a SWG, they can add a sodium tetraborate product once a year. I'm curious if anybody has done this and if it truly makes the water more comfortable and similar in "softness" to the SWG water.

For me a pool without a SWG is like a TV without a remote.

In our last pool we had one of the first SWGs on the market and loved it until the Kreepy Clear became extinct and the controller gave up the ghost. It lasted for several years and would have been replaced with one of the newfangled units had the plumbing supported it. Just so you know this system had a cell that was actually located in the deep end on the pool wall.

This was not about $$$ it was about convenience -- back then these systems were much more expensive than they are today. We could simply set the chlorine level and forget it. If we went on vacation we didn't have to worry about the chlorine levels dropping while we were away. The busy work week didn't include filling floaters with chlorine tablets, estimating how much liquid to dump, or travelling to Leslies when we ran out of chlorine.

When we first got the system we religiously checked the levels and it was always dead on. Eventually we stopped checking the chlorine and just let the system do its job. Even with the salt testing a few times a year (that system had to be manually tested for salt level) the pool maintenance routine was pretty minimal. For the first few years the pool needed acid but that requirement slowly disappeared as well. To the point were we tested the water every two to three weeks. Most of the time it was perfect and on rare occasions it needed a little acid.

When I could no longer replace components on the controller motherboard we sadly reverted to chlorine.

Today we still own the pool and the property is now a rental property with the tenant maintaining the pool and I supply the $90+ buckets of tabs. After we complete our new pool this year with a SWG we will likely replumb the pad on the old pool and install one there next spring. Not to save on $90+ buckets of tabs but to reduce the maintenance. I hate getting up to change the channel, replacing crappy floaters, and dropping off buckets of tabs!

typea...good remote control analogy...I agree.

Our SWG provides continuous chlorine without any effort. The result is balanced water that rarely needs any chemical additions. We too, have noticed no need for acid anymore. It has been over 2 years since we've added acid and the PH is always 7.6 when I check it with drops...weird.

The first year we added acid pretty regularly and now we don't add any at all. Not sure if it was the new plaster that was contributing to this acid need or something else but with mature plaster now and SWG and in-floor cleaner...maintenance is a breeze.

This time of year, the only maintenance required is skimming the top of the pool with a leaf skimmer after heavy storms with high winds...That's it.

In the spring, we add salt, conditioner and calcium and the SWG does the rest...we have a 35K gallon pool that is partially shaded with a lot of oak trees around it...not sure if that is helping with the chemisty balance but whatever is happening....we're happy!

The fall is a differnt story...the army of leaves attack and are relentless!

Winter has it's own set of challenges also. With the colder water the SWG does not work and chlorine additions become manual which requires weekly chemical checks and chlorox additions. Actually, our Aquapure can produce chlorine below 52 degrees if it is set to "boost" mode but we prefer not to use "boost" in an effort to lengthen the life of the cell.

That's our experience with SWG...we're happy. Curious if others have the same experience as we do with water balance in plaster pools with SWG...I can't imagine a more troublefree way to sanitize water and at the same time provide water that is pleasing to swim in.

lookingforapool...sorry I can't comment on sodium tetraborate additions to pools to provide the silky smooth feeling of salt. At $6 per 40lb bag of salt, we're happy with the $48 we spend each year on salt for our pool. Curious how much this stuff is and how much needs to be added to a 35K gallon pool each year...anyone else have experience with this product.

Thanks!

WRT to the borates, please refer the Deep End forum @ TFP to get a better handle and understanding. Chem 201 is another TFP forum that will likely yield added information.

Scott