roarah..the OP was asking about ozone vs salt water...not salt water vs other means of chlorinating. The disadvantages of salt water pools have been debated ever since they became popular...on the web and within pool industry publications. From what I've learned over the years as a salt pool owner and avid pool hobbyist, all reported ill effects of salt pools could have been avoided by proper water chemistry maintenance and following common practices of pool construction (proper bonding of pool deck and equipment, avoiding the use of soft stone around the pool, installing the chlorinator downstream of the heater, etc). Not following these generally accepted practices will cause problems with any pool..salt or non-salt. I have yet to hear of any compelling case supporting salt pools as a root cause for significant problems in or around the pool. Regarding cost, I've done the math with our pool and it's about even. The money we save by not having to buy chlorine is offset by the initial cost of the salt system plus additions of salt to the pool. It's more a matter of convenience for us. We probably would have chosen salt even if the cost was higher than that of manual chlorination because of the convenience. After living with a salt pool, we're even bigger fans....automated chlorine dosing, consistent chlorine dosing, no more hassle with manual chlorine additions and gotta mention that smooth salt water feeling when swimming. We've had our salt pool for 5 years and clearly are big fans. By the way, the associated content dot com link above is misleading and inaccurate...especially the statements regarding scaling and corrosion. The statements regarding operation and efficiency have merit but can be mitigated if the use of a 2 speed or variable speed pump is used in combination with the salt system. That is why I asked the OP what type of pump is currently being used. If the OP has a single speed pump and is also interested in reducing monthly utility bills, then a 2 speed or variable speed would offer significant energy savings. These pump technologies also compliment salt water systems nicely due to longer run times at lower, more energy efficient speeds. Hope this helps.

A properly balanced pool will not smell. If you smell chlorine, it's fought something and a complete chem check is called for, especially free chlorine, combined chlorine, and cya. Something has happened and the pool is telling you it's sick. UV Ozone is different than straight UV. Straight UV is a specific light wave length generator disables a pathogen's ability to reproduce. UV Ozone generation creates ozone(O3) gas, a highly reactive and effective oxidizer that also can kill most pathogens. Both may reduce a system's chlorine demand, but neither is particularly cost effective with residential pools and neither will do anything in the main body of water where the vast majority of a pool's chlorine demand is needed and used. Both are only effective at the equipment pad. They can only supplement a sanitizer such as chlorine. Scott

Well I didn't have any luck finding the web pages I found back then about the interaction of ozone and sodium bromide as the primary form of sanitization. Here's a copy/paste of what I did find """Protocol for total pool management is as follows. 1. Use of ozone as the primary disinfectant. 2. Use of sodium bromide as the secondary stable disinfectant. This is the natural constituent to sea water which can not act on its own. Needs the ozone to activate it. 3. Use of hydrogen peroxide for super oxidizing the pool. 4. Use of an algaecide if necessary. In an ozone treated pool, ozone activates sodium bromide to hypobromous acid. Ozone (O3) +Sodium Bromide equals Hypobromous Acid. Hypobromous acid is one powerful bactericide and is more powerful species than chlorine and more stable than Ozone. Hypobromous Acid +Organics equals Sodium bromide. Cycle is set up with the ozonation system in which the sodium bromide goes from the bromide to the hypobromous acid and then back to the bromide. In this way the bromide losses are minimized and one only has to add sodium bromide once each 6 month period to compensate for losses from backwashing""" What I liked about this set up was that it was a very hands off system which really delivered a very strong disinfectant, Because I have a very very large pool what I didn't like about the system was that there was no residual and I would have to circulate 24/7/365. I run 3 equipment sets and thought about dedicating one for the ozonator to handle it and let the other 2 run on normal daily cycles. I also didn't like the price of the commercial grade ozonator. I really didn't want a salt system because I have an Arizona flagstone which doesn't like salt systems and I didn't like the price of the 3 SWG's it would of taken to handle my pool size. So, I ended up with no system at all. Kind of stupid on my part, LOL!!! I use the BBB method, it's a daily regimen of adding bleach every morning and checking the balance of my chem's once weekly. I keep crystal clear water but can't miss a day of chlorinating because I run a low stabilizer PPM and my pool will grow algae almost instantly if I miss doing it. See ya, Kelly

Eye friendly water comes from proper balancing and filtering. Eyes have a lot of salt. Non salt pools may draw some of the salt out but salt pools lower this tendency. Ozone oxidizes impurities such as skin oils, sun tan lotions, and a litteny of other things. Chlorine breaks them down also but may take a little longer. Pool salt is pure table salt with out anti caking materials and no iodine. It is just Sodium Chloride. Simply put, when the water with this added salt passes an energized cell, the salt molecule is split, freeing the chlorine. When water washes over tablets, they free chlorine. My point is that chlorine is chlorine. Both systems work. While chlorine is corrosive, the low quantities found in a normal pool chemistry is not sufficient to cause harm. Improper bonding can result in electrolysis, aka a stray voltage resulting in a current flow. This can cause corrosion. Improper pool chemistry can also cause corrosion or scale to form. This is a chemical change in the materials. Large temperature swings, whether rapid or gradual will not cause corrosion, but rather will cause erosion. This is a physical change in the material. Pure water, does NOT conduct electricity unless an extremely high voltage is present, such as lightning. Adding chemicals and minerals does lower the voltage required for water to become an electrolyte, that is a liquid conductor. Electricity is the the flow of electrons. It, like water, will follow the path of least resistance in proportion to the paths it has available. Bonding is method equalizing and dispersing of stray voltages that can create current flows. These are typically sent to the same ground and the main power source for the home. Having two grounds separated by some distance may be able to sink stray current in different amounts. This difference in potential may create a battery to form between them. It may not be much, but its enough to cause electrolysis. I have never seen a properly bonded pool have salt cell related corrosion. There has always been another underlying cause of the corrosion, if, in fact, it was corrosion and not erosion at work. Please also know that water is also know in the chemistry world as the Universal Solvent. Next to the sun, water is a pool's biggest threat. Water can carry many thing in solution such as salt, calcium, chlorine, silver, iron, copper and a litany of other substances. Scott