The history of pool sanitization is a hope filled one. At the earliest, pools were simply drained and refilled with fresh water, often built sloping downhill to make draining easier. Innovative thinkers at Brown University were the first to try chlorine as a sanitizer on pool water in 1910, after successful reports from Boonton, New Jersey where chlorine was being used to treat drinking water.
From there, the technique was honed. As our understanding of water balance grew, so did our creativity.
UV light treatment, Ozone generators, and salt chlorine generators, are some popular sanitizing methods that were birthed from that creativity. The desire is always to find an effective method of sanitizing pool water that is also safe for swimmers and cost efficient for users and manufacturers alike.
First experimented with in Australia in the 1960s, salt as a sanitizer grew in both popularity and proficiency over the next few decades.
Today, salt cell generators are chic and efficient, and once a homeowner has spent a couple seasons with their cell, operating the cell becomes almost second nature.
One of the strongest motivations for homeowners to switch to a saltwater pool is the potential time and money it can save on chlorine. A common misconception about saltwater pools is that they are chemical free, or chlorine free. The cell generated (produces) chlorine via the transformation of the salt mineral that is added to the water as it passes through the salt cell. Hence the name salt chlorine generator.
A low voltage current is applied to the water as it passed through the salt cell, which causes the positively charged sodium to split from the negatively charged chloride. When these ions react with water, they form sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid. These then act as the sanitizers which keep the pool water sanitized, and feeling less abrasive on one’s skin. This is another draw for the popularity of saltwater pools.
Ever improving, swimming pool sanitization methods highlight the creativity and hope of the industry, and it’s nothing but good things on the horizon.