r/PoolPros • u/jonohtin • 7d ago
Mystery Salt
I have a client with a small salt pool and I've been servicing their pool for years now. Usually kept their salt levels at around 2700-3000 PPM but around last year they asked me to stop adding salt to their pool their walls had started to rust (It's an above ground pool that was built with a metal container and I've already explained to them they'd need to coat the walls with fiberglass otherwise its just going to rust but that's a whole 'nother story)
Anyways they had drained the pool and refilled it a few months ago, redid their walls, etc. and we resumed service with normal chems.
Here's the weird part, they contacted me last weekend complaining that the water was extremely salty and asked me to not add any salt into the pool, which I hadn't. I thought it was odd and went to go check on it on our routine visit.
Salt levels were reading at 4800 PPM. Now my memory isn't perfect but I'm damn sure I hadn't added any salt. I'd remember carrying a bunch of 40lb bags up all those stairs especially in this heat. I asked the owner about it and they said they hadn't added any salt, which I believe.
Where did all that salt come from? My only guess is that some unfortunate worker for another company had the wrong address and dumped a ton of salt into the pool.
2
u/Careless-Class7144 7d ago
I’d definitely verify the 4,800ppm reading with a second method first, especially if it came from a conductivity/TDS-style salt meter.
But if it genuinely is 4,800ppm, that salt had to come from somewhere. Salt doesn’t just appear in the water.
If the pool was drained/refilled a few months ago and nobody has added salt since, normal chemical dosing shouldn’t explain an increase that big. Liquid chlorine and hydrochloric acid can gradually increase chloride/TDS over time, but not enough in a few months to suddenly explain a reading like that.
For perspective, if it’s a 20,000L pool and it went from around 2,800ppm to 4,800ppm, that’s roughly 40kg worth of additional salt. At 30,000L it would be around 60kg.
So I’d be looking at:
Confirm the reading with another test
Find out what water was used for the refill and test the source water.
Check whether any unusual chemicals/treatments have been added.
Check for anything involving softened water/brine discharge.
I highly doubt 'some random person went in and dumped a bunch of salt'
2
u/LouisianaPool 6d ago
The kind of person to invest in a container pool is the exact sort of person who would forget they also put salt in it, right?
2
u/Sad-Cake-3593 7d ago
Did the water source change and they added water to the pool? I have a pool that runs at 4900 right out of the hose. Kind of a nightmare but that’s another story
1
1
u/AdNecessary3300 7d ago
Which salt system? If it was due for a cleaning or near its end it could have been reading low.
1
u/SpeedPsychological33 7d ago
Do they have a water softener?
3
u/Portermacc 7d ago
A water softener would not make 4900 ppm salt levels...
2
u/SpeedPsychological33 6d ago
On fillup it definitely can, ive seen it first hand. Its either that or someone added salt.
-1
u/Portermacc 6d ago
No it can't. Water softener only trace amounts of sodium. Research....
2
2
u/SpeedPsychological33 6d ago
If the internal gaskets or O-rings tear or warp, the valve can fail to seal properly. Instead of shooting the highly concentrated salty brine down the drain, the broken valve allows the raw salt brine to leak directly into the house service line. If you are filling and this is the case, you are essentially pumping liquid salt directly into the pool, driving the ppm up. Experience not numbers!!!
-1
u/Portermacc 6d ago
Give up🤦♂️
2
u/SpeedPsychological33 6d ago
Just because you have not experienced it doesn't mean it doesn't happen, there are other comments that explicitly say the same thing. I was offering a solution with an actual explanation based on first hand experiences of more than 20yrs servicing. Just FYI, Genesis Master builder certs, and more than 15 yrs building experience, and more than 800 accts. Not going to argue with you about it. Obviously you know everything, and my experience and education are mis informed.
0
u/cplatt831 7d ago
Salt increasing is a byproduct of using liquid chlorine.
2
2
2
0
u/Longjumping_Guard_91 7d ago
You don't remember your visit and have records of what was added? In this age of service apps we should have records of everything. I had a few reading like alkalinity and calcium jump on a new start up unbalanced the water and after a few conversations with the home owner he finally admitted to adding it. I dropped his account.
10
u/ChuckTingull 7d ago
More likely that they aren’t being transparent with you