A friend of mine has just purchased a house with a pool. She’s interested and looking into the idea of having a saltwater pool. Supposedly, these take a lot less maintenance and expense than freshwater chlorinated pools.
Does anyone have any experience with these? Any does and don’ts?
The thing with salt water pools is, man, do you itch when you come out. Unless there’s a shower to rinse off with.
But then, here’s my experience with a salt water pool: camp. At camp, there was a pool where they pumped water in right from the ocean and drained it out again each day. Sometimes clumps of seaweed were in it. Maybe not the same thing this woman is planning on.
Saltwater pools aren’t as salty as seawater. The one I’ve swam in a few times didn’t need as much chlorine as a freshwater pool so my eyes didn’t sting as much after swimming underwater. I certainly didn’t notice any itching.
We owned a saltwater pool (or rather, my parents did) when I was in primary school.
I could open my eyes underwater and they wouldn’t hurt. The salt wasn’t very strong. And when Dad added salt (I can’t remember how often) we would go swimming and play with the salt crystals.
We had to test the water pretty often, but that wasn’t a hassle.
I never had any itching. And at least everything didn’t smell like chlorine.
And you have to remember, this was almost twenty years ago; I bet pools are better now.
There’s a waterpark near where I live that has a saltwater pool. Lemme tell ya, its the BEST swimming experience I’ve ever had. You can open your eyes under water without any stinging, and you are noticeably more buoyant. Oh, the water was also heated. I could’ve stayed in there all day. 
Backyard saltwater pools in Australia appear to be more popular than chlorinated pools. They still use chlorine to an extent, but generally the water doesn’t feel or smell as harsh as a purely-chlorinated pool.
A properly maintained saltwater pool should not smell or taste more than mildly salty. They are quite different to beachside pools that are flushed with seawater; backyard saltwater pools commonly rely on a electronic monitoring system which may involve manual or automatic addition of pool salt to the water.
My parents had a saltwater pool when I was a teenager. It never left me feeling itchy as Beadlin describes, plus it didn’t irritate my eyes or nose like purely-chlorinated water.
My sister and my parents both have them and love them. Significantly less upkeep than our chlorinated pool, much more straightforward and less algae fun and games.
I’m switching over when we need to replace the newish pump. I’ve never experienced itching either.
If these are so much better than chlorinated pools, why do we still have both? In fact, until reading this thread, I never realized there was an alternative to chlorine.
Does salt disinfect? Why would public pools not use salt if upkeep is easier?
Or have I been swimming in salt for years without being aware of it?
You’d know it if you were swimming in salt; just taste it.
Why do we still have both?
Yes, salt “disinfects” to a certain degree, depending on the concentration (I don’t know what salinity is used in pools). Fresh water algae and microorganisms don’t grow in salt water.
There are lots of options for water disinfection, but these two are the best suited to swimming pools at present (or at least the most popular). Salt has it’s drawbacks too; a big one would probably be corrosion in the piping and salt crusting up everywhere. It’s better in some ways, not in others. It’s pretty much just another way rather than an absolutely better way.