First, thanks for the image AI. HA!
Here’s the short answer: No. I don’t think you should.
What Do I Know?
I should start out by saying this is my opinion. My opinion is based on over 25 years of experience in the hot tub industry. I worked at the largest internet hot tub company from 2002 to 2020. The company was nationwide, so I spoke to customers with all the hot tubs from all the companies, and I was working there when this whole saltwater sanitizing started.
The concept is easy. There is a chlorine generator tied in with the equipment. The chlorine generator converts the salt to create chlorine, and then it converts back to salt. It’s true. I don’t know why, I’m not a chemist. I’m sure there’s all kinds of scientific explanation on the internet for you to find. The point is it works, it’s cyclical and you don’t have to drain and clean your hot tub as often as you would with other sanitizers.
Where It Started
At first, saltwater sanitizing seemed great. All the hotels and resorts changed their pools over to saltwater. Customers of those properties loved it! No chlorine smell, yet the water was sanitized. Resorts loved it, hotels loved it and the people who stayed there loved it. At that point those people started wanting saltwater systems for their pools at home, then eventually their hot tubs.
The first red flag I remember was a customer that bought a hot tub from us along with a saltwater sanitizer. The problem was he started his tub up, added the right amount of salt, turned the saltwater sanitizer to full blast then basically ignored it. After 6 months his stainless steel heater had rusted to the point of having multiple pinhole leaks. Granted, this is an isolated incident. Most people wouldn’t turn the sanitizing system on high, then never test their water. I remember it so well because it showed me just how much chlorine you can generate with these systems if you’re not careful.
Problems
Once the sanitizers had been on the market for a couple of years, we got lots of calls about them. I would talk to customers about the regular problems (foam, cloudy water), but there were a number of customers I would talk to that were pulling their hair out due to all the mechanical problems they were having. They kept having to replace their metal heater elements and heater tubes. Some had to keep replacing pumps because their pump seals were going out. Some of these customers I could tell were neglectful when it came to testing their water, however some were very thorough! Those are the people I remember speaking with because we couldn’t figure it out. They were testing their water weekly and everything was coming up fine. When their pH and/or alkalinity were off they would balance it. And yet, problem after problem. The best I could come up with, and this is only a theory, was that their systems were generating too much chlorine and it wasn’t showing when they tested. Too much chlorine ruins things faster than you would think.
With saltwater systems you have to add salt, lots of salt. That gets expensive. You also have to replace the chlorine generator annually. That IS expensive. Some systems have salt cells that cost $250 or more. Not to mention you have to text and balance the water weekly. Now you’re buying more balance chemicals. My point is, chlorine system are not only expensive when you buy the hot tub ($5,000 or more), they’re super expensive to maintain.
All this being said, there are definitely millions of hot tub owners that have salt systems and have never had any problems. Salt systems aren’t inherently bad. Salt systems are expensive. Salt systems mean you have to test and balance your water weekly. Salt systems require much more work and chemicals compared to our simple recommended system.
Why Not Keep It Simple?
I can’t say this enough, just use granular chlorine. We have a whole page on our site explaining how easy it is. Here’s the link – https://cleanhottub.com/adding-chlorine/
Again, this is just my opinion. I’ve been using granular chlorine for over 20 years. There is nothing simpler and there is nothing less expensive. I use my hot tub every day, so you could say I have just a little bit of experience when it comes to using this. We also have hundreds of customers that love it, and we’ve helped thousands of other customers who also love it. Our recommendations aren’t based on selling anything, since we don’t sell hot tubs and chemicals like other hot tub companies. We just want to make using your hot tub as simple as possible while saving you as much money as possible.
I hope this helps and thanks for reading!
Hot Tub Mark