Salt Chlorine Generators

[mountainspa]

Hi...I'm new here,  however, I've been lurking and gleaning lots of great info from the site for a month or so.   I've been in the pool and spa industry for ten years and have just recently (five weeks)  opened my own spa showroom in north Georgia.

My question:  Does anyone have any experience with a salt chlorine generator on a spa?  I have a customer who wants a system on his spa, but I have no experience with them.   I've installed and worked on pools with salt generators, but not on spas.  I'm looking to install the Eco-matic from Balboa Direct.  Is there a better brand out there I just don't know about?  Any advice?

Ward

[Lori]

I can't help, just a consumer here!

Just wanted to say Welcome to the board!

[HotTubMan]

I am sure Balboa has done a lot of research, but I am skeptical about salt and hot tubs.

For years chemical and hot tub manufacturers have been warning people not to use softened water in spas because:
a) the low calcium levels make the water aggresive
b) the salt content of the softened water would be hard on components, especially heaters and jet bearings.

Now we are going to put in water with salt levels much higher than that and have no problems.....I am going to wait and see......

[spahappy]

Yes I have first hand experience with salt generator systems.

I've sold Coleman spas for 11 years and there was a short time in the late 90's that Coleman used them.

They contracted them from a company called Bio II. For people with low useage they seemed to work fine. For people with high useage and kids they didn't.

While the Bio II systems were in place Coleman experienced  higher than exceptable heater failures. This was deemed a result of the salt system generators. It was a hassle but Coleman replaced all the systems with ozone free of cost to the customer.

I still have a few customers that tell me they miss the conveinence, but they didn't work well in most cases.

[mountainspa]

Thanks for the advice.  This customer has a chlorine generator on his pool and LOVES the softness of his water and no hassles, so now that it's time to purchase a spa he "knew" that's what he wants in the tub as well.  I will keep doing research so I can be well-informed to help him...and your advice goes a long way too!

Thanks for the welcome, Lori.  Glad to be here!

Ward

[J._McD]

Hi...I'm new here,  however, I've been lurking and gleaning lots of great info from the site for a month or so.   I've been in the pool and spa industry for ten years and have just recently (five weeks)  opened my own spa showroom in north Georgia.
 
My question:  Does anyone have any experience with a salt chlorine generator on a spa?  I have a customer who wants a system on his spa, but I have no experience with them.   I've installed and worked on pools with salt generators, but not on spas.  I'm looking to install the Eco-matic from Balboa Direct.  Is there a better brand out there I just don't know about?  Any advice?

Ward
 

Welcome to the board,  I am sure you will only add to the mix of learning and sharing as we all do.

With similar input as Spahappy, SD used salt generators in their maxxus for three years before removing it.  Some people like it, for others it didn't work well, but is made some very aggressive water chemistry that affected heaters and pump seals etc.  It would be my guess, the reason it was discontinued had a great deal to do with warranty claims.

There was a time that salt generators were thought to be "the new way" but "hot water chemistry" is far different from pool water.  IMHO I would recommend avoiding it based on the obvious experience of other manufacturers.  If it was good and it worked well, I would believe both of these manufacturers would be introducing the second and third generations of "NEW" salt water chlorine generators, instead they have become part of the evolution process of our developing industry.  They are now in the history column.