Equipment
Salt Systems in Coastal Virginia
Salt cells still need testing, inspection, and a climate that is not a desert. Humidity, scale, and output in Hampton Roads and along the rivers.
A salt system does not mean the pool takes care of itself. The cell generates chlorine. You still test free chlorine. You still watch pH. You still clean the cell when scale says so.
What the cell actually does
Dissolved salt passes through plates. Chlorine is generated. The water is still a chlorine pool — just without as many jugs on the shelf.
What coastal air does
Humidity and salt air work on the cell, the bonds, and the rest of the pad. We look at the cell every visit, not once a season when it has already quit.
Scale and output
Scale on the plates cuts output. Low output looks like “the water went dull for no reason.” It had a reason. The cell was tired and nobody looked.
What we still test
Free chlorine, pH, alkalinity, stabilizer. Salt level when indicated. A salt pool with high pH is still a high-pH pool.
If the cell is old, undersized, or ignored, Care will say so. We do not keep turning the percentage up and hoping. Inquire about service.