Most
people who consider themselves "sensitive" or "allergic" to chlorine are not
reacting to the chlorine at all. What is creating a problem is
packaged pool chemicals and the additives and carriers in those chemicals.
Those same swimmers who claim allergic reactions to chlorine, typically
experience no problems when they are in a salt water pool. The answer
isn't the absence of chlorine. Salt systems create their own chlorine.
The answer is the absence of all the packaged chemicals and by-products in
those chemicals.Here are just a few basics of how a "salt water" or chlorine generation system works. You will find quite a bit more information in the links above located just below ~Technical Information~.
* Salt is the raw material from which the chlorine is produced.
* Salt makes the water conductive so that the electricity can pass between the plates in the cell.
* During filtration, this passes around two electrodes in a small
(normally translucent) cell unit
placed after the filter and heater in the pool pump house.
* The control unit is a device that sends power to the salt cell.
The unit controls how much chlorine is produced
by regulating how long the power is applied to the cell.
If the control knob is turned down the unit will apply power
to the cell for less time, thereby producing less chlorine.
The control unit will often sense the level of salt in the pool
and indicate the need to add more salt. Self cleaning
units have a feature built into the unit that reverses the polarity
of the voltage through the cell in order to help clean any
scale buildup off of the cell plates.