If you’re building or upgrading a pool, you’ll eventually face this question: stick with traditional chlorine dosing, or switch to a salt chlorinator? Both keep your water sanitised, but how they do it — and what that means for your time, wallet, and skin — is very different.
How each one works
Traditional chlorine means manually adding chlorine — tablets, granules, or liquid — directly to the water on a regular schedule, then testing and adjusting as needed.
A salt chlorinator dissolves salt in the pool water, then uses an electrolytic cell to convert that salt into chlorine automatically and continuously. You’re still swimming in chlorinated water — it’s just generated on-site instead of added by hand.
Comparing the two
Maintenance and convenience
Manual dosing means buying, storing, and handling chlorine regularly — and remembering to do it. A smart salt chlorinator runs continuously in the background, with a self-cleaning cell to reduce scale buildup, and lets you monitor and adjust output from your phone.
Comfort
Salt chlorination tends to produce softer, more consistent water quality — less of the stinging eyes and dry skin/hair associated with manually shocking a pool with concentrated chlorine.
Consistency
Manual dosing creates peaks and troughs — high chlorine right after dosing, tapering off until the next round. A salt chlorinator produces a steady, continuous supply, which keeps algae and bacteria in check more reliably.
Upfront vs ongoing cost
A salt chlorinator costs more to install than simply buying chlorine, but you’re no longer buying chlorine on an ongoing basis — just topping up salt occasionally, which is cheaper and less frequent. Over a few years of ownership, the running-cost savings typically outweigh the upfront difference.
Which is right for you?
If you want the lowest possible upfront cost and don’t mind the regular hands-on maintenance, traditional dosing still works. If you’d rather set it up once and let it run — with better water comfort and consistency, plus app-based monitoring and instant alerts if something’s off — a smart salt chlorinator is the better long-term choice for most homeowners.
See the full lineup and specs on our Smart Wi-Fi Salt Chlorinator page, or get a free quote for your pool.