A "natural" way to chlorinate your swimming pool.

Simply put, saline generation or salt generation or salt-chlorine generation is a pretty natural process.  Salt that has been added to a swimming pool runs through an electrolytic "cell" & the salt (as sodium chloride) is broken into Hypochlorous acid (the product that kills bacteria & algae or Free Available Chlorine), hydrochloric acid, Hydrogen gas and Sodium hydroxide (inert).  It's a marvelous and pretty efficient way to sanitize a swimming pool.  In fact, up to 80% of the pools in Australia are treated with this system.

As great a system as it may be, there are still some precautions and caveats to be aware of for optimal performance and satisfaction.  There are differences in HOW to "make" chlorine out of salt & minerals.  Your choice will determine your pool's performance & the effect on the pool, fittings, and equipment.  After looking at the process for over 10 years (and never feeling truly satisfied or convinced) our choice to recommend to pool owners is the BioGuard Mineral Springs program.  These are our reasons:

1. BioGuard® Mineral Springs® is a Pool Care System.  Yes, there are other electrolytic generators out on the market, however, the BioGuard® Mineral Springs® System gives you more.  More proven technology, proprietary & patented products that are not available anywhere else.  Plus you have the assurance that it's a quality BioGuard® product.  Where did the other guys get their salt from?

2. Electrolytic Generation is not the same.  BioGuard® went to great lengths in perfecting this fabulous technology.  They found the right manufacturer of the electronics.  After several years of field trials and homeowner and dealer feedback, BioGuard® specifically blended Mineral Springs® Beginnings™ and Renewal™ to provide certain functions for the overall performance of the product and for your personal satisfaction. They didn't just throw salt in the water!

3. What is electrolytic generation anyway?  Electrolytic generation is the taking of salts and/or minerals present or added to swimming pool water, passing those dissolved minerals through an electrical field and thereby transforming them, by breaking down and reforming the molecules into highly active HOCl (hypochlorous acid); the most widely used, strongest & preferred swimming pool sanitizer.

4. Then what's the difference between BioGuard® Mineral Springs® and the others?  What makes BioGuard® Mineral Springs® special?  Here are the characteristics of typical electrolytic generation:

• constant pH imbalance; pH tends to drift toward the high or scaling end causing a constant use of acid to lower the pH

• heavy scale formation on the electrical cells; due to the high pH and abundance of minerals; cells therefore have a relatively short life of 3 to 5 years

• the HOCl (hypochlorous acid) that is formed is UNSTABLE; the sun's UV light destroys the HOCl causing you to have to generate more and therefore use more minerals or salts

• the pool water becomes aggressive or corrosive causing a shortened life of ALL the pool equipment and pool surfaces, even vinyl liners

• cheap or cheaper salt (NOT BioGuard® Mineral Springs® Beginnings™) contain much higher levels of iron and potentially other metals that will result in staining of the pool surfaces, including vinyl liners

• generic salt DOES NOT CONTAIN: Stabilizers, pH buffers, Total Alkalinity buffers, boron salts (highly effective in preventing algae PLUS it makes the water feel softer), scale inhibitors (prevents scale build-up on the electrolytic cell), stain inhibitors, filter aids

• NON Mineral Springs pools should be routinely shocked with chlorine and have algicide added at least bi-weekly for optimum performance.

Here are the characteristics of BioGuard® Mineral Springs® electrolytic generation:

• pH fluctuation is greatly controlled by its patented, proprietary blend of minerals in its Beginnings™ and Renewal™ products.

• pH and Total Alkalinity buffers are blended into the Beginnings™ and Renewal™ products

• Scale inhibiting chelants are blended into Beginnings™ and Renewal™ products helping to keep the electrolytic cell "clean"

• "clean" cells last about double the life when compared to "non-Mineral Springs" systems

• Water is clearer thanks to blended in water clarifiers and filter aids in the Renewal™ product

• Algae is controlled better, almost thoroughly, due to the blending of boron salts and Optimizer Plus® in the Beginnings™ and Renewal™ products

• staining is virtually eliminated due to the high quality and purity of the salts and minerals used

• built-in stabilizers in the Beginnings™ and Renewal™ products prevent the sun's UV rays from destroying the effective HOCl

• even softer feeling water thanks to the special, proprietary blend of the Beginnings™ and Renewal™ products

• BioGuard® Mineral Springs®  DOES CONTAIN: Stabilizers, pH buffers, Total Alkalinity buffers, boron salts (highly effective in preventing algae PLUS it makes the water feel softer), scale inhibitors (prevents scale build-up on the electrolytic cell), stain inhibitors, filter aids

• BioGuard® Mineral Springs® control unit automatically cleans its electrolytic cell every one hundred minutes of operation, the other brands?

• Renewal™ goes into the water with a fresh scent!

• simple "one touch of a button" control to shock your pool providing virtually NO downtime

• NO NEED for shocking or additional algicide

5. Doesn't the pool water have a salty taste?  Maybe if you're super-sensitive to the taste of salt, however here are the facts.  Typical ocean water has a salt/mineral content of about 35,000 ppm.  The tears in your eyes have a typical salt/mineral content of about 7,000 ppm.  A typical Mineral Springs® treated pool has a mineral content of only about 3,000 ppm!  That's less than one-tenth the minerals in the ocean!

These are the reasons that the BioGuard® Mineral Springs® Pool Care System stands head & shoulders above any other electrolytic generation process out in the United States swimming pool market.  These are the reasons that our customers rave about the reliability and ease of the product.

How to switch from a Salt system to Mineral Springs

Things to be aware of when converting from a traditional chlorine program to Salt or Mineral Springs