Pool Chemicals

[notagain]

I am having a hard time with this. I have used 5 bags of salt for my system this year. 4 I have purchased from my pool company at $25.00, the other I bought from Walmart for $7.00. Is there a good reason for buying the bags from the pool company as opposed to Walmart or some other no-name salt?

[jkusmier]

Nope. Well, maybe one - the pool store salt may be slightly higher purity (99.8%, or food quality, which is what many manufacturers recommend). Conventional solar salt is usually 99.5%. The only real downside to the latter is that it is a bit dirty; you'll have to vacuum the pool once or twice the day after adding salt to clean the impurities that remain on the bottom of the pool after the salt dissolves. If the pool store salt is also 99.5% pure, then the difference is, well, minus nope - same result, but nearly a 400% mark-up. Solar salt is just fine, I use Mortons in the blue bags.