Pool Salt Calculator: Pounds to Reach SWG Target

A saltwater pool is still a chlorine pool — the salt cell splits dissolved salt into chlorine as water passes through it. For the cell to work, the water needs a target salinity, usually around 3200 ppm (check your generator; many run 2700–3400 ppm). The calculator finds the pounds of salt to add from your current level, your target, and your pool volume.

Salt is a pure mass balance. Because water weighs 8.34 lb per gallon, 1 ppm of salt in 10,000 gal is about 0.083 lb, so bringing 10,000 gal from zero to 3000 ppm takes roughly 250 lb. Pool salt is 99%-plus sodium chloride, so no purity correction is needed. Use salt sold for pools — not rock salt or salt with anti-caking additives.

Pour salt across the shallow end with the pump running and brush it to help it dissolve; run the pump for 24 hours before trusting a reading, since salt takes time to mix. Do not turn on the salt cell until the salt has fully dissolved. Add to water, and confirm with a test strip or the generator's own reading.