Pool salt calculator
How much salt to add to a saltwater pool. Enter the gallons, your current reading and the level your salt cell wants.
Add about half, brush it around, let it circulate 24 hours with the cell off, then retest before adding the rest. Use pool-grade salt (99%+ sodium chloride).
How it works
Pounds of salt = (target ppm - current ppm) x gallons x 8.34 / 1,000,000. That's the weight of the water times the share of it that needs to be salt.
The answer is rounded to the nearest pound and to whole 40 lb bags. Don't know your gallons? Use the pool volume calculator first.
Questions
What salt level should my pool be?
Most salt chlorine generators want 2,700 to 3,400 ppm, often 3,200 ppm as the ideal. The exact range is printed on the cell or in its manual, and that number wins.
How much salt raises 10,000 gallons by 100 ppm?
About 8.3 pounds. One gallon of water weighs 8.34 lb, so 100 parts per million of 10,000 gallons is 8.34 lb of salt.
My salt is too high. What do I do?
Partially drain and refill with fresh water. Salt doesn't evaporate, so dilution is the only way down. The calculator shows roughly what percentage of the water to replace.
Why does my salt cell read differently from my test strip?
Cells estimate salt from conductivity and drift as they age or scale up. Confirm with a salt test strip or a drop test before adding a lot of salt.
Run this math on every stop.
ShockRoute does the dosing for each pool's gallons in the tech app, logs it, and prices it from your supply costs. Free up to 25 pools.