A salt chlorine generator is easier week to week: no tablets to buy, store or load, and no stabilizer building up from your chlorine. Tablets are easier to start with and to fix: no cell to clean, no salt level to hold, and a simple feeder to maintain.
If you’re keeping the pool for years and want the least weekly handling, choose salt. If you want the lowest setup cost, and you’ll test CYA and drain some water when it climbs, tablets work fine.
The deciding factor is stabilizer. Trichlor adds cyanuric acid (CYA) every time it dissolves. Salt doesn’t.
Side by side
| Task | Salt chlorine generator | Trichlor tablets in a feeder |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly chlorine supply | Made in the cell from salt; adjust output % | Refill feeder with slow-dissolving tablets |
| Level to hold | Salt 3,600 ppm ideal (Pentair IntelliChlor, range 3600–4500 ppm) | None, but watch CYA |
| Stabilizer (CYA) | Add once to 30–50 ppm, then top up after dilution | Rises about 7 ppm per pound per 10,000 gallons |
| Equipment care | Inspect cell every two months if it scales; acid-clean when needed | Check feeder seals and setting |
| Replacement | Cell designed for about 10,000 hours (about five years) | Feeder parts as they wear |
| Cold water | IntelliChlor stops below 52°F | Tablets keep dissolving |
| Chemical handling | Bags of salt; occasional acid for the cell | Concentrated trichlor every week or two |
Salt ranges are model-specific. Use your generator’s manual for the target; the salt calculator works out the pounds, and the target salinity comes from the generator manual.
The tablet problem: CYA keeps climbing
Taylor’s numbers: every pound of trichlor added to 10,000 gallons raises CYA by 7 ppm, and two 3-inch tablets weigh about a pound. Taylor notes that daily stabilized chlorine can easily lead to 80 ppm CYA.
Example: a 10,000-gallon pool using two tablets a week gains about 7 ppm CYA a week. Starting at 40 ppm, it passes 100 ppm (the usual code limit) in about 9 weeks. The PHTA ideal is 30–50 ppm. Above that range chlorine works more slowly, and the usual fix is draining and refilling part of the water. That recurring drain is the hidden maintenance cost of tablets. Our CYA guide explains the chemistry.
The salt problem: a cell to look after
A generator trades tablet runs for equipment care. Start-up takes a lot of salt: about 450 lb of salt brings a 15,000-gallon pool from fresh water to 3,600 ppm. After that you top up what splash-out and backwashing remove. Pentair recommends removing and inspecting the cell every two months if it tends to scale, and acid-cleaning it per the manual. Working with muriatic acid can be dangerous, so wear gloves and eye protection and always add acid to water. Our salt cell cleaning guide walks through it.
You still test weekly. A generator makes chlorine, but it doesn’t measure it, and salt pools often need regular acid to hold pH. The saltwater pool basics guide covers how the cell works.
Tablet safety
Hayward’s feeder manual is blunt: use only slow-dissolving trichlor tablets, and never mix trichlor tablets with calcium hypochlorite or any other chlorine, because fire or explosion can result. The feeder may be under pressure, so shut the pump off before opening the lid. Wear eye and skin protection when servicing it.
Which one fits you
- Choose salt if you’ll keep the pool five years or more, want the least weekly handling, and your equipment and surfaces suit a salt system.
- Choose tablets if you want the lowest setup cost, have a small or seasonal pool, or keep the pool open when the water drops below 52°F. Plan to test CYA monthly.
- Either way, keep free chlorine and pH in range and test weekly.
PoolSpaKit compared manufacturer documentation for this article, not hands-on tests.
Sources
- Pentair: IntelliChlor IC15/IC20/IC40/IC60 Installation and User’s Guide
- Taylor Technologies: Why Monitoring Cyanuric Acid (CYA) in a Pool is Important
- Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA), published by Taylor Technologies: Recommended Water Chemistry Parameters
- Hayward: CL100/110/200/220 Automatic Chlorine Feeders Owner’s Manual
Research checked 2026-10-08.
