Take the salt cell out for winter.

Take the salt cell out before you close the pool—leaving it in can crack the plates.

The problem isn’t the saltwater itself, it’s that water freezes and expands. Even a little bit of water left inside the cell becomes ice, and ice doesn’t care how thick your plates are. It’ll push and crack them, and a cracked salt cell is basically a brick. That’s a few hundred dollars down the drain to save a couple minutes in the fall.

Yes, salt lowers the freezing point a bit, but not enough to matter in most climates. If you’re closing the pool, the water in the pipes is supposed to be blown out or dropped below the returns. The salt cell sits lower and often traps water that won’t drain on its own, so it stays full and vulnerable.

Pull the cell, give