Frequently Asked Questions > Salt Water Pool Operation > What about people that have adverse reactions or allergies to chlorine?
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The reality is that a very minute number of people are actually allergic to or have reactions truly due to chlorine being used as the sanitizer. Most negative skin reactions are in fact caused by improper water balance and the presence of combined forms of chlorine that have not been oxidized or shocked out of the pool water. A majority of people who were previously unable to enjoy a traditional chlorine pool, found their skin rashes and reactions went away when they swam in a properly maintained salt water pool. There are many reasons for this including the balanced salt levels being gentler to the skin; the continual oxidation of unwanted combined chlorine forms in the ECG; and the reduction of the numbers and types of chemicals being continually added to the pool that sometimes don’t work well together. Interestingly, during the early years of ECG sales, many pool owners mistakenly thought they were swimming in a chlorine free pool since they had no negative reactions to swimming in the water, their skin felt great, the pool had no chlorine odors and they never had to add chlorine to the pool. It’s not hard to understand why they enjoyed swimming in the salt water pool so much more than in a traditional chlorine pool.