I'm about to build a pool and was going the saltwater route but then thought "ozone" is it practical? any companies here instal them?

We do. Built to order, delivery time 6 - 8 weeks. Prices tend to be significantly higher than other forms of sanitation.

See them on our Ozonator web page.

higher meaning? 20% 30% than an infinity?

Ozone is fantastic way of purifying pool water but it can be problematical if not maintained properly .UV is the way to go it is the the best way to kill Cryptosporidium a really nasty bug. Don't forget you will still have to maintain a residual of at least .75 ppm of free chlorine what ever system you choose to prevent any cross infection from bather to bather in the pool.

Cryptosporidium takes 10 days to be killed in 1ppm of chlorine .

Edited December 26, 201510 yr by sappersrest

I'm no expert, but the problem I see with Ozone (and similar systems like UV irraditation, bionizer etc) is that they only sanitize the water as it passes through the device - there's no residual sanitizer in the water to kill newly introduced pathogens from swimmers (Ozone has a very, very short half life at ground level altitudes). If you have a pool party for example, how can you be sure your pool won't be the cause of widespread sickness?

IMHO, chlorine is tried and proven - it acts fast against the vast majority of contaminants, is well tolerated, and cheap - whether dosing manually or using a chlorinator. If you're particularly sensitive to Chlorine, just oversize your chlorinator and run a CYA-Free pool - then you only need a tiny 1PPM for effective sanitation.

That said, ozone / UV irradiation is able to kill off some pathogens that chlorine struggles with at normal doses - so on that, there could certainly be value in adding one as a supplement to a chlorinator.

Commander Worf has a UV irradiation system (that produces Ozone as a by product) - I'm sure he'll be along some time soon to give some useful advice.

Edited December 26, 201510 yr by IMHO

No matter what system you use YOU MUST maintain a residual of free chlorine .75ppm will suffice. One of the great advantages of both UV and Ozone is they also break down combined chlorine .

Having spent the last 10 years of my life installing UV systems I can tell you they do work very effectively, and ozone is defiantly NOT produced as a by product.

They are a one pass system so good pool hydraulic design is essential.