Price the bags your salt system's target needs before you buy.
A higher manual target means more bags. From zero, a 15,000-gallon pool takes 10 bags at the Jandy AquaPure target of 3,000 ppm. At 3,600 ppm, the higher of the two Pentair IntelliChlor targets, it takes 12, about $14.96 to $15.96 more at the listed prices.
Enter your gallons and pick your salt system. For a top-up, add your test reading too. You get the whole bags to buy and their cost at 2 big-box listings: $7.48 to $7.98 per 40-lb bag in September 2026.
Example: 15,000 gal, Jandy AquaPure, reading 2,400 ppm. Type your own numbers.
First fill · 0 ppm to target
A first fill of 15,000 gallons from 0 to 3,000 ppm takes 376 lb of salt (170 kg), which is 9.5 bags of 40 lb, and costs about $74.80 to $79.80.
Stores sell whole bags, so the cost counts 10 bags.
Top-up · from your reading
Raising 15,000 gallons 600 ppm, from 2,400 to 3,000 ppm, takes 75 lb (2 bags of 40 lb) and costs about $14.96 to $15.96.
Price40-lb bags at $7.48–$7.98, from 2 big-box retailer listings, September 2026. Local store prices vary.
Target3,000 ppm from the Jandy AquaPure Installation and Operation Manual, §4.7.
Per bag
Two big-box listings put a 40-lb bag of pool salt at $7.48 to $7.98 in September 2026. That’s $0.19 to $0.20 per pound. Multiply the bag price by the bags your first fill needs.
Specialty bags list higher and aren’t in this range, and local store prices vary. Whatever you pay, a Pentair or Jandy system needs pool salt that’s at least 99.8% pure sodium chloride.
First fill
Filling a 15,000-gallon pool from 0 to 3,000 ppm takes 9.5 bags of 40 lb and costs about $74.80 to $79.80. The table prices 5 pool sizes at 3,000 ppm, the target in the Jandy AquaPure Installation and Operation Manual, §4.7.
| Gallons | Liters | Pounds | Kilograms | 40-lb bags | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | 18,927 | 125 | 57 | 3.5 | $29.92–$31.92 |
| 10,000 | 37,854 | 250 | 114 | 6.5 | $52.36–$55.86 |
| 15,000 | 56,781 | 376 | 170 | 9.5 | $74.80–$79.80 |
| 20,000 | 75,708 | 501 | 227 | 12.5 | $97.24–$103.74 |
| 25,000 | 94,635 | 626 | 284 | 16 | $119.68–$127.68 |
Bags round up to the next half bag, ignoring the last 2% of a bag (0.8 lb). Cost counts whole bags, since that’s how stores sell them. Don’t know your gallons? Get them from length, width and the two end depths in the pool volume calculator for salt dosing.
A higher target costs more to fill, because every extra ppm needs more salt. The Pentair IntelliChlor shows up twice, once for each target its guide states. You’ll find each target and range, with its source, on the pool salt level chart.
| Salt system | Target ppm | Pounds | 40-lb bags | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pentair IntelliChlorEnglish section | 3,600 | 451 | 11.5 | $89.76–$95.76 |
| Pentair IntelliChlorSpanish section | 3,400 | 426 | 11 | $82.28–$87.78 |
| Jandy AquaPure | 3,000 | 376 | 9.5 | $74.80–$79.80 |
| Hayward AquaRite | 3,200 | 401 | 10 | $74.80–$79.80 |
| CircuPool | 3,500 | 438 | 11 | $82.28–$87.78 |
| Intex Krystal Clear | 3,000 | 376 | 9.5 | $74.80–$79.80 |
Top-up
A top-up costs whatever bags it takes to raise the salt from your test reading to the target. Raising 15,000 gallons by 1,000 ppm takes 3.5 bags, about $29.92 to $31.92.
The top-up line in the calculator prices the reading you enter. For pounds, bags and the steps for adding them, see how much salt to add to your pool.
Over a season
After the first fill, your salt cost depends on how much water your pool loses. Salt leaves with any water that leaves the pool, so every loss lowers the level and brings a top-up closer. Price each top-up from a test reading in the calculator above.
Hayward’s AquaRite S3 manual lists splash-out, backwash and draining as the ways salt leaves the pool. Rain overflow and leaks take water out the same way.
Four water losses lower the salt level over a season.
None of our sources gives the share of water a typical pool replaces each year, so we don’t show a yearly bag count.
Pricing a season of top-ups takes 3 steps.
Every cost on this page uses the same pounds formula as the pool salt calculator.
Owner questions
Prices are retailer listings from September 2026. Pounds use the same formula as the calculator on this page.
About $0.19 to $0.20 per pound in 40-lb bags. Two big-box listings priced the bag at $7.48 to $7.98 in September 2026. Specialty bags list higher, and local store prices vary.
Because stores sell whole bags. Filling 15,000 gallons to 3,000 ppm needs 9.5 bags of salt, so the price counts 10 bags.