Have your water tested by a professional. There is more to a salt water chlorination system than just adding salt. You must keep the proper CYA and pH for the system to work correctly. You also need to clean the salt cell periodically for the cell to be able to accept the flow of water and allow the salt to come in contact with internals.

Thanks for the comments. Cell is clean, ph is on spec. Yes - taking sample to Leslies in the AM to find out what I have going on.

When opening in the spring, I typically need to add about 4 (40lb) bags of salt. This winter was wetter than normal and I need 5 bags to start off. I have a 34 by 16 foot pool.

I also need to usually add one more bag over the course of the swim season. It really depends on the amount of rainfall and dilution of the water with replacement H20.

I've averaged about 8 - 40 lb. bags at the beginning of each season here in NJ. Pool is approx 28K gallons. Starting number is usually around 1900-2000 ppm, and the 8 bags brings the number up to around 3400-3500 ppm. Link to salt chart below, page 20

I also add 1 or 2 in summer as needed as swimmer22 said.

Here is a link that might be useful: Salt Chart Page 20

Fiberglass pool in Jersey - 13,700 gal. I need to drop the waterline away from the tile every winter, and bring it back up again just before opening. 3 bags of 40lb Morton's pool salt does the trick every year.