How Long Does Liquid Chlorine Last In Pool
It is best to wait before going into the pool because liquid chlorine levels will be high after shocking, but it will be safe to swim after only 24 hours. Each chlorine compound is designed for a specific purpose. Using these two types in conjunction with one another will keep your pool clean, clear and sparkling!
Does Using Liquid Chlorine In A Pool Raise Ph Level
Liquid chlorine will raise the pH level of a pool as it has a pH of about 13. If your pH is already a little high, when using liquid chlorine, you will need to counteract that high pH with a pH decreaser like muriatic acid. About 1 quart of acid per gallon of liquid chlorine is needed to lower the pH.
Doing this will keep your pools pH in the desired 7.2-7.6 range.
Chlorine Tabs & Shock Tips To Keep Your Pool Clear
– Not all Pool Shock is Created Equal! Read your Labels!
A quality chlorine tablet 99% available and 1% inert qualifies as quality tablet. Always read your label. Generally speaking, one tablet treats 5000 gallons of pool water, soIf you have a 20,000 gallon pool you will use on average 4 chlorine tablets per week.
Chlorine use is a function of temperature and bather load. If it is hot and there are a lot of people in the pool your chlorine consumption will rise dramatically. 90 degree days or heat waves will require you to add additional chlorine based upon your test result. A 20,000 gallon pool may have to go to 6-8 tabs because of heat, pool use, and water temperature.
Read Also: How To Estimate Pool Gallons
How To Add Chlorine Tablets To Your Pool
Owning a pool means spending a lot of time keeping the water clear of unwanted intruders. Whether youre learning how to keep ducks out of your pool, skimming away leaves and bugs, or researching how to kill algae in your pool, keeping things out of your water can seem like the most important job you have as a pool owner.
But as it turns out, its something you add to the water that makes the biggest difference. Sanitizer is one of the cornerstones of basic pool chemistry, and adding chlorine tablets is an easy way to introduce this essential chemical to your pool.
Does Liquid Chlorine Contain Stabilizer
Liquid chlorine is an unstabilized chlorine and does not have any stabilizer in it. This means that if used in a pool that is located outside and the water has no stabilizer or conditioner already in the water, the UV rays in the sun will degrade the chlorine in about 9 hours.
This would mean you would need to add more liquid chlorine manually to your pool after each full day of sun. Obviously this isnt ideal for practical reasons or for your wallet. Thats a lot of trips to the pool store.
The solution is to make sure you either add a stabilizer like cyanuric acid or in addition to using liquid chlorine you use a stabilized chlorine tablet like Dichlor or Trichlor.
If your knowledge on pool stabilizer is a little lacking, you can read our article here.
If you use liquid chlorine youll need to add a stabilizer like this one:
Also Check: How To Clean Pool Deck With Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine Vs Powder Chlorine
Ive taught you all I know about liquid chlorine today, but that doesnt necessarily mean it is the best choice for your pool. That choice is up to you, so heres the basic differences:
Liquid chlorine has a higher pH level than its powder form. Its used primarily by commercial pool owners or pools with a lot of activity, and its cheaper than powder, so when it needs to be added in bulk to large pools, it makes more sense economically.
Liquid chlorine is also unstabilized, so in outdoor pools, youll usually have to add cyanuric acid with it to protect it from the sun and to keep it from corroding your pool.
Powder chlorine is a little more expensive than liquid, but it has a lower pH level and you can buy it in stabilized form so that you dont have to add much cyanuric acid, if any, with it. This makes it a little easier to use.
There are a few types of powder chlorine: di-chlor, lithium hypochlorite, and calcium hypochlorite.
They each have their own advantages, but calcium hypochlorite is the most popular and most effective.
How Much Pool Shock Do I Need
Breakpoint chlorination is a level of chlorine at which point molecular bonds break apart. Conveniently, this is also the point at which chloramines, algae and pathogens are removed from the water.
For most situations, a level of 30 ppm of chlorine will reach the threshold of breakpoint chlorination needed to restore order in the pool.
Heres a pool shock treatment chart to determine the amount of pool shock necessary to raise the chlorine level above the breakpoint threshold, usually around 30 ppm.
This quick reference chart is based on 10,000 gallons of water:
| Pool Shock Type | |
| Dichlor | 1.5 lbs |
For example, using the table above, a 20,000 gallon pool would require 7.8 lbs of cal-hypo to increase the levels by 30 ppm.
Check for proper water balance, especially pH in the range of 7.27.6, before adding the shock to the pool. A high pH of 7.88.2 can render up to half of your pool shock completely inactive.
Proper filtration and circulation are key factors for proper shocking pool shock doesnt do it all alone. Filter the pool water after treatment to remove any remaining particulates.
Don’t Miss: How To Get Pool Certified
How Many Tablets Per Week Bottom Line
Whichever method you use, it’s important to check the pool regularly. The more you commit to a routine of maintenance, the better youll be able to enjoy your swimming pool. If you slack off for a couple of weeks and dont keep up with your basics, dont be surprised if you walk into your yard to find a green pool.
How Many Chlorine Tablets To Add To Your Pool
Heres the question youve been waiting to get answered:
How many chlorine tablets should you use?
The answer? It all depends on the size of your pool.
For the best results, use this chlorine tablet dosage chart as a reference:
- 2,500 5,000 gallon pools
- 1 chlorine tablet per week
To keep things easy, remember that a single 3-inch tablet can sanitize up to 5,000 gallons of water. Which means four tablets are enough to sanitize a 20,000-gallon pool.
To calculate how many chlorine tablets to add to your swimming pool, first round your pools size to the nearest 5,000th. So if you have a 14,000-gallon pool, youd round up to 15,000 gallons.
Heres a little formula to remember: Rounded up Pool Size/5,000=number of chlorine tablets needed
Since a single tablet can treat 5,000 gallons of water, youd only need 3 tablets to treat up to 15,000 gallons. So you would use 3 tablets for your 14,000-gallon pool.
Using our formula, that would look like this: 15,000 gallons/5,000 gallons = 3 chlorine tablets
Also Check: How To Get Rid Of Bees By The Pool
What Time Of Day Is Best To Shock A Pool
The ideal time to shock your pool is in the evening after all swimming is complete. In the evening because the sun will not be boiling the chlorine out of your pool, and after everyone is done swimming because shocking is going to bring the chlorine level up to a level that may be irritating to skin and eyes.
Donât Miss: Swimming Pools Easy Setup
When Should I Winterize My Pool
When to WinterizePoolWinter Pool Chemical Kit Use Instructions:
- Before Closing the Pool, remove all debris.
- Kill any algae, brush and vacuum from pool.
- Adjust pH to 7.2-7.4, and chlorine level to 2-3ppm.
- Add Winter Pool Stain Preventer follow label instructions.
- Add Winter Pool Algaecide follow label instructions.
Also Check: How Many Solar Pool Panels Do I Need
Light Green Pool Water
If you have a light green pool, you need to shock your pool in order to kill the algae.
Algae feeds off high pH. Chlorine isnt as effective when your pH is high. Youll need to lower your pH using hydrochloric acid. Start with around 1L to 2L. Be careful when adding it to the pool, ensuring it doesnt splash up on you as it is highly toxic and dangerous. If your pool is vinyl lined, only add 1L every 24 hours, as its more sensitive to harsh chemicals.
You also need to shock your pool with chlorine. Add 2 cups of granulated chlorine or 3 tubs of 15L chlorine . If your pool is salt water chlorinated, add 2 to 4 bags of salt and turn your chlorinator to 100% for a couple of days to really boost that chlorine and get that water sanitised. Your salt levels should be sitting at around 5000ppm , with each 20kg bag of salt equating to 500ppm.
Note: Keep the pump running for at least 24 hours when shocking the pool to make sure all of the water is properly circulated around the pool!
*We recommend only using stabilised chlorine if absolutely necessary. Preferably, you should be using non-stabilised chlorine and adding in your stabiliser separately to avoid a chlorine lock .
The reason for this is because you require much less stabiliser than you do chlorine.This issue can be avoided as a whole by installing a chlorinator if you dont already have one.
Dark Green Pool Water
If you have dark green pool water, you should look to follow the above steps, but with a slightly higher dose of acid and chlorine. Adding, for example, 2 to 3 litres of acid over a space of 48 hours and adding 2 to 3 cups of granulated chlorine. Also, darker green water may also be a cause of stagnant debris sitting on the bottom of the pool which needs to be cleaned out before you dose it. Be sure that this has all been scooped up using a leaf shovel, followed by being manually vacuumed out of the pool using a vacuum head, an appropriate length hose for your pool and a telepole.
You May Like: Should I Fill In My Pool
How Often To Place Chlorine Tablets In A Pool
Usually, you only need to add chlorine tablets to your pool once a week. We highly recommend doing this on a day when you can perform weekly maintenance checks on the whole pool.
This is so you replenish the chlorine tablets on a regular and scheduled basis. Such a routine will be easier to follow and keep your pool cleaner for longer.
How many tablets you add to your pool completely depends on its size and how much water it holds. As we stated above, for every 5,000 gallons of water in a swimming pool, only 1 tablet will be required.
Therefore, a 16,000-gallon pool will need 4 tablets once a week. Every time you add these tablets, it is a great time to clean your pools skimmer and pump skimmer basket too.
You can also check whether the filters need cleaning or if you need to backwash your pool. Its best to do this all on one day of the week, every week so you keep on top of your pools maintenance.
Remember to test the water every week too to ensure it is still clean and safe to swim in.
Check how much chlorine is left in your pool at this time as well. If the total amount is equal to just 1 tablet, you can count that tablet.
In other words, if you add 4 tablets a week, you should only add 3 to bring the total back up to 4 so your chlorine lasts longer.
When the cooler months settle in, you may find that the chlorine levels only decrease a little. But during the warmer months, chlorine will be dissolved much quicker.
How Much Chlorine Should You Add To Your Swimming Pool
Ideally, the chlorine concentration of your swimming pool should be at least 1 part per million , and not go above 3 ppm.
Staying within that range is the safe and smart way to balance protection against contaminants with the risks of having too much chlorine in the water, which can cause eye, nose, lung, and throat irritation.
To ensure your pool water has the right amount of sanitizer, regular pool water testing is essential. You can use test strips or test kits to determine the exact levels of chlorine and other chemicals, and then fine-tune them as necessary.
Read Also: Why Are Variable Speed Pool Pumps More Efficient
How To Dilute Your Saltwater Pool
For the times where youve made a calculation error and the pool has too much salt, there is only one way to reduce it through dilution.
Diluting pool water is a bit of a pain, but you should only ever do partial draining of the pool. If you take out too much water, you run the risk of having the pool pop up out of the ground.
Heres how to do it:
How To Chlorinate A Pool
This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow’s Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards.There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 156,984 times.Learn more…
Chlorine helps keep a pool clean, and managing chlorine levels is an important aspect of owning a pool. Chlorine tablets are the best option for maintaining a normal level of 2 to 3 parts per million . To distribute the chemical evenly, add the tablets to an automatic dispenser. In addition to using tablets, you should also sanitize your pool with a liquid or granular chlorine shock treatment every 1 to 2 weeks. Whether youre working with chlorine in tablet, liquid, or granular form, read the products instructions carefully and use it as directed.
Read Also: How To Add Algaecide To Pool
One To Proper Chlorination: Choosing The Right Chlorine
This is where it gets technical. The ideal chlorine combination of your pool is between 1 and 3 parts per million . In order to kill pathogenic viruses, youll want to make sure your chlorine concentration doesnt fall below 1 ppm. Go above 3 ppm and while youre sure to wipe out bacteria, youre also vulnerable to that irritation in your eyes, nose, lungs, and throat. Now that youve got the numbers, its time to choose between stabilized or unstabilized chlorine for your pooland trust me, it wont take more than sixty seconds to find out.
Prevent & Remove Bacteria
Stubborn bacteria, viruses and parasites can live in pool water and cause all sorts of problems. Bacteria like cryptosporidium, E. coli, and giardia are more common in public swimming pools where the water is filled with organic material. Proper, routine sanitation and filtration will likely prevent and remove most pathogens, but if you want to be sure, a good pool shock is in order.
After or before! heavy use, after an extended period with little to no chlorine, or if your pool water has been sitting stagnant for a while, are all ideal times to shock.
The amount of shock needed to remove bacteria depends on the level of bacteria present in the water. Test the pool water for bacteria with a bacteria test kit. Its a good idea to start by adding enough shock to raise your pool waters chlorine level to 30 ppm.
How much chlorine is needed to kill bacteria in swimming pools? It depends on the type of bacteria, and the extent of the contamination. Most types of bacteria found in pools, such as E. coli, are fairly easy to kill with just 23 ppm of chlorine. However, the CDC recommends that for pool fecal incidents involving diarrhea, maintain a level of 20 ppm for 13 hours prevent the development of cryptosporidium.
Recommended Reading: How To Fix Sunken Pavers Around Pool
Dpd Powder Chlorine Test
There are a number of ways to test your water chlorine levels including test strips and dropper bottles, however the more accurate and the way I recommend testing it is with a DPD powder test kit.
When you use this testing method, you will be able to get your chlorine level accuracy within .5 or .2 ppm depending on the amount of water used during the test. It is much more difficult to get that accurate of a reading when trying to depend on the human eye to match colors in determining the levels.
