Can You Shock A Pool Without The Pump Running
Add Chlorine
You can increase chlorine levels using shock or liquid chlorine but youll need to stand in for that broken-down pump and manually circulate the water. Stir things up with a pole or paddle to disperse the chlorine throughout the pool.
Quick Dip: How To Shock Your Swimming Pool Using Liquid Chlorine
Shocking your pool water is one of the keys to keeping your pool sparkling and ready to swim in. Failing to shock your pool water can lead to algae and bacteria build-up. This creates a swimming pool that is not only uninviting, but hazardous to pool patrons as well. Just because your water is clear, does not mean it is safe to swim in! This is why a high-quality pool testing set from LaMotte or Taylor is an essential part of every pool operators kit!
Shocking a pool with liquid chlorine or a granular pool shock kills or inactivates pathogens and algae. Shocking will also oxidize other unwanted materials inhabiting the pool water. By raising the chlorine level in the pool to the correct level, and holding it there for the prescribed amount of time, this effectively disinfects the water. This article covers shocking your pool with two of the most popular shock products on the market today sodium hypochlorite and calcium hypochlorite .
Preparing to Shock Your Pool
The Basic Method Shocking by Following the Label Instructions
How to Superchlorinate your Pool with Liquid and Granular Chlorine
High Combined Chlorine Levels
Another situation that calls for shocking the pool involves having high levels of combined chlorine. High levels of combined chlorine can render your chlorine ineffective and is responsible for that “chlorine smell” in your pool. A properly chlorinated pool doesn’t smell of chlorine but it should have that “fresh” smell to it! Before, the best way to deal with this was to raise the chlorine levels about 10x what they normally are to oxidise chloramines and about a 24-48 hour wait for the chlorine levels to stabilise, but with the new Water TechniX Oxi shock, all it takes is one easy application to oxidise chloramines and your pool can be used after 15 minutes!
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Can You Over Shock A Pool
Fortunately, its all but impossible to over shock your pool. However, you can accidentally use more shock than you need to, wasting money and supplies while creating extra work for yourself.
To prevent this, avoid using more shock than your pool requires. Instead, check our pool shock calculator above and make sure to follow all product directions carefully.
Remember, there are certain situations where a higher-than-normal dose might be necessary. If youre dealing with extreme contamination, consult a pool expert before you shock your pool.
Can You Put Too Much Shock In A Pool
SKIMMER NOTES: Its unlikely but it could happen. It would take a lot of shock to really make the water unsafe for swimming. The best way to make sure youre safe to swim is to test your pool water and make sure free chlorine levels are between 1-4ppm for healthy swimming.
Can you put too much shock into your swimming pool? Lets say you have an all-hands-on-deck sort of approach to pool care at your house, so, after yesterdays torrential downpour, your significant other shocks the pool overnight. But you dont know that, so after dinner the following day, you cruise out to the pool chemical cart, slap on your safety gloves and eradicate any rain-born disturbances with another round of pool shock.
Is the summer ruined? Will the children swim again?
Heres the deal. Its pretty tough to over-shock your pool shocking your pool two days in a row with the proper dosage for your pool volume shouldnt be a problem and in fact, is sometimes even needed to rid your pool of algae and other contaminants.
BUT you dont want to raise the chlorine to an extreme level in your pool unless its absolutely needed.
As a reminder, you want your free available chlorine to fall between 1 and 4 parts per million .
So what do I do if I put too much shock in my swimming pool?
What happens if you DO put too much chlorine in a swimming pool?
For more on shock, check out our article on What is shock?
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Turn That Heavy Metal Down
It might seem counterintuitive, but while your pool water sat stagnant through the winter, metal levels may have increased.
You also probably just topped off your pool with tap water. We hope you used a hose filter to help keep those minerals out of your pool. But to avoid the staining and buildup caused by any metal in your pool water, add a metal sequestrant.
Set Up Your Pump Filter And Other Equipment
Youll need to bring your pools hardware back to life after a long winters slumber. The mad scientist goggles and lab coat are optional.
First, put back all the plugs to the drains and pressure gauges to your pool filter system, pump, and other equipment.
Next, attach your systems hoses to your equipment, and double-check the connections.
If you have a multiport valve, make sure its turned to the filter position.
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Remove And Prevent Metal Stains With Metalfree
Over a long winter off-season, metals like copper and iron can build up in the pool and cause stains. These metals can be difficult to remove once they’ve reached concentrations where they’re staining the walls, so it’s best to attack them early. One initial dose of METALfree during spring opening can help neutralize the metals in your pool and prevent further staining on the walls and pool floor. METALfree also helps eliminate stained water that comes from having high metal content.
Best Time Of Day To Shock Your Pool
If youre wondering, When do you shock a pool? the simple answer is to wait until evening. Shocking your pool at night gives chlorine and other chemicals time to work before they can be damaged or weakened by exposure to sunlight. This is especially important if you are using an unstabilized shock treatment, such as cal hypo, which does not contain UV-blocking CYA.
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How Long After Shocking A Pool Can You Swim
After being shocked, your pool will temporarily have high levels of free chlorine . Swimming in highly chlorinated water can cause skin irritation and other harmful effects. The CDC recommends that pool owners maintain free chlorine levelsbetween 1-3 parts per million for safe swimming.
Depending on the treatment you used, it may take anywhere from an hour to 24 hours for your swimming pools FC levels to return to a safe range.
How To Kill Algae
The best weapon to eliminate this problem is the use of chlorine. Begin by determining the amount of algae in your pool. In case you notice your pool is maybe light green, or you see little black or yellow algae, there is need to consider double shocking the pool to resolve the problem. For this case, you are required to use a shock of 2 pounds for every 10,000 gallons of pool water.
In case the pool is dark green in color, or there are heavy black or yellow algae spots, there is a need for triple shocking the pool. Here, for every 10,000 gallons of pool water, you are required to use 3 pounds. For the case the pool has been infested with black and yellow algae, quadruple shocking is the option to go with, for every 10,000 gallons of pool water, you are required to use 4 pounds of it. To achieve better results in case the pool is very infested with algae, repetitive shocking is required to completely destroy the cells. Keep in mind that the best time to shock a pool is when the sun is down.
Bottom Line
You should be patient for a couple of days to see if the problem completely disappears. If that happens, then the problem would have been resolved well. To prevent the problem from developing again, you need to keep brushing and always maintain a close eye on the chemical levels to ensure it doesnt return some other time again. So, how much liquid chlorine to shock a pool with algae? A minimum amount of 30 ppm is what needs to be considered to resolve the problem.
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What About For My Hot Tub Do I Need To Shock That Too
Congratulations, youre one of the fortunate among us with a hot tub. But calcium hypochlorite is not for you. This is because its unstabilized, meaning that it breaks down in heat like direct sunlightand loses 95% of its effectiveness in a hot tub. But dont think youre in the clear: no matter what sanitizer you use, you still have to worry about chlorines .
To shock your hot tub, youll want to use a stabilized shock like dichlor shock, which is also inexpensive and widely available. That is, unless you use two specific sanitizers: for a biguanide sanitizer, youre better opting in for a biguanide shock, and for a spa mineral sanitizer, youll want non-chlorine shock.
All cleaning chemicals only spread evenly thanks to your pool pump. For thorough circulation, try the 1.5 HP Variable Speed Blue Torrent Thunder Pool Pump. It pays itself off in energy saved and includes a lifetime warranty. As customer Eric D. says, For variable speeds, cant find much better price than this. Day one, I fired this pump up and it ran clean and fast.
What You Need To Open Your Above Ground Pool
The basic supplies for opening your pool are probably already at hand in your pool shed. Except your friend, of course. Please dont store friends in your pool shed if you plan on keeping them as friends.
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Youll need:
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First Step: Prepare Pool Water For Shocking And Testing
Why is my pool still green after adding chlorine, and is it safe to swim in a pool with algae? Not necessarily. Issues such as bacterial infections and skin issues can occur if you swim in water with algae.
Algae will remain in your pool after shock if youve had insufficient chlorine and an overabundance of metal elements in the pool water. Therefore, to start the cleaning process. Remove all the debris from the pool with a leaf net and then let the smaller dirt fragments settle.
Turn On The Pool Filter And Test The Water
Youre almost there! All you have to do now is get the filter up and running. Turn on the filter and run it for 12 to 24 hours to mix up the old and new water before testing or adding chemicals .
Dont feel comfortable testing the water yourself? You can always bring a water sample to a pool professional for proper analysis. Your pool professional will provide you with instructions for balancing your pool water. They can test the waters pH level, the alkalinity, the calcium hardness, and the chlorine content. In addition to shocking the pool, they may be able to also recommend that you add a stabilizer, conditioner or algaecide to your pool before its ready for the warm weather.
Continue to run the filter for a few days, vacuuming out any debris that has settled. When the water is clear and the chlorine levels have come down, your pool is ready for swimming! Enjoy your pool!
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What Time Of Day Should I Shock My Pool
Sun Down Youll want to shock your pool in the evening when the sun has gone down. This gives your pool plenty of time during the night to free the chlorine and clean the water. In the morning, you should be able to enjoy your pool. If you shock your pool during the day, the suns UV rays will dissolve the chlorine.
Preparing & Testing The Water
Running the Filtration System
Once the pool has been filled with fresh water, its time to run the filtration system and get the water circulating. Before you turn on your filtration system, bleed any remaining air from the line and be sure to prime the pool pump before use.
Initial Water Testing
When you first begin running the filtration system, add the pool opening chemicals kit. These kits include important products that remove winter buildup of chemicals and other elements. Keeping your pool clean and free from bacteria and debris are important responsibilities for every pool owner and having the right pool chemicals makes it easy to do.
Testing the Water
After your pools circulation system has run for at least 12 hours, its time for testing pool water chemicals. The chemical balance of the water in your pool requires some careful testing and monitoring to stay within safe limits. Everything from environmental changes and just basic use can alter your pool water chemistry, so its important to test the water frequently throughout the season.
There are six things that affect your pools water balance that pool owners must monitor, including pH, Total Alkalinity, Calcium Hardness, Total Dissolved Solids, Sanitizer, Cyanuric Acid, Temperature, and Metal levels. Keeping each of these levels in check is an essential part of preventing harmful erosion, scale deposits and staining of pool surfaces.
1. Find your pools average depth:
WATER TEMPERATURE
Shocking Your Pool
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Start Your Pump And Filter
Fire it up! Make sure the system starts, and check for any leaks or drips. Dont forget to make sure the ground wires are properly connected to the pump.
If you find your system is running dry, you may need to prime the pool pump. You can do this by shutting off your filter system, removing the pump lid, and adding water from your garden hose or a bucket of pool water.
This will give the pump the boost it needs to start pulling water. Put the pump lid back on, tighten it up, and restart the system.
Whether your filter uses sand or the tiny fossilized organisms known as diatomaceous earth , backwash it after you start your filter system up. The differences in technique between how to backwash a sand filter and how to backwash a DE filter are small but important. The biggest difference is adding DE after you backwash filters that use it.
Always follow your manufacturers instructions when backwashing any filter.
How Much Shock Do I Need For A 15000 Gallon Green Pool
4.6/52 pounds4 pounds
Moreover, how much shock do I need for a 15000 gallon pool?
To double shock, you will need to add 2 pounds for every 10,000 gallons of water. For instance, if you pool is 20,000 gallons, you will add 4 pounds of shock. Green or Dark Green Pool Water: This means there’s a medium amount of algae in your water and you’ll need to triple shock your pool.
Likewise, how much shock does it take to kill algae? Step 8. Shock your pool– Add a chlorine-based shock as needed. You will usually need 1 pound per 10,000 gallons of pool water . Since an algae problem is present, you will need 2 pounds per 10,000 gallons.
Furthermore, how much shock do I need for my pool?
To shock your pool, use 2 pounds of shock for every 10,000 gallons of water, which should raise your chlorine to 10.0 ppm. Depending on your pool, you can use Leslie’s Power Powder Plus or Leslie’s Chlor Brite. After shocking the pool, run the circulation system for at least 2 hours before adding an algaecide.
How much liquid chlorine do you need to shock a pool with algae?
The minimum chlorine amount required for this is 30 ppm. Factors that lead to algae outbreak in a pool are many bather load, high temperature levels and more sunny days.
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Get The Gunk Off Your Pool Cover
Use the soft broom to sweep away any dead leaves or other large debris from your winter cover. Next, use your pool cover pump to remove any standing water from your cover.
Some of these pumps can be a bit slow at removing water, while others will suck up debris and just about anything else that gets in their way. Know what your pool cover pump is capable of so you wont overwork it.
Shockingly That Was Easy
While you may not be too worried about over shocking your pool now, each element of the shock treatment is important. Its critical to get the process right, so you can achieve quick results and get back to swimming. Learning the ins and outs of how to shock a pool will help you better maintain your pool moving forward.
For more tips and tricks on how to maintain your pool or hot tub, check out our blog! We have the tools you need to keep your pool in pristine condition all year round.
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