How Often Should I Shock My Above Ground Pool
It’s often recommended to shock your pool once a week. If you don’t do it every week, you should at least do it every other week. This is necessary to maintain your pool’s water chemistry. If you have a lot of people over in your pool or have a party, you may want to shock your pool more frequently.
What If I Have Too Much Chlorine In My Pool
Having too much chlorine in your pool water can be dangerous. Exposure to high levels of chlorine can cause lung irritation, skin and eye damage, and provoke asthma. High chlorine levels decrease the pH of your pools water, making it more acidic. The more acidic the water, the higher the likelihood of corrosion.
How Does Chlorine Ensure Safe Swimming
This one is pretty simple: when added to your pool properly, sodium hypochlorite inactivates the bacteria in your water. This doesnt mean that the bacteria is technically completely removedyoull need the right pool filter and the help of pool shock for thatbut the bacteria will be dead in the water.
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Is It Better To Use Liquid Chlorine Or Tablets
In addition to being cost-effective, the tablets require minimal labor and have a much better shelf-life. However, since liquid chlorine requires more frequent readjustments, has a limited shelf-life, and is required in large volumes, using the tablet chlorine may be a more ideal option for most pool owners.
How Much Chlorine To Add To Pool
The basic chlorine to pool water balance is supposed to range between 1 to 3 PPM. To achieve this pool chemistry balance, you will need about 0.00013 ounces of chlorine per gallon of pool water.
Different swimming pools feature varying sizes. Hence, you will need to perform some simple calculations to figure out the amount of chlorine you need to shock your swimming pool.
To determine exactly how much chlorine to add to the pool, you need to calculate the size of the pool. On average, a round ring pool 15 feet across and 48 inches tall will hold approximately 4,978 gallons of water. On the other hand, an in-ground pool can hold over 31,000 gallons of water.
To determine the number of gallons in the swimming pool, measure and multiply the width, average depth and, length, then multiply the value you get by 5.9 for around pool, 6.7 for an oval pool, and 7.5 for a rectangular pool.
After determining the number of gallons in the swimming pool, the next step is to figure how much chlorine to add to the pool to bring the level to a healthy point. To do this, you will need to use a pool test kit. If you find that the chlorine level is already 1 ppm and you prefer it higher, you will need to add 0.00013 ounces per gallon to raise the level by 1 ppm.
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Should I Add Chlorine To A Saltwater Pool
Before I changed my non-saltwater pool to saltwater two years ago, I used to shock regularly.
Basically, a chlorine-based pool needs more maintenance than a saltwater pool. Unless there is an algae outbreak or a build-up of contaminants such as oil and soil, a saltwater pool does not need much treatment. This is because saltwater pools use chlorine generators to produce a chlorine compound similar to the chlorine in shock treatments.
Chlorine generators can be adjusted to increase the amount of chlorine in the pool, for instance, before heavy usage. However, this technically isn’t shocking. It is just a way to maintain chlorine at the recommended level.
This article is accurate and true to the best of the authors knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.
How Can You Test The Pool To Assess Its Chlorine’s Levels
There are 2 main ways people test their chlorine levels. The easiest method is to use test strips, and the most accurate way is to use testing kits.
Test Strips:Test strips usually consist of small containers with colour charts on the outside that are used to compare to the corresponding meaning found on the box. A test can be done by collecting a small amount of water in the cylindrical container and reading the chart. There is almost always a manual in the box that will indicate how much water to collect and how long to leave it before checking the scale for results. In order to use this to assess chlorine levels you will need to compare the colour that appears on the tube with the scale chart written on the box or in the instructions. These colours are usually just a guide and might not match the shade perfectly. The colour will then come with a scale of ppm that coincide with your chlorine levels and will indicate how much chlorine to add.
Test Kits:
For anyone looking for a reusable way to check chlorine levels, an electric tester meter is a mostly easy and automatic way to check a pools health. There are several affordable electronic devices available on the market that can check multiple readings at once, and do not need reagents, however, they are not as accurate at detecting chlorine levels as either test kits or test strips.
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How Often Do I Have To Add Chlorine To Maintain
beachbummer1980 said:Wow! Thanks for all the responses! I will stop using cal hypo and stick to liquid. I will check and add liquid chlorine every evening to keep FC level where it needs to be based on cya level. It is crystal clear and blue. As pool mum said do I need to bring FC to shock levels? I have the Taylor k 2006. I have two ?’s about that. Where is the best place to purchase the cya reagent? And does the black dot have to totally disappear? I compared my results with a local pool company and my dot never disappeared but the computer readout said 40. Again thank you all so much for the tips!!! Its liberating to get my pool chemistry correct myself and with less chemical use and money than ever before.
pool mum said:Does she need to shock if her pool is clear though ? I thought she’d just have to bring her FC up to the minimum.
How Often Do You Need To Shock Your Pool
#1. Shock your pool when the free Chlorine levels are off or when you smell Chlorine.
Regular testing will help you know if your pool water is outside the recommended free Chlorine levels.
Free Chlorine should be between 1 and 3 ppm, with 3 ppm being ideal.
if you smell Chlorine, this indicates that the Chlorine is combined with ammonia and no longer sanitizing the water.
Shocking the water will free up effective Chlorine and eliminate the smell.
#2. Shock your pool when you open it.
This will help kill algae that have developed while it was closed. Balance your water first, adjusting things like pH and alkalinity.
Then we recommend using a double shock, which is twice the normal amount of shock to give your pool an initial bacterial killing whammy.
Use 2 pounds of pool shock for every 10,000 gallons of pool water, or 5 pounds of liquid shock for every 20,000 gallons of pool water.
#3. Shock your pool every week for normal maintenance.
You will kill more and more bacteria every time you shock your pool. Weekly shocking is a great way to keep your Chlorine levels up and prevent algae grow.
If no one has been swimming in your pool and you dont get any weird weather, feel free to skip a week.
#4. Shock after heavy use.
If youve had a party or youve been swimming in your pool a lot, you wanna push that big reset button and give your pool a shock.
People carry lots of bacteria and the Chlorine level drops when tons of people have been in the water.
#5. Shock after heavy rain
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What Is The Best Time Of Day To Shock A Swimming Pool
Shock your pool late in the evening or at night, when the sun is down, to make sure free chlorine will stay in your water longer. Ultraviolet rays from direct sunlight greatly reduces free chlorine levels, so shocking during the day will not be very effective.
If you absolutely must do it during daytime, use a chlorine stabilizer, such as cyanuric acid, to prolong the life the chlorine.
When To Use Liquid Chlorine
Liquid chlorine is mostly used in pools that have a high level of swimmers. This type of chlorine will get your pool chlorine levels back to where they need to be faster than other types of granular chlorine. Even though this chemical may seem like the best choice, there are a few things about it that could cause you to think twice about using it.
The first problem is that liquid chlorine has a high pH of 13. When you add products with a high pH to your pool, you will need to add cyanuric acid to your pool to help lower the pH and bring it into range. The cyanuric acid works as a stabilizer to ensure that the products you just put in the pool will stay in place and truly clean it.
Another issue with liquid chlorine can be pits potency. With the choices you have on the market, the liquid chlorine will be one of the strongest, and therefore it can be a bit damaging. If you have a vinyl liner pool, you may notice that the continued application of liquid chlorine is starting to stain or fade the pool walls.
In addition, liquid chlorine has been known to erode and break down pool walls. Typically if you follow the proper procedures when putting the liquid chlorine in the pool, you shouldnât have these issues. Itâs just important to know the downsides of the liquid chlorine before making this the choice for your pool.
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When To Shock Your Pool
You may be adding chemicals to your pool a little too often and dont even realize it. If you regularly clean your pool, there isnt much need to shock your pool at all, but there are certain times of the year when people dont pay much attention to their pools. This time includes the winter and fall seasons when the climate generally doesnt permit pool use. In the ensuing spring season is when you should focus on shocking your pool to get rid of whatever bacteria that has settled during that idle period.
Video Answer: How To Add Chlorine To Your Swimming Pool
- Use a bucket with a handle and a lip for easy pouring. You can add chlorine in tablets and sticks directly to the skimmer, and they slowly dissolve into the pool water. Liquid chlorine comes in gallon containers. You can apply it by pouring the liquid into the skimmer or directly into the pool water.
- The general and ideal measure of the pool water balance against chlorine is always expected to be between the range of 1 to 3 Parts Per Million . It implies that whether for a 20000-gallon pool, for 15000-gallon pool, or a 10000-gallon pool, you will be required to have chlorine of about 0.00013 ounces per gallon of pool water.
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Checking And Testing Water
Before putting liquid chlorine in your pool, you must test the water. Since the liquid chlorine is so potent, you could easily make the mistake of adding too much liquid chlorine to your pool. Test the water prior to putting the chlorine in, and then recheck the water before swimming. If you donât do this, you may struggle with a pool that has a difficult-to-control chlorine level.
In addition, you will want to pay attention to the pH level when using any products in your pool.
When Should You Add Chlorine To A Pool
Preferably open the pack in the open air, but out of the wind. For chlorine shock treatment, 3 measuring cups of 40 grams of chlorine granules should be added per 10 m³ of water. Ideally, this should be added after swimming or in the evening to ensure that the product can spread well throughout the pool.
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A Floating Chlorine Dispenser
A floating chlorine dispenser is a little container for chlorine pucks that floats around the surface of your pool, slowly dissolving and releasing the chlorine into the water.
This is the cheapest and easiest way to add chlorine to your pool, but you guessed it, its also the least effective way. Since it floats on the surface, the lack of circulation means it doesnt disperse very well and ultimately leads to poor sanitation.
These things also tend to get stuck behind pool ladders or steps, at which point the chlorine being released starts to build up in one area of the pool. In fact, this high concentration near the edges can bleach your pool liners. As you can imagine, theyre not ideal to have in the pool when people are using it, either.
How Long After Adding Liquid Chlorine Can You Swim
This usually not less than 8 hours for shock treatments done with chlorine. To gain entrance into the swimming pool to swim again, you will have to wait until the amount of time recommended on the packages instructions is reached.
You are advised not to enter the swimming pool until the chlorine levels have gone below 3 ppm.
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How Much Chlorine Should I Add To My Pool Chlorine Treated Pools And The Dose Cycle
For all chlorine treated pools: to achieve a healthy and hygienic pool you are required to maintain a minimum of 1 ppm of chlorine and up to a maximum of 5 ppm of chlorine in the pool water at all times.
This can be achieved by a variety of types of chlorine , maintaining chlorine levels, combined with sufficient filtration will provide a healthy and trouble free pool.
Just these two aspects of pool treatment are the most important – sufficient chlorine and sufficient filtration.
All packs of chlorine products have a recommended dose rate, however this is just an indication of how much an average pool might require. A variation in the amount of usage the pool gets and a host of other factors influence the amount of chlorine a pool requires. So how do we know? It is simple we test the pool for residual or free chlorine. That is, the chlorine that is unused and still remaining in the pool water.
So when we add the chlorine, preferably each night when all the swimming is completed, the chlorine level might increase to 5 ppm. Overnight and the next day the chlorine works on the impurities in the pool water, cleaning the pool water and the chlorine is progressively used up.
If the chlorine level drops to zero, that is when the problems start with algae getting a foot hold and cloudiness of the pool water ensuing. So avoid this if you can.
Based on the dose cycle – if your test result is:
|
Chlorine level |
Pour Into The Deep End
Find the deep end of the pool and stand over the deck, slightly leaning over. Hold the bottle of liquid chlorine far from your body and possibly far into the pool as you can. Pour liquid chlorine into the pool, with the nozzle of the bottle as close to the water surface as possible to prevent possible splashing from the chemical.
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How Much Liquid Chlorine Needed For A 15000
As stated earlier, all that matters is calculating the pools size to determine the amount of gallon of water the pool can contain.
The amount of liquid chlorine needed for the 15000-gallon pool will fall in between the amount of liquid chlorine required for the 10000-gallon pool and the amount necessary for the 20000-gallon pool.
Averagely, any standard round ring pool is ideally 5 feet wide and 48 inches in its height. Such a round ring pool will conveniently contain about 4,978 gallons of water. However, an in-ground pool should carry above 31,000 gallons of water.
To calculate the number of gallons a swimming pool has, we need to measure and multiply the breadth, length, and average depth and multiply the resultant value by 7.5 for a rectangular pool, 6.7 for an oval 5.9 for around the pool.
Note that it is proper for you to apply liquid chlorine for a 15000-gallon pool when the pool water temperature is raised because organisms and bacteria could easily thrive in warm water.
You can also keep your 15-000 gallon pool at a relaxed level of between 86 to 88 °F. However, if there are a couple of swimmers, the temperature level can be reduced to a range of 78 to 84 °F. If you need to measure the pool temperature, there is a pool thermometer for you to do that.
The liquid chlorine can also be applied when the free chlorine Level Goes Below 3 ppm. If you realize that the free chlorine level is less than 3 ppm, then the time is right to shock your pool.
