Best Time Of Day To Shock Pool
- Post author
One of the most critical parts of owning a pool is routine pool maintenance. In addition to getting rid of your pools dirt and debris, you must understand its chemistry. Without proper pool maintenance, your pool water may turn to a cloudy or green color resulting from a buildup of algae. This change in color is often an indication that the level of free available chlorine in your pool is too low to sanitize the pool properly. This is why you need to know how to shock your pool and when the best time of day to shock pool is.
How To Shock Your Pool
In most cases, you should shock when the sun has set. The suns harsh ultraviolet rays can cause the chlorine in pool shock to dissolve. This makes the process less effective.
Before beginning the shocking process, make sure you are wearing the necessary protective gear. Pool shock contains strong chemicals and can damage your skin and eyes if you are not careful. Gloves, eyewear, and clothing that covers your skin are all essential.
Next, you will want to check your pools pH level to determine the appropriate amount of pool shock to add. For most types of shock, you will need to dilute it before adding it to your pool. This is done by mixing the powder with water.
To ensure you evenly distribute the shock, follow and pour along the edges of your pool. Once this is complete, you should not swim until your pool filter has completely cycled the water. This usually takes 2-4 hours. Before you swim, you should test the chlorine level. If it is under 5 parts per million it is safe to swim.
There Was A Surge In Pool Use
People love a good pool party. Your pool, on the other hand, not so much.
Pools should be shocked after heavy usage. This is because people are gross and bring a lot of nasty things into the water.
Seriously though, people introduce a ton of organic pollutants into a pool oils from your skin, sweat, hair, sunscreen, and lets not forget about the dreaded urine and fecal offenders.
With an uptick of swimmers in the pool, the chlorine has to work extra hard to keep it all clean, resulting in a more rapid depletion and consumption.
You May Like: How Deep Are Blue World Pools
How Do You Shock Your Pool
When the filter is running, either pour or sprinkle the shock around the perimeter of your pool. Be sure that nothing sprinkles on you because it will bleach your clothing.
Its recommended to avoid swimming in your pool 24-48 hours after you shock your pool. This will allow the chemicals to run through the water and not harm your skin or eyes. Always read the packaging on your pool shock to check the recommendations.
Why Should You Shock Your Pool
If you dont shock your pool, the chloramines may increase in your pool water and if this level continues to rise, you would have to replace a part or all of your pool water. Having more chloramines will also make your pool water cloudy.
Aside from removing the chloramines or CC, shocking your pool also destroys or oxidizes bacteria , algae, and other contaminants present in the pool. This process will also purify and disinfect your water and help you avoid clearing cloudy water. You may not need to consistently remove algae as it can treat budding algae in crevices and corners.
Pool shocking will also help keep the FC active and properly balanced with Cyanuric Acid. If the Cyanuric Acid is higher, this will make the FC ineffective. Here is a CYA / Chlorine Chart so you know how much chlorine to add based on the Cyanuric Acid level.
As a bonus, it can also help remove organic stains on the pool surface. This can also be used to sanitize your pool when youre having trouble with the filter, pump, or salt system.
Recommended Reading: Is Aria Pet Friendly
Best Time To Shock Your Pool
The best time of day to shock pool is when the sun is down. So, experts recommend shocking your pool in the evening or at night, to make sure it does its job. Shocking during the day can be ineffective as UV rays from direct sunlight significantly reduce free chlorine levels.
If you really have to shock your pool during the day, Ironman Pool Care recommends using a chlorine stabilizer, which works by prolonging the life of chlorine.
When Pool Water Temperature Rises
Bacteria and other organisms such as algae thrive in warm water. In addition, the amount of free chlorine decreases with rising temperatures.
Most pools are kept at a comfortable level of 86-88 °F. The temperature should be lowered to a range of 78-84 °F if there are a lot of swimmers or if the pool is used for athletic activities. You can use a pool thermometer to measure water temperature.
If the temperature rises above the recommended levels, you should shock your pool.
Also Check: Pool Salt Calculator
Tips For More Effective Algae Removal
When Is The Right Time To Add Shock
The answer, at night.
Chlorine in Pool Shock is unstabilized and the sun will burn off the Chlorine very quickly.
So to get the most out of your shock treatment, wait until the sun goes down before adding shock to your pool.
And, wait at least eight hours after shocking to go swimming again. This is another greatreason to shock overnight.
When you are ready to shock, first check your pH and alkalinity levels to make sure that they are balanced.
You can dissolve shock ahead of time in a five-gallon bucket of pool water and stir gently.
Be sure to always follow the instructions on your Pool Shock package since some shock doesntneed to be pre-dissolved.
And if you do this, wear protective chemical resisting goggles, masks, and gloves.
Run your pool pump and pour the shock mixture from the bucket into the pool around the edges of the pool.
And then let the pump run for at least eight hours overnight and then test the water the next morning.
You wanna wait for that free Chlorine level to drop down to at least 3 ppm before you go swimming.
And thats it.
Recommended Reading: What Hotel Has The Best Swimming Pool In Las Vegas
How Can I Tell If My Pool Needs Shock
As a rule of thumb, you should shock your pool every week, even if you dont think that it needs it. But, there are several instances when you should certainly shock your pool:
Shock your pool when you open it for the season to kill any bacteria or algae.
Shock your pool after heavy use or a party.
Shock your pool when its extremely hot and sunny. When the weather is too hot bacteria can grow and your chlorine level may lower.
Shock your pool after heavy rain because too much rain can increase pH levels and send contaminants into your pool.
Shock your pool if your smell chlorine or if swimmers eyes become irritated. If this happens it could mean that water has a build-up of chloramines. This is a clear indicator that your pool needs to be shocked.
Shock your pool when you close it. Although youll need to shock it again when you re-open your pool, its always a good idea to close your pool with clean water.
Some people also recommend that you shock your pool anytime the pH level is between 7.2 and 7.4,
When And How Often To Shock A Pool
- |November 22, 2020
No one contests that pool shock is a highly effective method for sanitizing your pool.
But, how often to shock a pool is a hotly debated issue in the pool owner community.
Yet there are certain times when shocking is an absolute must when you have to get your pool water back in line.
Skip to:
Recommended Reading: Cost To Convert Pool From Chlorine To Saltwater
Avoid Peak Hours And Save
This might be news to you, but nobody actually pays a flat rate for electricity. Thanks to something electric companies have coined peak hours, the cost of powering up your pump fluctuates over the span of the day.
Peak hours are set times when residents in your local area tend to use more powerand put more strain on the grid. These hours depend on the trends of your specific region. Often times, if you live in a hot climate, peak hours are at the hottest time of daywhen your neighbors are most likely to crank up their air conditioning units. Give your energy provider a call to find out the peak hours of where you live, and schedule your pump operation around those times.
Heres another secret: you dont have to run your pump for eight hours straight. You can divide up the time however works best for your schedule, which gives you way more flexibility to run your pump during non-peak hours. Youll get the same service for much cheaper, which is a major cost difference over time.
Want to cut down your operation timeand have a pool system that can accommodate a little extra power? This Blue Torrent 1.5 HP Typhoon In-Ground Pump is the one to try.
Pool Shock: Shocking For Algae Removal
Welcome back to school, students! Summer is the perfect time to discuss algae and how to remove it by shocking the pool with Calcium Hypochlorite Ca2.
Chlorine is a Great Algaecide, I like to say. Faster kill rates and a more complete reaction than using algaecide or other oxidizers.
Cal Hypo is the perfect chlorine type to use to eradicate algae blooms powerful and economical.
Our discussion will focus on how much pool shock to use for complete algae removal, plus other tips on effective pool shocking.
You May Like: Vegas Hotel With Best Pool
What Amount Of Chlorine Shock Do I Add In My Pool
Liquid chlorine or sodium hypochlorite is always around 12.5% chlorine. Regular bleach is less stronger compared to sodium hypochlorite and is always around 8%you will need to use a lot of it, as compared to sodium hypo.
For regular pool sanitization and clearing cloudy water, the right amount of liquid chlorine to add to your pool will depend on your pool size and the percentage of chlorine you are using. For instance, 10 fluid ounces of 12.5% HASA Sani-Clor or Chloro Guard will provide enough liquid chlorine to raise FC on 10,000 gallons of pool water by 1 ppm.
However, if you have severely cloudy pool water with the following signswon’t clear easily after adding a lot of chlorine, high combined chlorine levels , or very low free chlorine and cyanuric acid levelsyou might be having ammonia in your pool, and you need extra work to clear stubborn cloudy pool water caused by ammonia.
For algae treatment, I always recommend using calcium hypochlorite, which is stronger and always comes with around 60% chlorine concentration. To kill algae, you need to triple shock your swimming pool using calcium hypo. For instance, for sanitising a pool using cal hypo , 1 pound of In The Swim cal hypo should work for a 10,000-gallon pool. As such, since you need to triple shock the pool in case of algae breakout, you will need 3 pounds of calcium hypochlorite chlorine shock to kill green, black, and yellow algae in a 10,000-gallon pool.
Choosing A Good Pool Shock
- Fast-Acting Quick-Dissolving Swimming Pool Sanitizer
There are a lot of good pool shock products out there , but here’s one we really recommend:
Calcium hypochlorite, or cal-hypo as it is often called in the pool industry, is the leader is shock products because is the most powerful and fastest working shock available.
This is a granular pool shock, which tends to work best with saltwater pools and its easy to use.
Its also made with pure calcium hypochlorite, which means it doesnt contain the chemicals that would normally raise the cyanuric acid levels in the pool.
Don’t Miss: Does Costco Sell Pool Chlorine
Should You Add Shock To A Salt Water Pool
It’s absolutely okay to shock your salt water pool, and is actually pretty important!
Even though your pool system is probably equipped with an electrical function to super-chlorinate the water, it should not replace a weekly shock treatment for a couple of reasons:
- 1Running your pools super-chlorinate feature too often is hard on the motor and will cause it to wear out faster.
- 2The super-chlorinate feature will not always kill all the algae or clean up the pool water as effectively as pool shock.
Why Shocking Is Important
Unfortunately for pool owners, you cant just fill up a pool with water and expect it to always be clean.
Due to outside influences, the state of pool water is constantly changing, becoming increasingly grimy with each passing second.
Its for this reason why an array of chemicals are added to pool water. With the addition of a sanitizer such as chlorine, the water stays clean and safe for people to swim in.
Even though pools have a constant sanitizing agent in the water, over time it breaks down and slowly becomes less effective. At this point you need to add more of it if you want the pool to remain clean.
The idea behind pool shocking is to quickly raise the free chlorine level in the pool, killing off bacteria, algae growth, chloramines, and other pathogens in the water. This can be done using either chlorinated or non-chlorine pool shock.
Chlorinated pool shock is the most common. It gives the pool a massive dose of chlorine, killing everything in its path.
Non-chlorine pool shock is an oxidizer that attacks organic contaminants in the water. By focusing strictly on those, it frees up the free chlorine in the pool so it can be more effective in sanitizing the water.
Read Also: Clorox Test Strips
When The Free Chlorine Level Goes Below 3 Ppm
The quantity of free chlorine in the water should be 3 ppm, which is also what the total chlorine level should be around. The combined chlorine level should always be maintained below 0.5 ppmor at 0.0 ppm, if possible.
- Free chlorine is the chlorine content that is unused, or “free” to do its job: cleaning and disinfecting your pool.
- Combined chlorine, or chloramine, is the result of the chlorine’s sanitizing action. Chloramine is formed from the combination of free chlorine and sweat, body oils, and urine, creating the infamous “pool smell” that people often attribute to chlorine. High levels of combined chlorine means there is less free chlorine to kill bacteria, parasites, and algae.
- Total chlorine is the sum of the free chlorine and combined chlorine contents.
Most test strips available on the market only measure free chlorine, but you also need to know values of total and/or combined chlorine before shocking your pool.
I use the Lamotte ColorQ Pro 11digital pool water test kit. I like this equipment since it is accurate, easy to use, and measures other pool chemicals and properties such as pH, bromine, cyanuric acid, and calcium hardness.
Important: Improper maintenance of pool chemistryespecially pH and cyanuric acid levelschanges the efficacy of chlorine, so make sure you use accurate equipment and frequently check your pool water’s chemistry.
If you find that the free chlorine level is lower than 3 ppm, it is time to shock your pool.
How Often Should I Shock My Pool
It is important to shock your pool every 1 – 2 weeks on a regular basis. Shocking the pool on a regular basis is an important element in keeping your pool clear and clean. Swimmers and environment add waste to the pool that must be eliminated on a regular basis in order to prevent problems such as algae and cloudy water.
Recommended Reading: Aria Cabana Prices
Not Brushing Your Pool
You already know how important it is to vacuum your pool regularly to keep scum and gunk from building up and ruining your swim.
But just like your teeth or a hutch of Angora rabbits, your pool needs a good brushing to look its best. Whether you vacuum your pool manually or automatically, follow up with a good brushing.
Why Do You Need To Use Pool Shock
A pool is an easy place for bacteria to grow and accumulate. While you may think grabbing the pool net and scooping up leaves and debris from your pool is enough to keep it sanitary, the truth is that is only part of the cleaning process. Bacteria that you cannot see can do more damage to your water and if left unchecked, can lead to algae growths that will make it impossible to enjoy your pool. Shocking your pool regularly is a lot easier than you may think and it is essential to keep your pool pristine.
Don’t Miss: Cyanuric Acid Removal
When The Pool Is Used Heavily Or Frequently
Chlorine levels reduce more quickly when many swimmers use a pool on a consistent basis. You should measure levels of free chlorine and chloramine after heavy swimming, especially in commercial or public pools, and shock the pool as required.
To find out what amount of free chlorine or any other chemical to add to a pool, I use this pool calculator to help me find the correct amount of chlorine to add. All you have to do is enter your chemical and pH readings.
Controlling the chlorine levels in saltwater pools is easier. All you need to do is raise the saltwater chlorine generator to boost free chlorine prior to and after heavy usage.
