Chlorinated Shock Vs Non
Normally, your pool is kept clean by chlorine from chlorine tabs, a salt chlorinator, a cartridge system, or some other slow-release, low-dose system. But when the chlorine in your pool is not doing the trick, you may need to shock your pool. But when it comes to shocking your pool, there are choices. Many pool owners are left wondering what the best way is to shock their pools. In this article, we will compare chlorinated shock vs. non-chlorine shock for swimming pools.
How Do You Break Chlorine Lock
The only way to fix chlorine lock, which is really just high cyanuric acid, is to reduce your cyanuric acid level.
While there are products on the market that claim to lower cyanuric acid levels, the results are unpredictable and expensive, with many pool owners claiming they made no significant difference.
The only practical way to lower cyanuric acid in your pool is to partially or fully drain your water, then fill it back up with fresh water.
After that, you need to prevent chlorine lock from returning by keeping tabs on your stabilizer level, including all potential sources of cyanuric acid such as chlorine tablets and trichlor pool shock.
The Difference Between Chlorine Demand & Chlorine Lock
Many people use the terms chlorine demand and chlorine lock interchangeably. Chlorine lock can also refer to the belief that chlorine stabilizer inhibits chlorine from doing its job. There is no evidence to support this theory. Most pool experts agree that chlorine lock is not a real issue. If someone tells you that your pool is suffering from chlorine lock, it is a good idea to ask what they mean.
If your pool has chlorine demand, give us a call! We can test the chlorine levels of your swimming pool and tell you the accurate amount of chlorine that your pool needs. We can also take care of the shock treatments for you.
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How Does Chlorine Sanitize Pool Water
We add chlorine to pool water to sanitize it. Once in the water, free chlorine forms hypochlorous acid which kills disease-causing microbes. When chlorine bonds with these and other organic compounds, such as sunscreen or swimmersâ body fluids, chloramines are formed. Chloramines, also known as combined chlorine, leave the pool through offgassing.
A buildup of chloramines causes the âchlorine smellâ that swimmers find irritating. That smell may be an indication of poor water quality. Regularly checking free, combined and total chlorine levels will help to prevent or reveal water quality issues before problems arise.
How To Add Pool Stabilizer To Your Pool
You know you have to do a partial drain to decrease pool stabilizer if your levels are too high. But what about increasing pool stabilizer?
If youre using liquid chlorine, or your water is reading low on pool stabilizer for some other reason, its time to get this process down pat. Heres the safest way to add cyanuric acid to your poolbecause its an acid, it does have the capability to damage your filter and pool liner, so were going to take caution.
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Why Is Chlorine Lock Bad News
When you add chlorine to your water, two things begin to happen:
Under normal conditions, the amount of remaining chlorine is more than enough to keep your water properly sanitized and free of algae formations.
This is when cyanuric acid works in your favor, as it allows just enough chlorine to get the job down without over-expending.
When your cyanuric acid level is too high, however, theres not enough active chlorine left over to keep your water clean and healthy, which often leads to aggressive algae blooms that are seemingly immune to chlorine.
Remove The Pool Cover
Another method to decrease chlorine levels in your pool is to remove the pool cover. If you have one, open it up and let the sun shine down. Sunlight is known to lower chlorine levels in relatively short periods of time. Keep in mind that if your pool is not in the sun or if you are using Stabilizer this method will not be as effective.
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Choosing The Right Method For Your Facility
While there are several options available to lower combined chlorine, secondary or supplemental sanitizers are a long-lasting, effective solution. Among the four top secondary or supplemental sanitizers, Hydroxyl-Based AOP outperforms the others and allows you to be proactive instead of reactive to combined chlorine.
Still not convinced? In an independent case study, two recreational facilities in Los Angeles compared how well medium pressure UV and Hydroxyl-Based AOP pool sanitation systems reduced harmful combined chlorine and DBPs. While both methods were successful, the study found that Hydroxyl-Based AOP had 55 percent better combined chlorine reduction and 22% better DBP reduction than medium pressure UV.
How To Cure Chlorine Lock And Chlorine Demand
Lock and Demand. Theyre actually a couple of problems you might run into with your pool water. Actually, theyre just one problem, because chlorine lock is misleading.
Before we dive in, you know that chlorine is the number one thing you need to keep your pool water clean and safe. If you dont have enough chlorine in the pool, then its not going to be a fun time for anyone. If you want to make sure that your chemistry is perfect all season long, then we recommend getting our video course which teaches everything about how to take care of your pool so that it will always be safe for swimming.
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Swimming Pools In Katy Tx
Sahara Construction & Custom Pools individually designs and builds every pool to meet our clients personal tastes and budget.
Saharas elite pool design team completely transform your backyard into the outdoor living area of your dreams. Whether you are looking for our team of qualified professionals to design your custom pool from scratch or you moved into a house with an outdated pool, Sahara can design you a flawless, in-ground gunite pool.
Use Supplemental Or Secondary Sanitation
For a healthier alternative solution, top aquatics facilities add secondary and supplemental pool sanitation systems to their primary disinfection method, like chlorine or bromine. Secondary and supplemental sanitation power essentially does what chlorine or bromine cant reduce combined chlorine and protect against chlorine-resistant microorganisms, like Cryptosporidium.
UV Pool Sanitation
UV pool sanitation systems inactivate contaminants by flowing water over a UV, or ultraviolet, lamp in the pool plumbing, but it does not oxidize it. Without oxidation, UV typically needs additional chlorine to destroy contaminants, remove pathogens, and improve clarity or overall water quality. Additionally, research has shown that UV sanitation can increase the rate of free chlorine consumption.
From a cost perspective, UV is typically the most expensive secondary sanitation method to operate because of its installation cost, high energy consumption, required lamp handling, system disassembly, special tools and annual downtime for professional servicing.
Ozone Pool Sanitation
To Hear From an Aquatics Operator Who Switched From UV to Hydroxyl-Based AOP Pool Sanitation, Watch the Video Here.
UV+Ozone AOP Pool Sanitation
Hydroxyl-Based AOP Pool Sanitation
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How To Raise Free Chlorine In Pool Tutorial
The effort that were going to do to raise the free chlorine in your swimming pool is shocking. Some of you may have known this kind of maintenance process which simply means super-chlorinating the pool or adding chlorine in a more extreme way safely.
- Rubber gloves
- Eye goggles
Those are the supplies that you have to prepare once you know that the free chlorine of your pool water is below the ideal range.
How To Lower Combined Chlorine Levels
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How Much Chlorine To Add To A Pool: The Ultimate Guide
by Katy-TX-Pool-Builder Katy-TX-Pool-Builder | Apr 30, 2022 | Pool Tips
If youre looking to beat the heat, theres nothing better than a quick dip in the pool. Its one of the most common summertime leisure activities, and over 10 million Americans have a residential swimming pool.
While swimming, diving, and pool parties are always a blast, few things put a stop to the fun faster than dirty pool water. Fortunately, chlorine simplifies the process of keeping your pools water clean.
To have pristine pool water, you need to know how much chlorine to add to a pool. Read on to learn all about how using the proper amount of chlorine keeps your pool clean.
How To Raise Chlorine Level In Pool With Bleach
Bleach is quite effective in increasing the free Chlorine in an inexpensive way. You need to follow the below simple steps to raise your free Chlorine using a bleaching agent. Just make sure you are not using scented Bleach or specialized Bleach only use the original Bleach.Follow the below simple steps to raise your pools chlorine levels with bleach:
Before adding Bleach to your pool, you need to check the water pH level. It is important because if the pH level is more than 7.8, your Chlorine will lose quickly
Cyanuric acid is often called a pool conditioner or stabilizer. The chemical compound of Bleach is Sodium hypochlorite. After putting Bleach in your water, it will convert to sodium hypochlorite ions. When UV rays of sunlight hit, the chlorine parts will evaporate, which means you will need more Bleach, and lots of money will be wasted.If there is enough Cyanuric Acid , it will create bonds with the sodium hypochlorite ions and it will protect the chlorine part from evaporation when sunlight hits. CYA should be between 30 ppm to 50 ppm. Otherwise, you need to add more CYA, if the ppm level is lower.
You need to measure the volume of your pool water to determine the required amount of Bleach. You need to know the length, wide and deep of your pool to determine the pool water.
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Ways To Reduce Chlorine Levels In Your Swimming Pool
The addition of chlorine is an important maintenance aspect to above ground and in-ground pool ownership alike. Sometimes the chlorine amounts can become higher than the recommended levels, resulting in a less-desirable swimming experience. In the event your pool has a chlorine level that is too high, here are a few guidelines as to how you can reduce the level of chlorine in your pool.
The proper chlorine level can vary depending on a few factors, so its best to consult your local pool expert in order to maintain a healthy pool. They will also be able to dispense advice on the best way to measure chlorine levels in your pool. A few signs of high chlorine can be burning sensation in eyes, nose and throat, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, lung irritation, or skin rash. Once youve tested the water and determined that the chlorine is too high, here are some suggestions as to what you can do to bring it back down.
Lets also dispel a couple of myths
MYTH #1 Red eyes are caused by too much chlorine. Not true. Typically red eyes are due to your pH being too high or too low. Test your water and ensure your pH is between 7.2 7.6.
MYTH #2 A strong chlorine smell means you have too much chlorine in your pool water. Not True. A strong chlorine smell is actually from chloramines. That means that your chlorine is working hard to sanitize contaminants in your pool water.
Ok, lets now take a look at 4 different methods you can use to lower your chlorine levels.
The Difference Between Total And Free Chlorine In A Pool
Total chlorine is the sum of free chlorine and combined chlorine.
The difference between free and total chlorine is that free refers to not being combined or bonded with anything, while total refers to what you actually measure in pool water.
Combined chlorine refers to the amount of chlorine that has reacted with undesirable elements and can no longer be used for sanitizing purposes.
This means that its not active or available chlorine.
So if your pool water has 0.5 ppm of free chlorine and 1 ppm of combined chlorine, the total chlorine level would be 1.5 ppm.
Free chlorine is important because it is active and kills bacteria and viruses in the pool.
However, it cannot do anything with elements already bonded to another element. Combined chlorine does not go through the entire sanitization process its just wasted chlorine.
The combined chlorine still has a small disinfecting effect, but this is not as good as free chlorine.
FYI: Chlorine that has already reacted forms unpleasant by-products such as chloramines. These substances are harmful to humans, and therefore it is important to constantly have free chlorine in the pool to eliminate these substances as well.
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How To Lower Combined Chlorine For A More Comfortable & Healthier Swimming Environment
Your aquatic facility is open for summer, and while youre checking off your to-do list to welcome swimmers back, do you have a plan for inevitable combined chlorine in the pool water? If you want to offer guests a comfortable, healthy and safe swimming experience, getting control over your swimming pools combined chlorine is critical.
What Is A Good Combined Chlorine Level
The short answer to this question is zero.
I know that an absolute zero is not realistic. However, you should be concerned if the Combined Chlorine Levels are above 0.5 ppm.
Target to keep Combined Chlorine Levels below 0.2 ppm.
Combined Chlorine is basically a Chloramine. You will know that the Combined Chlorine Levels are high in your pool when one or more of the following happen.
Of course, every time you check chlorine levels, make sure to check both Total Chlorine level and Free Chlorine level, so that you can know the Combined Chlorine Levels too!
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Rain Or Filling The Pool With Dirty Water
The water that goes in the pool hugely determines how quickly the chlorine will be used up. If you fill the pool with dirty water or have experienced heavy rain, the chlorine will deplete quickly because the chlorine is being used to clean the water. This will result in an increased pool demand for chlorine.
This is more common with pool owners that fill their pools with well water. Well water contains a host of metals, sand, and debris that causes the water to be dirty.
Other causes of a chlorine demand include inadequate chlorine levels in the water and unbalanced pool pH.
So how do you know if you have chlorine demand in the pool? Keep reading to find out.
How To Fix Chlorine Demand
Fortunately, fixing chlorine demand is easier because you dont need to drain your pool to adjust the cyanuric acid level.
Instead, you need to shock your water to kill all the contaminants gobbling up your daily chlorine consumption, which just means adding a high amount of chlorine to reach breakpoint chlorination.
Breakpoint chlorination will rid your pool of all contamination and effectively reset your water, allowing you to escape chlorine demand and maintain a stable chlorine level.
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Reduction In Water Temperature:
Reducing your water temperature to colder than normal will help slow bacterial and algal growth. Most of these microorganisms thrive and proliferate in warm to hot environments. Also, it reduces the speed of chemicals reacting with each other or human skin. So, while reducing temperature is not an independent solution, it can definitely reduce the quantity of chlorine you would have to use otherwise. The drawback here is that it is difficult for some people to swim comfortably in cold water. The method you adopt to reduce the water temperature would largely depend on the outside weather. If the climate is warm and pleasant, you can go for a pool chiller. If the outside weather is cold, you can opt for aeration or oxygenation through fountains. If you have a water heater installed, lower the thermostat level. Heaters and chillers are very expensive in comparison to other pool equipment options. Chlorine, or other sanitation systems, still must be used. However, the amount required is reduced. Probably not enough to justify the expense.
