What Causes High Chlorine Levels In The First Place
There are a few reasons this can happen.
How Long Does It Take For Chlorine Levels To Go Down
This depends entirely on which method you use.
Sodium thiosulfate is probably the quickest fix, with other chlorine reducers right behind it.
A more natural method could take a little longer.
Sunlight might take at least 24 hours to decrease the chlorine levels, depending on how high they were to start with.
But if you drain some of your pool water, you can check it as soon as it’s refilled. Sometimes thats all it takes to do the trick.
How To Chemically Reduce Combined Chlorine
Superchlorination is by far and away the most widely used and accepted practice for addressing combined chlorine. Superchlorination is dumping an excess of free chlorine into the pool. This surge of oxidizing power should destroy the oxidant demand. It also kills just about everything that might be lurking in the water too, which is a plus. The downside is that the pool must be closed for superchlorination, and when itâs done, the FAC level needs to be brought back down, or wait long enough for it to drift down on its own.
With respect to the breakpoint chlorination process, superchlorination is the rocket boost that finally pushes past the demand, achieving and exceeding the breakpoint, and building a free chlorine residual. In the chart above, when chlorine struggles to get over the hump at point , superchlorination is a reliable option.
Non-chlorine shocking involves adding more oxidizer to the water, but in a form that is not chlorine. The chemical most commonly used is potassium monopersulfate. It can help with oxidants, but will not add disinfecting power.
Hydrogen is replaced by Chloride as more and more chlorine attacks.
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How Do I Lower Free Chlorine Level
Postby lisab»Fri 30 May, 2008 19:05
Postby Denali»Fri 30 May, 2008 19:45
lisab wrote:New pool owners have only shocked the pool 4 times. The first three times the level went up to 10, then back to almost zero by the next day. Last night we shocked the pool, had filter running most of night and my test strips are showing the free chlorine to still be really high.1. We shocked the pool and then put solar cover on. Should we have left it off? Also had solar cover on most of the day today. Would that have anything to do with it?2. If necessary, how do you lower the chlorine level 3. We were told to shock the pool once per week. If the FC level is still high, should we be shocking it?Sorry! Were new pool owners and very confused! Thank you!
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How To Reduce Pool Or Spa Chlorine Levels
Maintaining the correct chlorine level can be tricky. Different times of year require different levels of chlorine in a pool, as do varied levels of pool use.
And when super-chlorinating or shocking the pool, which is to raise the chlorine level to very high ranges to remove algae, bacteria and chloramines from the pool, its very easy to overshoot the mark, and over-chlorinate the pool.
Normal pool chlorine levels are usually 1.0 ppm to 3.0 ppm, depending on the level of stabilizer in the water . If your pool water is much higher than 2-3 ppm, read on
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What Is Combined Chlorine
Chlorine is used in two ways to sanitize a swimming pool.
The first is regular chlorination, in which the chlorine source, such as Trichlor tablet, is placed in the skimmer, floater or feeder. The chlorine dissolves in the pool water at a slow, steady pace, creating Hypochlorous acid.
The other way is to shock your pool. Shocking the pool is just super-chlorination or hyper-chlorination.
The pool is shocked with a high dose of Liquid Chlorine or Cal Hypo, with a target of increasing the Free Chlorine by at least 10 ppm. Once again the result is the formation of Hypochlorous acid.
Hypochlorous acid exists in the pool water along with the Hypochlorite – ion as per the equation.
HOCL < => H+ + OCl-
Free Chlorine sanitizes the pool by combining with the contaminants and forming chloramines. This is Combined Chlorine . It no longer has the ability to sanitize or disinfect.
Total Chlorine is the sum of Free Chlorine and Combined Chlorine .
TC = FC + CC
Pool Water Chemistry Testers give you readings for Total Chlorine and Free Chlorine . So you can determine the Combined Chlorine as under:
CC = TC FC
Lower The Level Of Pool Chlorine
It is much more difficult to reduce the amount of total chlorine within an above ground swimming pool than it is to increase it. One of the only ways bring it down is to leave your pool uncovered and in direct sunlight. Sunlight eats away the total chlorine within the pool. That is the same reason that it is important to test your pool water more frequently during hot weather as your pool is more likely to turn green from lack of chlorine. The only other way to reduce chlorine is to drain some of the water and add fresh water. This will dilute your current water and the chlorine levels along with it.
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Use A Chlorine Neutralizing Product
There are many chlorine neutralizing products available on the market that are specially formulated to reduce the amount of chlorine in your pool without disrupting the pH, alkalinity or water hardness levels. Add the neutralizer gradually to avoid removing too much chlorine and needing to readjust the levels again.
Depending on the level of chlorine present in your pool, you may need to use multiple treatments to return the pool to a safe level for swimming.
What Chlorine Level Is Dangerous For A Pool Filter
It’s safe to say that swimming in pool water with chlorine levels well above 3 ppm is safe. The skin is an intact surface and I think they are unlikely to build up chlorine as a result of absorption through the skin. Your lungs will tell you if it’s safe or not. Anyway, this is my best guess. I hope this helps.
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Is It Safe To Enter A Pool With 3 + Cl
Do not put more than 3 cl in the pool water is outdated advice. The chemistry buff has several factors that contribute to this disadvantage when considering a cya score . Another problem is tc > 3 or fc > 3 > . I have some understanding of the concepts involved, but this is not enough to explain it fully.
How Does Chlorine Work
Chlorine kills microorganisms and bacteria in water by the process of chemical reaction. When the chlorine reagents discharge into the pool water then, it break into various chemicals such as hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite ion . Both these chemicals attack the lipids in the cell walls of bacteria and microorganisms and destroy the enzymes and structures inside the cell through the oxidizing reaction. Hypochlorous acid is more oxidizing agent then hypochlorite ion normally it takes several second for this reaction in pool water whereas hypochlorite ion can takes up to 30 minutes. The production of HOCl and OCl depends on pH level of the pool water it is highest when the pH level of pool water is between 7 and 8. Too high pH indicates lower production of HOCl and OCl. During cleaning the pool, they may combine with nitrogen compounds such as ammonia, or break into single atoms and deactivated. Moreover sunlight, water temperature also effects on the rate of this reactions. Therefore, more chlorine is required to the pool.
Cl2 + H2O HOCl + HCl
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Why Dont They Make Chlorine Tabs Without The Added Cya
Chlorine is a gas. It must be trapped by some material for a residential pool owner to use it. The most stable and economically viable are:
- Calcium Calcium Hypochlorite, or
- Water sodium hypochlorite .
There are cal-hypo tablets that do not contain CYA. You need a special feeder for them. They will add calcium to your water whoch can cause other unwanted problems as the pool CH rises. Calcium is the same as CYA, it does not go away without draining the pool water.
That is why a Salt Water Chlorine Generator is so easy and appropriate for a residential pool owner. You create your chlorine on site. Only thing you use is electricity. The device that creates the chlorine will last years if properly sized and water chemistry is properly maintained.
Use Chemical Agents To Reduce Chlorine Levels
If the first two methods arent producing the results youre looking for, there are chemical agents that can help. Neutralizing Chemicals are a great option if you are need the pool to be available within a short period of time. It is important to follow instructions when using any chlorine neutralizing chemical, as misuse can lead to chlorine levels and pH levels being significantly decreased. Two different chemical agents that can reduce chlorine levels are Sodium Thiosulfate and Pool-Grade Hydrogen Peroxide . Be sure to test your water after using one of these agents as they tend to impact pH, sometimes dramatically.
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Stop Adding Chlorine And Start Swimming
For chlorine measurements only slightly higher than the recommended chlorine concentration, lowering chlorine levels in your pool can be as easy as not adding chlorine to your pool.
Switch off your chlorine feeder, remove the chlorine floater from the pool or remove chlorine tablets from the skimmer. Abating the continual influx of chlorine into your pool allows the chlorine currently in the pool to get used. Swimming in the pool can help speed up this process as the chlorine works to eliminate the bacteria introduced by the swimmers.
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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What Are The Problems With A Pool Heater
Other problems include high levels of chlorine, high levels of TDS, high levels of salt, and high levels of calcium. These conditions can also have devastating effects on heating systems. Pools that don’t follow basic water care rules have clogged and leaking heating problems. Good water chemistry is essential for the durability of your boiler.
Why Is Chlorine So Important For A Pool
Chlorine is the most used sanitizer for pools and spas. When added to pool or spa water, it forms hypochlorous acid , which kills bacteria present in the water. Chlorine also acts as a disinfectant that breaks down organic material into compounds that are less harmful to humans.
The free available chlorine in the pool, the higher the quality of water and service you will get. You can add chlorine manually or with a chemical feeder to keep your pools FAC between 1-3 ppm.
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How To Lower The Chlorine In Your Pool
To avoid too much chlorine in pool side effects, the first thing to do is to test the chlorine level.
In order to figure out the best treatment method for how to lower chlorine in pool water, you need to determine the scale of the problem. If the chlorine level is only slightly high say, 4ppm or so and presuming youre not planning on using the pool for an hour or two, then the easiest answer is usually masterful inactivity.
If the chlorine level is significantly higher say, you recently shocked the pool but forgot about the pool party youd arranged your pools going to need an intervention.
So, depending on the severity of the over-chlorination problem, and the amount of time youve got before you need to use the pool, here are your options.
We recommend the Water Test Strips and this Liquid Testing Kit.
1. Stop Adding ChlorineIf your chlorine reading is only a little over 3ppm dont sweat about it. Just stop adding more chlorine to the water.
If youve got a saltwater chlorine generator or a chlorine feeder, turn it off or reduce the power level.
If you use a chlorine floater, remove it from the pool.
If youve got a chlorine tablet in your skimmer or in your pool, remove it.
As long as youre not adding more chlorine to the water, by the time a couple of swimmers have jumped in and added the de-chlorinating effect of their smelly feet, armpits, and backsides to the accumulating dirt, debris, and bugs that constantly hit the pool, the problem will solve itself.
Problems Caused By Too Much Chlorine In Your Pool
When you realize you have too much chlorine in your pool, several health problems could arise. If there is too much chlorine in your pool, it can alter the pH level in the pool. This can make the water more acidic. Acid levels can lead to:
- Red Skin Rash
- Irritated Eyes
- Asthma & respiratory problems due to too much chlorine vapors in the pools surface
Although its very uncommon, too much chlorine in the pool can lead to chlorine poisoning. Symptoms of this include:
- Nausea and vomiting
- Persistent coughing
- Tightness and pain in the chest
If you or someone who has been in your pool starts experiencing any of these symptoms its important to seek medical attention right away.
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Why Is My Pool Chlorine Level Too High
You may have shocked the pool water, which if done correctly should result in a very high chlorine level, likely greater than 10 ppm. You need to let the shock oxidize and sanitize the pool water, usually at least 8 hours before attempting to lower the chlorine.
You may have had your chlorinator, chlorine feeder, or chlorine floater set too high or have added too much chlorine to the device, resulting in the chlorine level drifting higher over time.
With less heat, sunlight, and bather load, the pool water requires less free chlorine in the water, as the chlorine demand has lessened.
Let The Sun Burn Off Some Of The Chlorine
A few hours of direct sunlight can reduce your chlorine levels by up to 90 percent. Just make sure your chlorine doesnt drop below the recommended range of 1 to 3 parts per million.
If you use cyanuric acid to stabilize your chlorine, this might not work as well. Remember, CYA protects chlorine from being broken down by the sun.
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Will Baking Soda Lower Chlorine Level In Pool
Baking soda can help to lower chlorine levels, but not directly. Sodium Bicarbonate aka Baking Soda is a high alkaline chemical, which raises waters pH and alkalinity. Hydrogen Peroxide wont work properly if your pool waters pH is low. So, adding a little bit of baking soda can make the difference by increasing the pH level of your pool water and help Hydrogen Peroxide to work effectively to reduce the chlorine levels. So, baking soda can influence the chlorine neutralization process.
Just keep in mind, higher pH speed up the chlorine evaporation and will produce chlorine gas. Thus, the chlorine evaporation will help to lower your pool chlorine, but, this will create too much chlorine smell around the pool, and people will get confused and start to think that, the pool has too much chlorine.
How To Tell If Your Pools Chlorine Level Is High
Chlorine in the pool is made of two compounds. One is the chlorine used to fight microorganisms and bacteria. The second is chloramine, which is the result of the chlorine combined with organic matters that characterize a chlorinated pools odor.
However, the fact that you can smell the amount of chlorine is a mere myth. You could use symptoms such as irritated eyes and skin to tell if your pool is over-chlorinated. Thankfully, there are safer and faster ways to check the amount of chlorine in a pool.
Use a pool water testing kit! For example, you could use a DPD kit to measure the amount of free chlorine in your pool. Alternatively, you can use an OTO test kit to estimate the total amount of chlorine in your pool, both the free chlorine and chloramines, to get a more accurate read.
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How Do You Reduce The Chlorine Level In A Pool With Baking Soda
Therefore, adding a small amount of baking soda can raise the pH of your pool water and help hydrogen peroxide reduce chlorine levels effectively. Baking soda can disrupt the chlorine neutralization process. Note that higher pH values ââaccelerate the evaporation of chlorine and release chlorine gas.
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