How To Bring Down Chlorine In An Indoor Pool
How to reduce chlorine in a pool Method 1 of 3: Basic methods. Understand the smell of chlorine and itchy eyes. Many people think that a chemical smell or itchy eyes are signs of chlorine. Method 2 of 3: Add chemicals to reduce chlorine. Purchase a chlorine neutralizer from a pool supply store. Method 3 of 3: Using UV lamps. Understand UV disinfection.
Test The Chlorine Level
The ideal level of chlorine for a typical house pool is around 1 to 3 ppm, if the level is higher then you need to lower it. There are several methods that you can do to test the chlorine level of the pool water. Find out more option at divesanddollar.com
Prepare this tool:
- Add a small amount of the pool water to the tube.
- Add DPD reagent to the water sample, wait until the water turns pink.
- Add one drop of FAS compound, wait until the water turns back to clear.
Stop Adding Chlorine
When you have found that the chlorine level is higher than the recommended range, the very first step is obviously to stop adding more chlorine.
- Turn off the chlorine feeder or remove the floater.
- This method can reduce the level of chlorine and makes it get used to the environment of the pool water.
Exposed the Pool Water to Sunlight
During the process of reducing the amount of chlorine, you can benefit the mother nature for this process. If the day is sunny enough, you can use the natural approach to lower the chlorine level of your pool. Letting the UV light to expose your pool can help to break down chlorine naturally.
- Remove the pool cover, you may need to cut some branches of trees if you plant some around the pool.
- Wait until a couple of hours, make sure whether the level of the chlorine is lower or not.
Heat Up the Pool
you can use it to perfect the process. The warm temperature will increase the bacteria of the water which needs more amount of chlorine.
Use Hydrogen Peroxide
What Are The Best Ways To Increase Free Chlorine In A Pool
Recommended ways to raise FC include:
- household bleach
- liquid chlorine
- salt water chlorine generators .
Non-Recommended ways to raise FC:
- solid, stabilized chlorine compounds such as calcium hypochlorite
- lithium hypochlorite
- sodium dichloroisocyanurate
- trichloroisocyanuric acid
These solid compounds will all add extra stuff that you do not want too much of in your water .
- For every 10 ppm Free Chlorine added by Trichlor, it also increases Cyanuric Acid by 6 ppm.
- For every 10 ppm FC added by Dichlor, it also increases CYA by 9 ppm.
- For every 10 ppm FC added by Cal-Hypo, it also increases Calcium Hardness by 7 ppm.
Even at a very low chlorine usage of 1 ppm FC per day, using Trichlor as your only source of chlorine will increase CYA by over 100 ppm in just 6 months, unless there is significant dilution of the water. At 2 ppm FC per day usage, the CYA increases by over 100 ppm in just 3 months.
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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.
Why Do I Have Chloramines In My Pool
Chloramines are a combination of ammonia or nitrogen with a free chlorine molecule, which is why they are also called combined chlorine. The chlorine molecule loses its effectiveness. However, such a reaction is more or less inevitable. This means that you can expect a certain amount of chloramine in your pool.
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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.
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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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 it’s 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.
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Hydrogen is replaced by Chloride as more and more chlorine attacks.
What Can You Use To Lower Chlorine Levels In Pools
There are some products and chemical agents that can reduce the chlorine levels in your pool, such as Sodium Thiosulfate and pool grade Hydrogen Peroxide designed for treating pools.
You can use Sodium Thiosulfate such as this one:
before determining the level of chlorine and the safety of the pool as these products can dramatically impact the pH levels of the pool.
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Risks Of High Chlorine Levels
The dangers of High Chlorine LevelsChlorine, when at the ideal degree, is harmless to people. At extreme levels, it can position wellness threats to any individual revealed to it and even damage your new swimsuit or hair color.
Some common health issues caused by direct exposure to high degrees of chlorine consist of:
- Breathing illnesses such as bronchial asthma because of the excess chlorine vapor based on the surface area of the pool
- Eye irritability and also over dilated capillary in the eyes, for those of you that favor swimming without goggles
- Dry skin and also hair
- Skin irritability identified by a red rash with raised itchy bumps
Commonly, these signs of high chlorine degrees improve after a few days or weeks. One severe impact, though unusual, is chlorine poisoning, which usually calls for instant clinical attention. Wellness issues, excess chlorine degrees could eventually damage your pool equipment as well as a pool cover.
How To Lower Chlorine Levels In Pool
Without having the right amount of chlorine in your pool, the water may be unsanitary, unclean, or even unsafe to use.
One of the most common issues with pools is over-chlorination. Most pool owners and manufacturers will advise shocking each time you open it for the first time of the season.
This will ensure that it is ready and safe for use. However, shocking the pool involves adding lots of chlorine to get rid of dirt, grime, bacteria, algae and any other microorganisms that could be residing in the pool.
Whilst shocking is the right way to maintain the pool, you can use too much chlorine during the process, which can result in an overly high chlorine level. So, how do you rectify this?
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Tips On How To Reduce Chlorine Use:
Ly Drain And Refill The Pool
Draining your pool partially and refilling it with clean water will help dilute your pool water. Compared to all the other chlorine lowering methods, refilling the pool has more cons than pros. It is only great if you have to lower your chlorine levels by 1 to 2ppm.
First off, you water bills will hit the roof, of course this depends on the municipal water rates in your area. Also, it takes more time. Though you can reduce the time by backwashing.
Another downside to this method is that it alters the water hardness and pH levels. Therefore, you must be extra keen on monitoring and readjusting other chemicals in the water after a refill.
On the bright side, refilling the pool is a fantastic option if you have other issues with your pool like a blocked sand filter, an increased level of dissolved solids, excess cyanuric acid, and copper levels.
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Products To Help Lower Ph Levels
There are two main chemicals normally used to lower pH levels in pools: sodium bisulfate and muriatic acid.
Both can cause damage to the pool surface and your skin, so its important to use caution with either one, including wearing clothing that fully covers your body, along with gloves and goggles.
You’ll also usually find these chemicals in products called something like pH Reducers or pH Minus. If you’re particular about which you use, be sure to check the labels before buying.
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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What Causes The Chlorine Level To Get Too High In A Pool
One of the more common reasons for high chlorine levels is that you just overdid it with a shock treatment.
Alternatively, adding too much cyanuric acid to your pool causes high chlorine levels.
Cyanuric acid prevents chlorine from being lost due to UV exposure and while some is good to help you retain it in the water and ultimately save money on chlorine, like everything else in chemistry, too much is a bad thing.
Also, if your dispenser is not working correctly, you might find yourself coming home to an over-chlorinated pool.
Reducing Your Reaction To Chlorine In Your Pool
There are ways to minimize or prevent your reaction to chlorinated water.
- Rinse it off!
- Rinsing your hair will decrease dryness and help stop it from turning green.
- Wear goggles.If the pool water irritates your eyes, wearing goggles may help. After swimming, try some saline or lubricating eye drops to rinse the chlorine from them.
Safeguarding your eyes from exposure to chlorine and removing any traces of it from your body post-swim are important steps in reducing potential reaction.
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What If Chlorine Levels Are Low
If your free chlorine levels are low you need to shock treat the pool otherwise there may be health hazards for swimmers at worst or green algae growth at best.
To do this use 16 ounces of granular chlorine or 3/4 cup Liquid Pool Shock per 10,000 gallons of water depending on which type of shock is available.
Test again after 24 hours and if the level has dropped add another 5 ppm and test again until you achieve results at 3 ppm.
If the free chlorine level drops below 3 ppm it’s time to close down until you can raise it to this safe level again.
If that isn’t possible then switch over to an alternative system such as Ultraviolet Sterilisation or Ozone.
Follow these simple pool water chemistry rules when shocked treating your pool and always remember when in doubt, treat!
How You Can Reduce The Amount Of Chlorine In Your Pool
Since chlorine is the only effective sanitizer you can use, if your aim is to reduce its level in the water you must either close down the pool or switch to an alternative system that uses none at all such as ultraviolet sterilization or ozone.
Whether this can be achieved depends on many different factors including whether people have been walking around wearing rubber-soled shoes indoors after a heavy rainstorm or even going into their own bathrooms with wet feet.
There’s nothing much you can do about chloramines once they’re formed but a regular maintenance program will help prevent any build-up by keeping the water balanced, clean, and fresh.
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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.
Testing Pool Water Chlorine
Contrary to popular belief, being able to smell chlorine doesnt necessarily mean that theres a lot of it.
In fact, when you can smell chlorine in your pool, it means that most of it is used up. And what youre actually smelling are chloramines .
So for the most accuracy, test your pool water with either test strips or a liquid test kit.
An ideal chlorine level is 3 ppm.
If your pools chlorine is at 4 ppm or higher, this guide is for you.
In the next few paragraphs, youll learn a bunch of different ways to easily lower pool chlorine. Even when you dont have a single dollar to spare.
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How Does Ph And Cya Effect Free Chlorine
So what determines how much, or the proportion of active chlorine to reserve chlorine in your pool?
Basically, it depends on the pH of your water and the concentration of cyanuric acid . Typically speaking, most of the free chlorine is held in reserve by the cyanuric acid and the rest of the free chlorine break up into proportions dictated by pH .
The most important point to remember though is this – the amount of active chlorine ion your pool water is determined by the concentration of CYA. You need enough CYA in your water to create a proper reserve of chlorine, BUT, too much CYA can reduce the amount of active chlorine in your water to levels too low to fight pathogens and oxidize bather waste. This is called overstabilization of pool water and, mistakenly, is referred to as chlorine lock by the pool industry due to them not acknowledging the importance of the CYA/FC ratio.
How Do You Know If You Have Too Much Chlorine In Your Pool
The easiest way is to test your water. Your chlorine levels should be between 1 and 3 parts per million.
When you test your water, youre looking to see how much chlorine is active and killing contaminants. This is known as free chlorine. When that chlorine has combined with contaminants and been used up, its called combined chlorine, aka chloramines.
If you notice a chlorine smell in your pool, it actually doesnt mean you have too much chlorine. The chlorine smell comes from the chloramines and it means your sanitizer is used up. You can get rid of chloramines by shocking your pool. This helps reactivate your sanitizer.
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