Our
goal is to sell you the right Pool chemicals for your pool's needs, and
help you understand how to use them properly. The POOLplaza Pool School
will also help you to maintain
your pool like a professional.
Click on the
categories under "Pool Chemicals" in the left margin to see specific
products
What
is involved in Pool Water Care
A.
Chlorine (or other sanitizers)
The
first step in pool water chemistry is to get something into the water to
sanitize the water and burn up all the contaminants.
The
most common oxidizer/sanitizer is chlorine. As an oxidizer, it literally
burns up organic material in the water. This is important because
by burning up that material, it greatly reduces the load on the filter.
As a sanitizer it kills germs in fairly short order, usually milliseconds.
It
is important to maintain a "chlorine residual" in the pool water at all
times. In other words, you need to keep between 2.0 and 4.0 parts
per million of chlorine in the water.
To
maintain proper chlorine levels, there are three steps:
Step
One: Maintain a constant chlorine feed
- this can be done in several different ways.
Hand
feeding is by far the most difficult and least dependable method. This involves adding chlorine manually to the pool at regular intervals
as needed to keep your chlorine level between 2.0 and 4.0.
Tablet
Feeders are a very common way to feed chlorine into the pool.
A floating chlorinator is the least expensive. An inline chlorinator
is still fairly inexpensive and keeps the chemicals away from swimmers.
Salt
Water Chlorine Generators are growing in popularity, and are a very
good way to go. If you have never heard of this before, take a moment
to visit our salt water page and you will see why so many people have chosen
to go this route.
Step
Two: Test Regularly - this can be
done using a simple test kit or test strips. We recommend testing
the water chemistry at least once per week and more often during times
of heavier usage. Follow the instructions that come with the kit.
Step
Three: Superchlorinate as needed
- there are several instances in which it is important to superchlorinate
(shock) a swimming pool.
If
the chlorine reading gets too low then it is important to superchlorinate
the pool in order to quickly raise up the chlorine level to avoid unsanitary
water.
If
algae develops, it is a good idea to temporarily raise the chlorine
level to 10 ppm and brush the entire pool down to expose the algae.
After
a heavy rain, if a lot of rainwater and other contaminants have washed
into the pool, it is a good idea to shock the pool. These contaminants
tend to use up the chlorine and you need to superchlorinate the pool to
meet the extra demand.
There are other sanitizers on the market, but we have found chlorine to
be the most cost effective strategy available for the homeowner today.
Bromine is often used on spas, but it still contains about 30% chlorine
in the tablet and there are issues of corrosion on outdoor pools caused
by the hydantoin (ammonia) base in the bromine tablets. Biguanides
are also another option, but most of the time we hear about people who
got tired of spending the bucks on biguanides and were looking to get back
to chlorine (making the conversion back to chlorine is not easy).
B. PH Balance
The
concept of pH balance is one which can be confusing, but it is actually
fairly simple. Water can be either acidic (low pH) or basic (high
pH) or balanced (neutral pH).
If
water has a low pH (below 7.2), it is acidic and will cause corrosion and
etching. If water has a high pH (above 7.8), it is basic and can
cause cloudy water and scaling on pool surfaces. We recommend keeping
the pH between 7.4 and 7.6.
The
two keys to maintaining a proper pH are this:
First,
keep your total alkalinity (below) at the proper levels because if
your total alkalinity is correct, then your pH is less likely to bounce
all over the place.Second,
test and adjust regularly. It is better to make minor corrections
more often than it is to make a major correction. Soda ash is used
to raise the pH and Muriatic Acid is used to lower the pH.
C.
Total Alkalinity
The
total alkalinity is like a pH buffer. It is a reserve of alkaline
materials in the water that helps to resist pH change in the water.
The reality is that as soon as the pH becomes acidic, the water will immediately
begin to try to balance itself. Obviously we would much rather have
it attack the Total Alkalinity than to have it attack the plaster or the
pool equipment. Some of the alkalinity is sacrificed to help the
pH balance itself.
Maintaining
proper total alkalinity level does not eliminate the need to test and adjust
the pH levels, but it does reduce "pH bounce" and helps to reduce corrosion
and etching in the pool.
If
the Total Alkalinity is too low, then you can add Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
to the pool to raise the alkalinity. If the Total Alkalinity is too
high, then you can add Muriatic acid to the pool to lower the alkalinity.
When
the alkalinity is too high, then the water will cloud up easily (after
shocking with Calcium Hypochlorite, for instance). This is because
the water has so much alkaline material in it that it cannot dissolve any
more very easily, so the undissolved alkaline material goes into suspension
rather than solution. The suspended alkaline particles make the water
very cloudy.
D.
Calcium Hardness
Calcium
Hardness should be measured at least once per month and should be maintained
at 250 parts per million or higher. If it is low, then it should
be raised by adding calcium chloride to the pool.
E.
Stabilizer
Stabilizer
slows down the reaction of the chlorine slightly so that the sunlight does
not dissipate it so quickly. An unstabilized pool will use up chlorine
very quickly on a sunny day. Stabilized chlorine tablets
(trichlor tablets) contain 50% stabilizer by weight!! This means
that for every pound of chlorine tablets, you are adding 1/2 lb. of stabilizer.
The
ideal range for stabilizer is between 30 and 60 parts per million.
If it is too low, then the sunlight will dissipate the chlorine easily
and quickly on a sunny day. If it is too high, then the effectiveness
of the chlorine is greatly reduced, and the reaction time is slowed considerably.
This can be a major contributing factor to yellow algae problems.
If
the stabilizer level gets too high, then there are two options available:
The
first option is to drain the pool and refill with fresh water.
Possible variations would be to drain partially and refill or backwash
longer each time to help to turn over the water. The
second option would be to use sodium bromide water treatments to counteract
the effect of the stabilizer.
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