What Are The Most Important Things I Need To Know About My Chlorine In My Pool?
Let's face it, swimming pools can be complicated, especially when it comes to chemicals. We all struggle with questions like:
"What do I need to be testing in my swimming pool?"
or
"What should I keep my pool's chlorine level at?"
And with everyone giving their opinions online, it can be very difficult to know is good pool advice and what is, well, not so good advice. In this article, taking advice from one of our award-winning Certified CPO Instructors with 30 years of swimming pool experience, we're going to set the record straight with all things relating to your swimming pool's chlorine. And best of all, we've provided it all in a video format as well!
In this article, we'll cover the following:
- Making sense of your chlorine readings
- Ideal free chlorine readings
- Ideal combined chlorine readings
- Sunlight's damaging effects on chlorine
- The importance of chlorine feed Systems
With that, let's dive in!
Swimming Pool Chlorine Basics (5 Things You Need to Know)
What should I be testing for in my swimming pool?
Let's start by talking about what chlorine reading you will need be interacting with when using your swimming pool test kit and what each reading means.
Free Available Chlorine (FAC) - Free Available Chlorine is the the "good" usable chlorine in our swimming pools. This is the chlorine that is free to roam around your pool attacking the pathogens and/or contaminants present in the water.
Combined Chlorine - Combined Chlorine is created when Free Available Chlorine interacts with a contaminate. That Free Available Chlorine goes to work inactivating said contaminate, but in this inactivation process, becomes unusable for further disinfection. Combined Chlorine takes up space and can cause skin, eye, and lung irritation in larger quantities. In the end, Combined Chlorine is "bad" chlorine.
Total Chlorine - Total Chlorine is simply the total amount of both Free Available and Combined Chlorine in the water. Most test kits on the market cannot directly test for Combined Chlorine, so a little sleuthing is needed. The way you can find your Combined Chlorine reading is by doing the following math:
Total Chlorine - Free Chlorine = Combined Chlorine
What should my chlorine levels be in my swimming pool?
You should be maintaining the following levels in your swimming pool:
Free Available Chlorine Levels: 3ppm - 5ppm
Combined Chlorine: 0ppm - .2ppm
Keeping your free chlorine at 3ppm - 5ppm will prevent the growth of algae, control contaminates, and will also keep your water crystal clear.
Does Sunlight Affect My Chlorine?
Plain and simple, yes, sunlight does affect your chlorine in your swimming pool. UV rays break down chlorine. In fact, within the first hour of UV exposure, chlorine levels can drop as much as 50%! This is why it is super important for those with outdoor pools (and especially locations with high amounts of direct sun exposure) to compensate for those dipping chlorine levels.
Do I Need A Chlorine Feeder For My Swimming Pool?
Commercial Swimming Pool Facilities
It is good to know that all commercial properties should (and in some states, must) have a chlorine feed system of some sort installed on their swimming pool circulation system. This is necessary to ensure that you are able to feed that crucial chlorine into the pool whenever it is needed. This feed system is also crucial for commercial pool operators since you are not allowed to add chlorine directly into the swimming pool when the pool is open, or when you have swimmers. BUT a chlorine feed system can feed that chlorine in even when the pool is open and you have swimmers present. Needless to say, chlorine feeders are a life saver for commercial operators!
Residential Swimming Pools
Though not legally required, residential homeowners can certainly benefit from a chlorine feeder. All too often backyard pools go green super quickly simply because there isn't ever enough chlorine in the pool to fight off the green menace! And honestly, those floaters in the pool with 3" pucks of chlorine do little to nothing in that fight either.
Instead, we recommend that residential swimming pools be equipped with a simple feed system (liquid chlorine, 3" tab feeder, etc.) in order to keep up with constantly plunging chlorine levels. This will keep your swimming pool clean, clear, and ready for your next pool party.
How Do I Learn More About My Swimming Pool?
Knowing about the in's and outs of your swimming pool chlorine is only one of the many challenges pool and spa operators as well as homeowners face on a day to day basis. This article has given you a good, but brief understanding of one of the aspects of professional swimming pool operation. Thankfully Pool Training Academy offers Certified Pool Operator® (CPO) Certification courses that will help you become the best aquatics operator you can be. To get signed up for a CPO Certification in your area, please follow this link: Click Here
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