Fact Friday: Chlorination 101

Oct 23, 2020

How to Properly Chlorinate a Pool & Eliminate Waterborne Bacteria

Welcome to another Fact Friday at ePoolSupply! Each week we like to discuss helpful tips and tricks regarding the pool industry. Today we will be discussing chlorination and the best practices to maintain a healthy swimming pool. Owning a pool can be quite a confusing adventure but it helps to have someone there by your side guiding you through each step of the process. Let's dive in!

How Chlorine Sanitizes And Cleans Water

General water chemistry relies on concentration and ppm, or parts per million. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends pH 7.2–7.8 (with pH 7.5 being optimal) and a free chlorine concentration of at least 1 ppm in pools and at least 3 ppm in hot tubs/spas.

What does that mean for your pool or spa? To start, as the pH levels in water rise, the potency at which chlorine or free chlorine can kill germs and bacteria lowers. In layman's terms, as pH lowers, even more so if the pH is <7.0, the ability of free chlorine to kill germs returns. However, this germ-killing ability comes at the likely expense of causing higher than usual corrosion to the pool or hot tub/spa pipes. With that being said, pH 8.0 or higher renders chlorine limited or ineffective.

Maintaining Pool Chlorine Levels

So what can you do to make sure you’re doing your part to maintain safe and clean pool water? Anything added to the water will affect the maintained pH and free chlorine levels present. That could be sweat and dirt from taking a dip, unexpected chemical changes from rain water or even Fido taking a bath. Sounds like your pH could change at any time, right? That’s because it can and does.

In order to maintain safe chlorine and pH levels, it is important to test both levels on a daily basis, and even more often with more than regular or extended use. Today, it's easy to keep logs of your sanitation steps as well as what additional pool chemicals and additives you may have added that week for maintenance as well as to keep track of what worked and what didn’t. One might see different interactions with the water and pool. This practice and regular attention to the water quality is already preparing you, and your pool for success.

If you have any questions regarding the information found in this blog feel free to reach out to us directly. Our team of Pool Professionals is here to help you through every step of the process. Otherwise, just keep swimming!