Is it safe to swim in a pool with low free chlorine?

We’re probably all familiar with at least one of the common side-effects of swimming: sore eyes, skin irritations, fading swimming costumes, and that lovely smell that lingers until you’ve had a good shower. But chlorine itself, when used at the recommended low levels, is perfectly safe.

Will Shocking pool raise free chlorine?

When you’re shocking a pool, the goal is to raise the free chlorine level of the pool water to roughly 10 times the combined chlorine level. Reaching this mark is the breakpoint chlorination. Shocking a pool should be done at dusk. The sun will burn off unstabilized chlorine.

What is the difference between chlorine and free chlorine?

Free chlorine involves the amount of chlorine that’s able to sanitize contaminants, while combined chlorine refers to chlorine that has combined directly with the contaminants. Total chlorine is basically the sum of free chlorine and combined chlorine.

What’s the difference between total chlorine and free chlorine?

What should the free chlorine reading be in a pool?

However, if your free chlorine reading is different than your total chlorine reading, then there’s a problem. You shouldn’t have a free chlorine reading of 3 and a total chlorine reading of 7.

What causes low free chlorine in a pool?

What causes low free chlorine in pool? There are many occurrences that cause chlorine in a pool to be used up at a higher rate. Things that cause low free chlorine levels are excessive sunlight, high bather loads, and improper water chemistry.

How can you tell if your pool has a lot of chlorine?

The quickest way to determine if your pool is experiencing a high demand for chlorine is to perform a test for free and total chlorine. Free chlorine shows the level of disinfecting chlorine available to sanitize your pool. Free chlorine isn’t interacting with contaminants, yet. Total chlorine is the amount of chlorine, used or not, in your water.

When to add chlorine to your swimming pool?

Bring your chlorine levels to 20ppm or three times higher than the current levels. We recommend using a non-chlorine oxidizing shock until your free and total chlorine reads the same. We typically see more pools with a high demand for chlorine during spring opening season.

However, if your free chlorine reading is different than your total chlorine reading, then there’s a problem. You shouldn’t have a free chlorine reading of 3 and a total chlorine reading of 7.

What’s the difference between free and total chlorine in a pool?

If the total chlorine level is higher than the free chlorine level, the difference of the two is the combined chlorine level. In order for your pool to be properly sanitized, the free chlorine level must remain higher than the combined chlorine level. This is why it’s so important to test your pool water regularly.