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You need a test kit to determine free chlorine levels. To reach those levels you test the water and add chlorine until you achieve the required amount ( 1.5 to 5.0 ppm) of chlor. The first reading on the kit is available chlor. The second part of the test would determine the free chlor level. The free chlorine is what is doing the sanitizing or killing of bacteria. The first reading only tells you that you have some chlor in the water. It is probably not safe to use the pool if you do not have a sufficient amount of free chlor. k
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∙ 15y ago
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoKeep your pH within 7.1 to 7.8, ideally 7.4. Consider adding Potassium monopersulfate to assist your chlorine additive. Some people will disagree with this but I fought with free chlorine levels for the past 3 years. More chlorine (7 lbs of lithium hypochlorite) was added and the next day, my free chlorine level was 0!!! Chlorine evaporates and quickly forms chloroamines. No more free chlorine. Use the PMS to snatch up the amines (urine, suntan lotion, sweat, etc) leaving the chlorine free to kill bacteria. My water has never been clearer and my chlorine bill so low. I am now able to keep my floaters filled with tablets and no longer have to use the granular hypochlorite.
It looks as if your pool suffered from a mechanism called "pH bounce", whereby it's very hard to keep the pH stable so preventing the other chemicals from working properly.
Do you use stabiliser? (Sodium Isocyanurate, I think, usually added to the chlorine-compound product.)
Incidentally it's those amines that create the unpleasant "chlorine" smell and irritation, not the disinfectant - unless you very heavily overdose the pool. If not doing so already, you could also take a leaf out the commercial operators' book & insist users shower first to rinse off the worst of the lotion and biological nasties.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoObviously, chlorine is raised by adding it, but, if you are not testing for total chlorine, you dont know if you have a problem.
Chlorine gets "locked up" with organic compounds like bather waste, suntan lotion and anything that grows and dies like algae or leaves. This is called "combined chlorine". You can have quite a bit of chlorine in the water, but it's all locked up with organics and unusable as sanitizer.
So the question is, are you getting enough chlorine into the water at a sufficient rate to keep up with the loss from usage and sunlite, and is that chlorine free to use as sanitizer "free chlorine" or is it bound together with organics and useless?
This is where the test for total chlorine comes into play. It tells you how much chlorine period, is in the water.
A good test kit will tell you both. If you use strips, get the "Aquachek Select" type instead of the "yellow" bottle to show both types of chlorine.
If there is a sizeable difference between free and total chlorine, it indicates the presence of organics and they need to be removed. You remove organics by "shocking" or "oxidizing" the real term. This frees up the chlorine again.
Pool & Spa
"Locking" can also occur over time with an excessive accumulation of stabiliser, ironical though that may seem, if you are using stabilised compounds.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoYou'll need to shock the pool or super chlorinate it.
Shock treatment to kill off any nasties & return the Cl level to correct, then resume normal dosing & testing. NB: test & if necessary adjust the pH first.
Non-stabilised chlorine breaks down rapidly in sunlight, so if not already doing so you may consider using stabilised chlorine compounds - but don't overdo the stabiliser if added separately because that can accumulate over a long time and reduce the chlorine's effectiveness.
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Can you swim in a pool that has high free chlorine?
Chlorine levels should be between 1-5 ppm
What is free chlorine in a pool?
Free Chlorine is the Chlorine which is free to do its work in the pool, as opposed to Combined Chlorine which is chlorine that has combined with contaminants and is tied up and ineffective as a sanitizer in the pool. Sometimes you will see it abbreviated as FAC, which stands for Free Available Chlorine.
What is a safe chlorine for swimming?
Someone/something changed the original question and that is probably why it has not been answered.Safe levels for chlorine are 1.5 ppm to about 5.0 ppm. of free chlorine. You should have a test kit that will give you free chlorine readings as opposed to just a chlorine residual. Free chlorine is what sanitizes the pool water. If you can smell a chlorine odor coming from your pool then you do not have enough chlorine in the water.K
Do you need to santize pool after rat swims?
So long as the proper free chlorine levels are maintained you should have nothing to worry about. That is what the chlorine is meant to do.
What do you do if chlorine in saltwater pool is high?
Adjust your chlorine generator levels.
How do you reduce free chlorine in a salt water pool?
Free chlorine is the sanitizing portion of chlorine. You may not want to reduce that. Are the levels excessive? There is a product which reduces or eliminates chlorine but beware. Not a good product if you use too much. What are your readings?
Why pool reading no chlorine?
normally when there is no reading for chlorine means that you need it, put 1 gallon of liquid shock in your pool. that will raise the chlorine level, cheryl
How do you raise total chlorine level pool?
You whip your dick out and pee in the pool.. that oughta do it! :)
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First of all, make sure everyone is out of the pool. Then, use a net to get the stool out of the pool and dispose of it properly. Then, you will want to check the chlorine levels and raise it to 2.0 parts per million if it was anything below that. The pH levels should be between 7.2 and 7.5. The pH levels combined with the chlorine levels will make sure your pool is decontaminated within 30 minutes.
After shocking the pool four times this week your chlorine level still registers zero My Cyanuric Acid levels are 150 ppm How can you bring the chlorine level up?
we used liquid chlorine to raise ours so far it has worked
Is a salt water or chlorine pool better?
A Salt water pool is a chlorine pool. The difference is that in the case of a saltwater pool there is a chlorinater fited inline that converts the salt into chlorine automaticaly, Meaning that you don't have to purchace any chlorine to keep up chlorine levels.
How do you get high free chlorine to match total chlorine?
Total Chlorine = Free Chlorine + Combined Chlorineor, put another wayTotal Chlorine - Free Chlorine = Combined ChlorineFree Chlorine is the chlorine that is doing its job.Combined Chlorine is the chlorine that has combined with contaminants such as nitrogen. It is ineffective as a sanitizer and it is noxious.Total Chlorine is the total of these two levels.To eliminate the Combined Chlorine (making all the chlorine in the pool Free Chlorine) you must shock the pool to remove the contaminants. You must reach "Breakpoint Chlorination", which is the addition of chlorine to your pool equivalent to the Combined Chlorine level times 10.example:Total Chlorine = 1.5ppmFree Chlorine = 1.0ppmSo, the Combined Chlorine (the difference between the two tests) is .5ppmBreakpoint chlorination, in this example would be .5ppm X 10 = 5ppm. So, in this example, you would add enough chlorine to your pool to raise the chlorine level up by 5 parts per million.
