SHOCKING YOUR POOL

Do you have to? Yes! Shocking the pool helps to keep the water clear and healthy. It also reduces chemical costs. What is shocking? Shocking is a term used of oxidizing the organic wastes in the water (organic is bacteria, sweat, soaps, oils, urine, etc...). These wastes combined with the chlorine in the water after they have been neutralized to form chloramines. The best way to illustrate chloramines follows. Have you ever been to a hotel with and indoor pool and smelled the strong chlorine odor? Well, that smell is chloramines. As odd as it seems, a pool that is shocked regularly will have very little chlorine odor. Chloramines also cause burning eyes and itchy skin. A properly shocked pool will eliminate most of these symptoms.

How do I shock and what should I use? Two chemicals can be used to shock. The most popular is by super chlorinating. Adding chlorine at a rate equal one gallon of liquid chlorine or one and one-forth pounds of dry chlorine per 10,000 gallons is usually sufficient to shock the pool. This is especially important if the chlorine level is below 1.0 ppm. The alternative to using chlorine is to use potassium peroxymonopersulfate or sodium persulfate, commonly known as Oxybrite or Oxidizer. These chemicals are non-chlorine shocking agents. Added at the rate of one pound per 10,000 gallons of water, these chemicals will shock the pool without raising the chlorine level of the pool. However, they will not act to kill algae in a green pool. If this is the problem you must use chlorine. There are two major advantages of using oxidizer. One, it does not harm solar covers since it does not raise the chlorine level. Two, you can swim within fifteen minutes of shocking. With chlorine shock you must leave the solar cover off at least twenty-four hours and usually wait that long to swim.

IF ANYONE ever recommends that you shock with liquid acid, leave the store immediately and seek competent pool water advice. That person does not know what they are doing and will ruin you swimming pool and possibly do damage to someones body.

GETTING STARTED | PROPER WATER BALANCE | OFF TO A GOOD START | ROUTINE MAINTENANCE

SHOCKING YOUR POOL | CHEMICAL HANDLING AND STORAGE | SOLAR COVERS | POOL VIDEO | MAIN PAGE