When it’s no longer swimming season and you aren’t able to reap the wonderful benefits of swimming morning, noon and night, in your pool, we get it—taking care of your pool can feel like a big chore. If you want to save money, and extend the life span of your pool, you’ve got to make sure you’re giving it the chemicals it needs. But, if the mere thought of pool chemicals seem like a foreign language to you, relax, sit back and read on—we’ve simplified it to a science, so even the most inexperienced pool owner can keep their pool in perfect health, all year round.
Whether you are a brand spanking new pool owner or you’ve owned one for a decade or more, you know that you simply can’t have a healthy pool without the chemical, chlorine. In a nutshell, chlorine’s job is to sanitize (and without it, your pool would turn green.) You can use chlorine in the liquid, granule or tablet form. Just make sure that you’re testing your levels afterwards—you want to make sure that you have a chlorine kit on hand so that you know when the chlorine has dissipated, and your levels are low.
When it shows that you’re low, it’s time to add more chlorine to your pool. Most people don’t realize that over time, chlorine will lose its ability to be as effective as it once was. As a rule of thumb, jump start your chemical levels by adding some extra chlorine to your pool (your neighborhood pool guy can help you know how much to put in.)
Your ‘Chemical Sweet Spot’
While we could go on and on about alkalinity and acidity here, the most important thing for a beginner to know about pool chemicals is that in order for your pool to work properly, you can’t have your pH levels too low or too high. Chemically speaking, your pool’s chemical levels should be in between 7.2 to 7.6. If you’re in this sweet spot zone, than it’s safe to say that your pool is happy, working as it should and well sanitized.
The key to keeping it in its ‘sweet chemical spot’ is by testing the water often (every couple of days) during the off season and every other day during the hot summer months. Don’t worry about the more intricate, complex details of pool chemical ownership—just remember to check your pool water, maintain the upkeep and adjust chemical levels as needed!
Check out these other articles on making swimming pool chemistry easier!
