Swimming Pool Chemicals

By Author: Lucy Carter
Total Articles: 102
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When it comes to keeping your pool clean, the filter system takes care of the dirt and debris. But it's the swimming pool chemicals that eliminate the invisible particles like bacteria and urine. Careful manipulation of the chemical balance in your pool is essential for various reasons:

· Disease-causing bacteria and other pathogens flourish in water. These microorganisms can easily pass from one person to another in pools with untreated water.

· Water with an incorrect chemical balance can be damaging to certain parts of a pool.

· Water with an improper chemical balance can be irritating to the skin and eyes.

· Water that isn't properly balanced can turn cloudy.

In order to eliminate pathogens you need to add a disinfecting agent. Chlorine is the most popular pool disinfectant, used either in the form of calcium hypochlorite, a solid, or sodium hypochlorite, a liquid. When these compounds are added to water, the chlorine reacts with the water, producing certain chemicals, the most important of these being hypochlorous acid. This chemical kills pathogens like bacteria by acting ...
... on the lipids found in the cell walls and dismantling the enzymes and other components of the cell via oxidation. Bromide is another pool sanitizing chemical that has nearly the same effect.

Chlorine is available in liquid, powder and tablet form, although some professionals use gaseous chlorine. It can be added to a pool anytime during the pool's cycle but most experts recommend adding it right after the filtering process is complete by means of a chemical feeder. When chlorine is added directly to the pool via tablets and skimmer boxes it doesn't get dispersed as effectively.

But the problem with hypochlorous acid is that it's unstable. Ultraviolet light from the sun can cause it to degrade and it is prone to combining with other chemicals to form new compounds. This is why most pool chlorinators contain a stabilizing agent like cyanuric acid. Cyanuric acid reacts with chlorine to form a compound that's more stable and isn't as apt to break down when exposed to ultraviolet light.

However, even stabilizing agents can't prevent hypochlorous acid from combining with other chemicals to form compounds that are poor sanitizers. For instance, hypochlorous acid can react with ammonia, a component of urine, to produce chloramines. In addition to being poor sanitizers, chloramines are skin and eye irritants and have a foul odor. Pool water that's irritating to the eyes and has a strong distinctive smell contains too many chloramines, although most people incorrectly assume it simply has too much chlorine. In fact, a strong odor means there's not enough free chlorine (hypochlorous acid) rather than too much. The best way to free a pool of chloramines is to shock treat it by adding an especially potent dose of chemicals to eliminate organic matter and other undesirable compounds.
Francesca Bailey is the manager of 1st Direct, leading providers of swimming pool chemicals, parts, pumps, and covers.