Shocking your home swimming pool is a great way to keep the water clear and pleasant to swim in. It does this by raising your pool’s “free chlorine” levels to the point where algae, combined chlorines, and other contaminants are destroyed. This leaves your water untainted and your pool looking great.

But how does it work? Is it hard to do? And does it work with water of any sort? Join us, today, as we take a closer look at pool shocking.

Also Read: Pool Hygiene: Be Aware

Understanding Chlorine

It might not be common knowledge, but chlorine can actually be classified in various different ways:

Free Chlorine

If any style of chlorine could be described as “preferred”, it would have to be free chlorine. Used to disinfect, this is one of the simplest, most straightforward ways there is to sanitize swimming pool water.

Combined Chlorine

This is the result of not using enough chlorine to get the job done. These undesirable, foul-smelling chloramines form when there is not enough free chlorine to exceed the need for chlorine.

Pool Shocking

Protect Yourself

Make sure to wear protective eyeglasses, gloves, and clothing to avoid damaging your skin with chlorinating chemicals.

Chemical Preparation

Choose a swimming pool shock treatment based on your own research and availability. Once you’ve settled on one, the instructions and make sure you are properly prepared. It’s crucially important to work precisely within your product’s guidelines because many of them contain different combinations of their chemicals and can damage your pool if incorrectly used.

The Shock Itself

Introduce the shock solution into your pool water, choosing a spot in your pool either close to or further away from the jet, depending once again on your instructions.

Leave It Be

Once you’ve introduced chemicals into your pool, there is going to be a waiting period. Once again, make sure to check your instructions, and avoid getting back into the water too soon following your treatment.

Check Your Chemical Levels

Once you’ve waited for the recommended amount of time, test your pool’s pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness. Make sure your levels have all returned to normal before getting into the water. It’s important to gauge for lower pH levels. Anything above 8.0 means your pool shock has been ineffective. You should always aim for pH levels of around 7.2.

Filtration System Operation

Pool shocking helps to kill germs and algae, but the truth is it won’t actually get rid of any of them. For that, you’ll need your filter, so run your pool filter for at least 24 hours to make sure.

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