You know pools are a great place to swim, but what you might not know is that they have all kinds of chemicals. “Oh, I know!” you may be thinking “Pools has chlorine”. That’s true, but it has even more chemicals than that. Water, for example; I mean, it’s not what you’d traditionally think of as a chemical, but it technically is one, which is good enough for me. Pools have your chemicals in them as well, from the oils on your body to…well, you know, the other chemicals that might find their way from you to the pool.
There’s a whole bunch of other chemicals that go into a pool, as you may know. They all have a different purpose, otherwise we wouldn’t have to use them. Here’s the things we have to keep in mind when chemicalizing a pool:
- Bacteria live a kill or be killed kind of life, so we have to kill them
- The chemicals we use to kill the bacteria might not be good for the pool, or for the people swimming in the pool
- The chemicals we use might make the water cloudy, and not nearly as fun to swim in.
Here’s how it all breaks down. We use chlorine to kill bacteria; when added to water it turns into an acid called hypochlorous acid that takes care of microbes. Hypochlorous acid has a bad tendency to degrade really fast when it’s exposed to UV rays; that’s a problem, because we’re usually not swimming at night. To fix that, we use stabilizers, usually cyanuric acid, to protect chlorine from the rays. Too much cyanuric acid can reduce chlorine’s effectiveness, so don’t just pour a bunch in; make sure to carefully balance your pool’s chemicals!
A pool’s chemical makeup is changing constantly; stuff falls in, chemicals are added, your aforementioned body chemicals; that means the pH of your pool is changing too. When your pool is too acidic or too alkaline, it can be irritating to your skin and eyes, as well as cause etching or scaling on the pool. Neither of these things are pleasant, so you want to monitor your pool’s pH on a regular basis. You’re usually looking for a pH level of around 7.2 and 7.8.
This all means it’s a good idea to have a well-maintained pool; off-balance chemicals and pH aren’t just uncomfortable and unsightly, they’ll speed up the erosion of your pool. You also want to make sure you have a pool liner in good repair. Thankfully, we know some folks who might just be the best pool liner contractor in Winnipeg. I’ll be honest; it’s us, the owners of the website whose blog you’re reading right now. So, we’re a little biased, but it’s true! And if you’re not sure about your pool’s pH balance and you feel like your liner is wearing down and wrinkled, get in touch with us!