3 ms·

and it breaks down on it's own, pretty quickly, especially when hit by sun UV rays, which is why you have to chlorinate your pool so often. It also gets diluted

and it breaks down on it's own, pretty quickly, especially when hit by sun UV rays, which is why you have to chlorinate your pool so often. It also gets diluted easily by water.

WirelessGigabit 4y ago
Which is why you get a salt-water pool. So much better!
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  A saltwater pool IS a chlorine pool. The difference is that instead of adding sodium hypochlorite from a jug, you add salt to the water and use electrolysis (chlorine generator) to create chlorine gas and hydrogen. Properly maintained pool water will have the same chlorine level either way. The "chlorine pool" water won't have quite as much dissolved salt, but over time it does build up.
  - WirelessGigabit 4y ago
    Chlorine, yes, byproducts, no. And this massively cuts down on irritation & smell.
    - rootusrootus 4y ago
      > irritation & smell This is not a chlorine problem, this is improperly balanced pool water. Either way too much CYA, requiring a high concentration of chlorine to compensate, or high pH. The latter is the most common reason for irritating water. You want to fix that in any case. Using a chlorine generator is no panacea, if you have high CYA you'll need high chlorine or it won't disinfect. And if you have high pH, you're not doing good things to your pool equipment. Definitely worth buying a decent test kit and staying on top of things. It's totally possible to have crystal clear silky smooth odorless pool water, whether you use a chlorine generator or bleach. TFP is a really good resource to learn more, I strongly recommend any homeowner with a pool go there and do some learning.
  - tcskeptic 4y ago
    Unless you have a way to drip feed chlorine into your pool it absolutely will not have the same chlorine level, unless you are running your sag incorrectly.
    - rootusrootus 4y ago
      Automatic chlorine dispensers are fairly inexpensive (and certainly cheaper than a chlorine generator). There's very little reason to manually add chlorine yourself unless you're SLAMing the pool (shock level and maintain, if you're unfamiliar with TFP).
rootusrootus 4y ago
This is why you add cyanuric acid to the pool when you're setting it up. The sun can destroy an entire pool's chlorine in a few hours, but CYA will help slow that process down significantly, so that you can keep up with a chlorine generator or chlorine dispenser.
- hippich 4y ago
  Afaik, cya also lowers chlorine ability to disinfect. So it is balancing act. And since cya does not break down, one have to be careful to not overdo tablets and such. I switched to liquid chlorine for that reason
  - achenatx 4y ago
    and then liquid chlorine is impossible to find and doubled in price, so I ended up with salt water.
    - ethbr0 4y ago
      30% muriatic acid? They stock it in gallons around here.
      - rootusrootus 4y ago
        Liquid chlorine is another name for sodium hypochlorite, aka bleach. We tend to refer to it as liquid chlorine when buying it for pools and it is usually stronger than anything you'd buy in the household aisle of the supermarket. Muriatic acid (aka hydrochloric acid) is a totally different chemical. That will reduce pH in the pool, it is not used as a disinfectant. I personally recommend getting something weaker than 31.45% however, if you're not etching concrete.

and it breaks down on it's own, pretty quickly, especially when hit by sun UV rays, which is why you have to chlorinate your pool so often. It also gets diluted easily by water.

WirelessGigabit 4y ago

Which is why you get a salt-water pool. So much better!

rootusrootus 4y ago
A saltwater pool IS a chlorine pool. The difference is that instead of adding sodium hypochlorite from a jug, you add salt to the water and use electrolysis (chlorine generator) to create chlorine gas and hydrogen. Properly maintained pool water will have the same chlorine level either way. The "chlorine pool" water won't have quite as much dissolved salt, but over time it does build up.
- WirelessGigabit 4y ago
  Chlorine, yes, byproducts, no. And this massively cuts down on irritation & smell.
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    > irritation & smell This is not a chlorine problem, this is improperly balanced pool water. Either way too much CYA, requiring a high concentration of chlorine to compensate, or high pH. The latter is the most common reason for irritating water. You want to fix that in any case. Using a chlorine generator is no panacea, if you have high CYA you'll need high chlorine or it won't disinfect. And if you have high pH, you're not doing good things to your pool equipment. Definitely worth buying a decent test kit and staying on top of things. It's totally possible to have crystal clear silky smooth odorless pool water, whether you use a chlorine generator or bleach. TFP is a really good resource to learn more, I strongly recommend any homeowner with a pool go there and do some learning.
- tcskeptic 4y ago
  Unless you have a way to drip feed chlorine into your pool it absolutely will not have the same chlorine level, unless you are running your sag incorrectly.
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    Automatic chlorine dispensers are fairly inexpensive (and certainly cheaper than a chlorine generator). There's very little reason to manually add chlorine yourself unless you're SLAMing the pool (shock level and maintain, if you're unfamiliar with TFP).

rootusrootus 4y ago

This is why you add cyanuric acid to the pool when you're setting it up. The sun can destroy an entire pool's chlorine in a few hours, but CYA will help slow that process down significantly, so that you can keep up with a chlorine generator or chlorine dispenser.

hippich 4y ago
Afaik, cya also lowers chlorine ability to disinfect. So it is balancing act. And since cya does not break down, one have to be careful to not overdo tablets and such. I switched to liquid chlorine for that reason
- achenatx 4y ago
  and then liquid chlorine is impossible to find and doubled in price, so I ended up with salt water.
  - ethbr0 4y ago
    30% muriatic acid? They stock it in gallons around here.
    - rootusrootus 4y ago
      Liquid chlorine is another name for sodium hypochlorite, aka bleach. We tend to refer to it as liquid chlorine when buying it for pools and it is usually stronger than anything you'd buy in the household aisle of the supermarket. Muriatic acid (aka hydrochloric acid) is a totally different chemical. That will reduce pH in the pool, it is not used as a disinfectant. I personally recommend getting something weaker than 31.45% however, if you're not etching concrete.