Outdoor Play Toys

The water quality of swimming pools

Your above ground pool’s safety does not begin at the water’s edge. Properly maintaining a pool’s chemistry is critical to providing a safe and pleasurable experience.

We’ve all been to a pool where the water strongly smells of chlorine and our eyes were burning and red after going into the water. Many think that this occurs when there is too much chlorine in the water. Ironically, when it comes to above ground pool chemistry, just the opposite is true – there is not enough chlorine in the pool water when it smells strongly of chlorine.

A smelly above ground pool indicates the presence of excess chloramine. Chloramine is produced when there is not sufficient chlorine present in the water to oxidize sweat, body oil, urine and perfumes introduced to the water by swimmers.

“Free” chlorine is what kills bacteria and germs in pool water along with oxidizing natural ammonia waste products from humans – the sweat, body oil and urine. If there is not enough chlorine in the pool, the chlorine actually bonds to the ammonia creating chloramine.

Once enough of the free chlorine bonds with the ammonia waste products to create chloramine, the pool water begins to smell of chlorine and can cause skin irritation.

To prevent chloramine from forming in the first place, above ground pool owners need to maintain a pool chemistry with the proper balance of free available chlorine (FAC) and combined available chlorine (CAC) (the chlorine being used in the chloramine compounds). The amount of combined chlorine, the stuff we have to watch out for, can be calculated once you test for free chlorine and total chlorine. more…