Tag Archives: Pool Chemicals

Pool and Spa Chemicals, Pool and Spa Maintenance, Pool Opening

Balance Your Pool With Our Chemicals Chart

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Make sure that you maintain the ideal chemical levels for your pool. Swimming in a clean, balanced pool will ensure that you have the most enjoyable time. Follow the chart below to make sure that you have the right pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, and stabilizer levels or the right pool chemicals to get them there!

 

CHEMICAL IDEAL LEVEL TO RAISE TO LOWER
Chlorine

 

 2.0 Shock the pool Turn chlorinator down
pH

 

 7.4   Summer

7.8   Winter

 Add soda ash *Add muriatic acid (diluted)
Total Alkalinity

 

 80-100 ppm Add baking soda

(Sodium Bicarbonate)

 **Add muriatic acid
Calcium hardness

 

 250-500 ppm Add calcium chloride Drain pool and refill
Stabilizer

 

 20-50 ppm Add Cyanuric Acid Drain pool and refill

* Add acid by spreading around pool or pour into pool in front of return jet. Pool should be running when doing this so the acid spreads throughout the pool as rapidly as possible.

** Pour acid into a three to five foot circle in the deepest part of the pool while the pump is off.  Allow to set for at least 20 minutes before turning pump on.

Environmentally Friendly Ideas, Innovative Solutions, Pool and Spa Chemicals, Pool and Spa Equipment

Let Us Help You Choose The Perfect Salt Chlorine Generator for You!

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Salt Chlorine Generator
Salt water chlorinated pools offer many benefits over traditional chemicals. You will notice less irritation to hair, skin, eyes, and lungs with the gentle water of salt chlorine systems. BYCP currently offer two models. The guide below will help you determine which salt chlorine generator is right for you!

  • Aqua Rite Generator – The Aqua Rite system is fully automatic. It will work on plastic, vinyl, or fiberglass pools up to 40,000 gallons. It offers dual voltage. The LCD screen will track your chlorine output at the push of a button. You can increase or decrease your chlorine levels easily and there is even a button to automatically “shock” your pool with no added effort. The unit is easily installed on your pool’s return line, after the filter and heater. This generator offer a limited 3 year warranty.
  • Zodiac LM3 Generator – The Zodiac LM3 keeps your pool at a constant chlorine level. It offer self cleaning unit which frequently reverses polarity, practically eliminating calcium buildup on the cell. It has clear housing for super easy inspection. The touch panel controls have a memory feature that make setting it easy and a super chlorination feature for “shocking” the pool. The Zodiac is available for pools up to 40,000 gallons. It comes with a 3 year warranty on the cell and 1 year on parts and labor
Pool and Spa Chemicals, Pool and Spa Maintenance, Pool Opening

Cheat Sheet for Ideal Pool Chemical Levels

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Pool season is close! Most pool owners know how to chlorinate their pool or treat for algae if needed at opening. Balancing the other key elements in your pool chemistry, such as pH, stabilizer, calcium hardness, and total alkalinity levels, can be more confusing. Here are the instructions that you need to make sure that your pool water is sparkling clear. Testing and correcting your pool water at home has never been easier.

  • If your total alkalinity is low, you will need to add sodium bicarbonate to your water to get it to the ideal range of 80-100 ppm. You can find complete sodium bicarbonate dosage instructions here.
  • If your total alkalinity is high, you will need to add muriatic acid to lower your alkalinity to the idea range of 80-100 ppm. You can find muriatic acid dosage instructions here.
  • If you need to raise the pH level in your pool water, you need to add sodium carbonate (soda ash). Here are complete instructions for raising your pool’s pH with sodium carbonate.
  • If you need to lower the pH level in your pool water, you will use the same muriatic acid mentioned for lowering your total alkalinity, but in different dosage amounts. Here are the complete instructions for muriatic acid dosage when trying to lower pH.
  • To raise the stabilizer level in your pool, you will need to add Cyanuric Acid in the dosages recommended in these instructions: cyanuric acid dosage chart. If the stabilizer level is too high, you must drain and refill the pool. There is no chemical corrector.
  • To raise the calcium hardness in your pool, add calcium chloride. You can find the exact calcium chloride dosage here. If your calcium hardness level is too high, you must drain and refill the pool. There is no chemical corrector for this problem.
Pool and Spa Chemicals, Pool and Spa Maintenance, Pool and Spa Safety

Poop Happens — How Long Before It’s Safe to Swim Again?

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Pool Chemicals for Clean Pools

We love our kids and pets, but they often find the most curious ways to make more work for the adults in their lives.  Take the backyard swimming pool, for example.  We spend countless hours every month ensuring that the pool stays clean and safe for our family and friends.  We clean the filters, we test the chemical balance in the water and adjust the pool chemicals as needed, we scrub the sides and bottom of the pool regularly to remove dirt and debris, and more.  So, when one of our beloved children (furry or otherwise) decides to use the pool as the drop zone for their poop, we understandably freak out.  What now?

The first steps are probably obvious — clear all the swimmers out of the pool and then remove the offending poop from the water.  But, then what?  How long will it take before it’s safe to go back into the water?  Well, it depends on what’s in the poop.  Poop can contain the E. coli bacterium, the Hepatitis A virus, the Giardia parasite, and/or the super nasty Cryptosporidium parasite.  Not many private pool owners have the desire or ability to test the poop to find out what kind of contaminants it contains, but it is important to note that the disinfection time varies greatly depending on the contaminants that the poop introduced into the pool water.

The best approach is to take the most cautious route in case water is contaminated with the hard-to-kill and chlorine-resistant parasite Cryptosporidium.  Disinfecting means hyperchlorinating the pool water by increasing free chlorine to either 10 parts per million (ppm) or 20 ppm.  The difference comes with the amount of time you’ll have to wait before it’s safe to swim again.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), increasing free chlorine to 10 ppm means you’ll have to wait approximately 26 hours before swimming again.  At 20 ppm, swimming can resume after about 13 hours.  If you’re using a chlorine stabilizer, though, the game changes a bit.

For full details about what to do when you’ve had poop in your pool, read the CDC’s instruction sheet on “Hyperchlorination to kill Cryptosporidium.”  Additionally, instituting a mandatory pre-pool time potty visit for both kids and pets can help prevent future accidents.

 

 

Holidays and Gift Ideas, Pool and Spa Chemicals, Pool and Spa Equipment, Pool and Spa Maintenance, Pool and Spa Safety, Pool Opening

New Year’s Resolutions for Pools

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Now that 2011 is coming to a close, have you started thinking about what your New Year’s resolutions will be?  If you own a backyard swimming pool, will any of those resolutions include a plan to open up your pool sooner in 2012 rather than waiting until the swimming season has long begun?

Part of what makes this kind of resolution successful is to start planning early for opening the pool.  Take the time now to check your existing stock of pool chemicals, and keep an eye out for off-season sales so you can nab these necessities at the best prices.

Take a look, too, at your pool equipment to evaluate whether it may be time to replace or upgrade items like the pool pump, pool heater, or pool covers.  Test your pool alarm while you’re at it to be sure that it is still in good working order.

New Year’s resolutions like these can be accomplished easily and with little stress involved, especially if you enlist the help of family members.  Make a short list of tasks you’d like to accomplish in order to get your pool opened in a timely fashion, and stick to it.  Before you know it, the warm weather will return, and you’ll be ready to relax by the poolside instead of scrambling to complete pool-opening tasks.

Relax by the Pool