It’s tough for your swimmers to have fun if your pool is dirty. No one wants to jump into cloudy water, hoping that it won’t get them sick. And that’s why chlorine is so important to maintaining an enjoyable pool. But too much or too little chlorine can be detrimental to your pool and your guests, so we wanted to write a quick guide on chlorine testing.
So first off, why is it important to measure chlorine? To start things off, there was a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that found that one in five pools had to be closed due to serious safety violations, which included improper chlorine readings. This report inspired a reporter for NBC News to measure chlorine levels at a few local pool facilities, where the results were not so good.
We most certainly do not want you to be the victim of a surprise investigation from your local news, and want even less for you to have to close down your pool! That’s why we want to make sure that your chlorine levels are at the correct level and that swimmers can enjoy your pool for years to come.
What you want your chlorine level to be is 1 to 3 parts per million. This reading is actually a measure of the free chlorine in your pool, instead of total chlorine. The free chlorine is what is available to destroy germs and clean your pool. Some of the chlorine in the pool may have reacted with dirt and bacteria that is in the pool, making it unavailable to destroy the germs.
To test your pools chlorine level, all you have to do is get a testing kit and dip one of the test strips in your pool for a few seconds. The strip will turn a certain color depending on how much free chlorine is in your pool. All you have to do is match the color to the chart that came with your testing kit and you should have a good idea of how much chlorine is in your pool.
And that’s how simple it is to make sure that your pool is at the right level of chlorine! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a Ph.D., just a simple test kit and a few minutes and you should be good to go. So go out and make sure your pool is at the right level so you and your swimmers can continue to enjoy it for years to come.