After buying a pool, it’s time to take good care of it. At this point, there are a lot of questions about what products to buy and for what purpose. Many of us who don’t even own a pool know that chlorine is used for maintenance. At the same time, it is often mentioned that Clorox bleach is also used in the pool.
However, not everyone knows how to use it, the difference between bleach and chlorine, and whether or not you can use regular household Clorox bleach in the pool.
We’ve analyzed all of the most popular questions regarding the use of Clorox bleach in the pool and answered the following questions:
Let’s get started.
We suggest you start with a short theory. A swimming pool is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, algae, and other microorganisms. There are three reasons for this:
It sounds like there will always be bacteria in the pool and you will never be able to deal with it. However, that’s not entirely true. In such cases, you need to use a product that can kill bacteria and algae. Any chlorine-containing product is great for this role, including your Clorox household bleach.
The chlorine particles break down the bacteria It is a part of the cell membrane that performs protective functions. and then kill them. However, it is very important to follow the correct proportions and safety precautions, because chlorine can also harm your pool. Excessive dosing can result in low pH levels, the occurrence of plaque on the pool surface, and the appearance of skin irritation in pool users.
We have already mentioned before that any chlorine-containing products are suitable for pool cleaning. The main ones are chlorine and bleach. However, what is the difference between them?
Clorox household bleach and pool chlorine have the same chemical composition, the main element is chlorine. The only difference is that its concentration is different. Clorox bleach contains 5-6% while pool chlorine – 10-12%.
From this, you can conclude that you will need twice as much bleach as chlorine to clean your pool. However, other factors affect this, which we will tell you more about below.
In addition to concentration, chlorine and bleach have other differences. You can find the former in tablets and liquid form. The difference is that the chlorine in the tablets or calcium hypochlorite also contains a stabilizer. This option best protects the chlorine from being destroyed by sunlight.
Calcium hypochlorite (chlorine tablets) has the highest concentration of chlorine, but it is a special product for cleaning swimming pools. It may not be available when you need it, unlike Clorox bleach or liquid chlorine which are usually at home for surface cleaning and disinfection.
We’ve prepared a comparison chart of these 3 products for your convenience.
To find out which chemical is cheaper, you need not just compare the price of Clorox bleach, liquid chlorine, and calcium hypochlorite per unit of product. Each chemical has a different cost, chlorine concentration, and requires a different dosage to add to the pool.
So we will take a pool of 10,000 gallons of water for comparison and write down how many ounces of each chemical need to shock the water at once. Then we will calculate the cost per use of the product and compare those numbers with each other.
We’ve taken the prices for the most popular products for each type of chemical from Amazon.
As we can see, the cheapest is calcium hypochlorite. It is 2.6 times cheaper than Clorox and 3.5 times cheaper than liquid chlorine. However, it has two disadvantages:
The most important advantage of Clorox bleach is its availability. You can find it in every store in the department of household chemicals and on every marketplace on the Internet. What’s more, bleach can already be in your home and you will not even need to buy it, because this chemical is often used to disinfect surfaces and for cleaning.
It’s also worth noting the shelf life of Clorox. The concentration of chlorine does not drop for 1 year, while liquid chlorine decreases by at least 60% in 6 weeks.
As for the disadvantages of using Clorox in the pool, they are associated with a high pH, which is 12.5. As we know, the allowable pH for a pool is 7.2-7.8. If this figure is much higher, you can start to have mold in your water. Also, chemicals will be less soluble. In this case, you can use muriatic acid to lower pH.
To effectively kill bacteria in your pool with Clorox, it is worth following certain conditions and an algorithm of action.
One of the main conditions is to perform the procedure in the evening. It is because during this time of day UV light is less dangerous for chlorine, which under its influence decays. It is also important to note that no one should swim in the pool during the disinfection.
Next, you need to follow the algorithm listed below.
Depending on the quality of your pool water, you can apply regular or shock treatment with Clorox bleach.
To know how much Clorox bleach you need to add to disinfect the pool water, you need to know two important things.
Below we will give you a table detailing how much Clorox bleach you need to add to your pool to raise the chlorine level by 1 ppm.
If you have added too much Clorox bleach to the water, you can do the following:
Clorox Bleach is safe for use in water. However, problems can occur if you add too many chemicals. Below we list what this can lead to.
Before pouring Clorox Bleach into the pool you need to know the cautions for use. It is a chemical that can harm your health if used incorrectly.
Clorox bleach in the pool is used to fight against bacteria and algae. It is essentially the same as liquid chlorine, because they have the same active ingredient, only in different concentrations. The bleach contains 5-6% chlorine, and the second chemical contains 10-12%.
You can use Clorox to disinfect your pool water, but you will need to add more of it than other chlorine-containing products. It is also important to calculate the proportions correctly to avoid overdosing, which can cause damage to the pool and harm your health.
All aspects concerning the use of Clorox bleach in the pool have been indicated in our article, and by reading them you will understand what it is, how to use it, how much to add, whether it is safe, and what are the cautions before using it.
Take care of your pool and it will give you an unforgettable vacation.
You can use Clorox bleach to disinfect your pool. Also in our article, you can find out how much to add for a certain volume of water.
Clorox bleach and pool chlorine are essentially the same substances. The difference is that Clorox has 5-6% chlorine and the latter has 10-12%.
You need to wait about 3 hours, measure the chlorine level, and if it does not exceed 5 ppm, you can bathe.
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