Protecting Your Pool During Winter

4 Signs Your Swimming Pool Contains Too Much Chlorine

Most residential pools use chlorine as a disinfectant, since it does a great job killing germs and keeping the water safe. Unfortunately, swimming in a pool with too much chlorine can be bad for your health. At first, you may only notice minor skin and eye irritation. If the problem isn't addressed, you could face lung irritation and a sense of burning in your airways.

While over-chlorination can often be down to human error, it's also possible malfunctioning equipment is to blame, so you'll want to have your pool serviced if chlorine levels spike.

Here are just four signs that's happened.

1. The pH Level Is High

Most people who own a pool will already know how important it is to maintain a healthy pH level. Unfortunately, using too much chlorine can get in the way of things. Use an at-home kit to measure the pH level—if the results aren't optimum, you could be using too much chlorine. Even if over-chlorination isn't the problem, you should still call a professional to look at your pool.

2. Dry Hair

Swimming in properly treated pool water shouldn't do any damage to your hair. However, you might find it starting to feel extremely dry, almost like straw, after you've been swimming in a pool that has too much chlorine. While you're waiting for the problem to be fixed by a professional, use a special leave-in conditioner to repair any damage to your hair.

3. Extreme Smell

The chlorine you put in your pool doesn't actually smell of anything. Instead, chloramines are what create that smell so associated with swimming pools. These chemical compounds build up when chlorine interacts with sweat, oils, and urine. If your water shows a healthy pH level but still presents other signs of over-chlorination, an overabundance of chloramines are likely the problem. You should be alerted by a far stronger smell than before.

4. Pool Damage

The effects of over-chlorination on your pool isn't often talked about; after all, your own health is more important. That said, too much chlorine can damage your pool's health as much as your own. This is because, as stated above, high chlorine levels lower the pH level of water, and this makes it more acidic. This can lead to corrosion of metal parts and damage to the liner. These problems occur gradually rather than overnight (unless you're dumping a huge amount of chlorine into your pool), but they can still be a handy indication of mild over-chlorination.

Contact a company like Leisure Coast Pool Centre for more information.


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