Free Chlorine and Combined Chlorine — in a Swimming Pool
Have you ever walked out to your pool, smelled the thick odor of chlorine in the air, and had to ask yourself WHY the water still had a green tint to it? If so, the answer may lie not in the amount of chlorine in your water, but rather with the TYPE of chlorine you have in your water.
By type we don’t mean granular/powder chlorine, chlorine sticks, 3″ chlorine tablets, 1″ fast-dissolving chlorine tablets, or liquid chlorine, either… We mean that the pool may have too much ‘combined chlorine’, also referred to as chloramines, and not enough free chlorine in the water.
Granted combined chlorine CAN prevent and kill algae, but it does not perform NEARLY as well as free chlorine, it gives off the nasty ‘chlorine smell’ that most people don’t care for, and in great enough quantities it can cause eye irritation.
Want to prove the existence of too much combined chlorine? No problem. Simply test for free chlorine and total chlorine using your favorite testing method and then subtract the free chlorine value from the total chlorine value. If you get a result greater than 0.2ppm then you should probably use a non-chlorine shock treatment to oxidize both the combined chlorine AND the algae at the same time.
Need a test kit for free and total chlorine?
If you find yourself in need of a test kit for free and total chlorine, you can go with one of three options: Test strips, liquid test kits or meters which use reagents.
- Least Expensive Methods — 6 Way Test Strips from Pool Check, AquaChek or Lamotte
- Traditional Liquid Kit Methods — Taylor Deluxe DPD, Taylor FAS DPD Complete or Basic 4-Way Test Kit.
- Most Accurate, Reliable… and Expensive Methods — eXact Micro 7+ Pool Testing Meter, Lamotte Color Q Pool Testing Meter or Scuba/Scuba Digital Pool testing Meter.
If you already have a testing system, please remember that all reagents have a shelf-life and most reagents should get replaced with the arrival of each swimming season.
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COMPLETE TAYLOR REAGENT KIT INCL. # 1 – 12 .75 OZ (22 ML) Manufacturer: TAYLOR |
Tags: chloramines, chlorine test meters, chlorine test strips, Chlorine Testing, combined chlorine, Free Chlorine, Liquid Test Kits, taylor test kit reagents, Total Chlorine
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October 6th, 2010 at 7:00 PM
[...] First, we suggest you take a look at an earlier blog posting we did called Free Chlorine, Combined Chlorine, Total Chlorine. The information in that posting will help you to understand the differences between the three basic ‘types’ of chlorine. You will also find some very useful information on Pool Water Testing Blog’s entry entitled Free Chlorine and Combined Chlorine — in a Swimming Pool. [...]