Testing Pool Water Free Chlorine

In the test if your free chlorine reading matches your total chlorine reading your pool is not experiencing a high demand for chlorine.

Testing pool water free chlorine.

This will bring your pool water chlorine back up to a level where it s very effective at killing organisms and disinfecting the pool water. Dpd tests usually measure chlorine ph alkalinity stabilizer and hardness. You subtract the amount of free chlorine from the total chlorine to get your combined chlorine level. There are three methods that you can use to test for free combined and total chlorine in your pool which include chlorine test strips chlorine test kits and an electronic digital chlorine tester.

0 ppm for a stabilized pool. Total chlorine is the amount of chlorine used or not in your water. Methods to test free chlorine in the field in developing countries pool test kits. There are two popular types of test kits that can be used for your pool.

This is a normal reading. Intheswimrecommends 2 0 to 3. Test strips are the easiest way to test free chlorine but test kits are more accurate. Oto phenol kits test for chlorine and ph.

Typical water tests include measurements for free and total available chlorine ph total alkalinity calcium hardness and cyanuric acid. Local pool service providers often will test your pool water for free. The first option for testing uses a liquid chemical oto orthotolidine that causes a color change to. Then multiply the chlorine estimations you get by 2.

Color wheel test kits use a powder or tablet chemical dpd n n diethyl p phenylene. In general the free chlorine level should remain between 1 5 and 2 5 parts per million. Add sanitizer to raise chlorine. Here is the part where total chlorine comes into play.

You know that free chlorine combined chlorine total chlorine. Pool test kits can be more time consuming to use but they are typically more accurate than test strips. Combined chlorine levels should not be above 0 5 parts per million and swimmers are likely to be more comfortable if the level is below 0 2 parts per million. Dpd tests and oto phenol tests.

Chlorine test strips are. You shouldn t have a free chlorine reading of 3 and a total chlorine reading of 7. While it s recommended that you test your pool water every day your pool should be fine if you only test the water every other day. Occasionally seek a second opinion to make sure your testing is accurate.

The easiest way to check your chlorine levels is with test strips. The pool and hot tub alliance recommends keeping free chlorine levels between 2 0 and 4 0 parts per million ppm. If you test with a test kit and the color is clear then redo the test but use one half the amount of water. If your pool has a salt system the salt level should also be checked.

This is very important to help keep swimmers safe and keep the water in the pool clear. Testing the pool water is particularly important if your pool is left uncovered which exposes it to sunlight rain leaves and wind. However if your free chlorine reading is different than your total chlorine reading then there s a problem.