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Learn More About Swimming Pool Chlorine & Sodium Chloride

Crystal clean pool water is the aim of every pool owner, thus providing a fun and healthy swimming experience for family members, neighbors and other guests. Sparkling water can be achieved by maintaining the correct level of chlorine, which disinfects and sanitizes the swimming pool water. This is usually in the form of chlorine tablets applied through a floating chlorine dispenser or granular chlorine dropped directly into the swimming pool water.

What Is Chlorine?

Chlorine is compound quite common in the natural world; it's the 21st most common chemical element in the Earth's crust and makes up nearly 2% of the mass of sea water. If you do not live near an ocean, the most common time you would cross paths with the chloride ion is when you encounter table salt. Elemental chlorine is composed of two chlorine atoms that can easily develop compounds with essentially any element found in the natural world; these chlorine compounds, and there are thousands, are called chlorides.

The History of Chlorine

One of these natural compounds, sodium chloride, has been known since ancient times. Societies, through the use of rock salts and brine, used sodium chloride as early as 6,000 BCE. Chemists, starting in the later stages of the Renaissance, explored these chloride compounds; Jan Baptist van Helmont identified chlorine as a gas in 1630. Carl Wilhelm Scheele isolated elemental chlorine in 1774, but didn't grasp the totality of his discovery; chlorine itself was identified and named by Sir Humphry Davy in 1810, using the Greek word chloros, meaning "green-yellow". By the early 1820s the properties of elemental chlorine were clear; this substance was widely used as a disinfectant and by 1918 the United States Department of Treasury called for all drinking water to be treated with chlorine.

What is Swimming Pool Chlorine?

Most swimming pool chlorine is Trichlorstrizinetrione (also known as Tri-Chlor). This chloride is a form of trichloroisocyanuric acid, a white crystal-like powder that is quite stable while solid. This stability makes this form of chlorine easier to handle and use in the treatment of swimming pool water. Outside of pools this type of chloride is most commonly used as a bleaching agent in the textile industry. Tri-Chlor is composed of 89.9% chlorine, which allows for easy handling (previously mentioned), hastens evaporation and dissolves in a slow, uniform fashion, perfect for swimming pool treatments (pictured left is a tub of Chlorine Tablets).

As a swimming pool sanitizer, chlorine is quite effective; it will quickly kill bacteria, algae and other harmful organic material. As mentioned above, swimming pool chlorine is chosen specifically because it dissolves slowly and steady, constantly providing the perfect amount of disinfectant to the pool. While chlorine is a strong oxidizing agent perfect for disinfecting water and other liquids, chlorine as a gas and a solid can be extremely dangerous and poisonous to humans. While chloride ions are essential to life, swimming pool chlorine reacts negatively with protein, which makes up our hair and skin. Handling of chlorine should always proceed with extreme caution; accidents routinely occur at both public and private swimming pools of too much chlorine being applied, resulting in the poisoning and sickness of pool patrons.

How Should I Apply Chlorine?

Always read the directions that come with your swimming pool chlorine. Most chlorine comes in the form of tablets or granular chlorine (pictured right). Chlorine tablets typically come in tubs containing four pounds, ten pounds, 25 pounds and 50 pounds, while granular chlorine comes in tubs of four pounds, ten pounds and 20 pounds. View Types of Pool Chlorine Here.

Tablets are typically placed in the skimmer basket, auto feeder or in a floating pool chlorinator. Granular chlorine is typically measured out in ounces in relation to the size of the pool, and is dropped directly into the pool water around the jets so it mixes well.

Most swimming pool water should maintain a chlorine level between 1 and 2 ppm. Chlorine works best when pH and alkalinity are balanced, so be sure to check these on a regular basis. Also be sure to use caution when handling swimming pool chlorine; it can be dangerous and poisonous when handled improperly, ingested or inhaled.

Family Leisure offers Pool Chlorine (both granular chlorine and chlorine tablets) along with chemical value kits and much more, for sale and with free nationwide shipping. View Swimming Pool Chlorine from Family Leisure here.



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