Are you wondering if you can over-shock a pool? By learning the most common pool maintenance mistakes you can teach yourself to avoid this very common mistake. You can keep your pool safe and clean and run it efficiently without all of the extra mess and frustration.
So, can you over-shock a pool? The answer is yes and no, because it will all burn off approximately in 48 hours.
Also, there is another possibility. You can “under-shock” your pool. It is important that you make sure to use the proper volume of Liquid Chlorine according to your pool’s gallonage. If the situation of your pool does not significantly change within 12 to 24 hours of filtering, you can add a second dose of Liquid Chlorine.
So, what happens if you over-shock your pool? If you put in too much Liquid Chlorine, you will bleach the pool liner. You’ll have a ring around your pool soon. There is no fix for this other than replacing.
The chlorine will sink and bleach out the liner and where it gets bleached out it will start to become brittle and leaks will begin. Once leaks start, there is no coming back from the amount of trouble you will have trying to patch your pool.
Also, you should never add shock directly to the pool water if you have a vinyl linear, that will completely ruin your pool. It is better to pre-dissolve in a bucket of water prior to adding it to a pool.
Step By Step Guide on How to Fix Too Much Shock in a Swimming Pool
Step 1
The first thing you need to do is buy a chlorine test kit that measures free chlorine in the pool. An over shocked pool will test as having a high level of free chlorine. Since kits vary, you should always follow the directions on the bottle to make sure you are reading the results correctly.
Step 2
Get everyone out of the pool. You cannot have any swimmers in the pool when you treat it, especially when it is being treated for too much chlorine.
Step 3
The next step is to turn on the pool filtration pump. You will need to add a half an ounce of sodium thiosulfate per 1,000 gallons of water. Add it directly into the middle of the pool and allow it to circulate for about 30 minutes with the sodium thiosulfate in the water.
Step 4
Next, you are going to want to turn off the pool pump and unplug it. Again, you want to test the free chlorine levels. If they test too high, you should repeat Step 3. If not, remove the pool filters and replace with new filters.
Step 5
The last step is to plug the pool filtration pump in and turn it back on. The chlorine levels should be tested weekly. You will need to measure and follow the instructions on the chlorine that you chose and follow the instructions on adding new chlorine. This will need to be done in order to prevent future issues of having too much shock in the water.
Pools need to be kept at a free chlorine level of about 2.0 ppm to have a stable PH. Sodium Thiosulfate will neutralize the chlorine immediately.
Sodium Thiosulfate is an immediate chlorine neutralizer. If the pool does not have a chlorine odor, they are most likely balanced without shock Pools that do not omit a chlorine odor are perfectly balanced without high chlorine levels or shock in the pool.
Shocking A Salt Water Pool
Both saltwater and chlorinated pools have problems with algae. Like a chlorinated pool, the saltwater pool will sometimes need to be extra chlorinated to get rid of basic pool problems.
The biggest difference in the construction of the two different pools is that the cleaning systems are different. The salt cells in a salt pool turn into chlorine so it does not have to be added as straight chlorine into the water. If you need to shock your saltwater pool, you can follow the instructions above but you will need to perform one additional step.
Step 6
After following step 5, turn down the salt cell system and check the chlorine levels. Keep your salt chlorinators, which is another term for the cell system, for a while as the shock can last several days. Just keep checking the levels and when they start to move you can turn the cell system back on.
As you are probably aware, swimming water that smells strongly of chlorine and causes burning or itching of the eyes and nose has too much chlorine in it. This is an over-shock of the pool due to combined chlorine behind formed by sweat, urine, skin cells and blood being broken down in the water.
By using the methods that have been outlined above, you can fix the issue of over-shocking. Don’t worry, although it may take a little work, you will be back to the pool you know and love very quickly.
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