Everyone knows you jump in the pool in summer, smell the chlorine, and know the water is clean, right?
Fun fact- chlorine dissolved in pool water at the usual sanitation levels has almost no perceptible smell or taste.
HOWEVER, when chlorine binds with certain organic substances, especially ammonia (from the urea in sweat and urine), the result is chloramine which has a significant chlorine-y smell. Chloramine has essentially no disinfecting properties.
So when you go to the public pool and get a whiff of chlorine and think ‘man they’re using a lot of chlorine today’, no, it probably means someone peed in the pool.
take all but 1.5mL out of that gallon jug of household bleach, then fill it back up with water. that’s roughly the concentration of chlorine in a swimming pool.
Overchlorination doesn’t lead to the smell, but it can dry out your skin.
Where I live, free chlorine concentrations up to 10.0 ppm are legal, but pools are normally set closer to 2.5 or 3 ppm. Even at 10, you can’t smell a chlorine smell, but my skin won’t feel great after.
However, chloramine concentrations as low as 0.2 ppm can give a chlorine smell.
One of the ways to get rid of chloramines is adding a lot more free chlorine, enough to break down the chloramines.
Fun fact, salt water systems require a gadget called a salt cell which converts some of the salt in the water into chlorine. The salt isn’t actually sanitizing the water, it’s not there in nearly enough concentration to do that. Rather, the salt cell is splitting the sodium chloride into sodium and chlorine, the chlorine is then sanitizing the pool.
Everyone knows you jump in the pool in summer, smell the chlorine, and know the water is clean, right?
Fun fact- chlorine dissolved in pool water at the usual sanitation levels has almost no perceptible smell or taste.
HOWEVER, when chlorine binds with certain organic substances, especially ammonia (from the urea in sweat and urine), the result is chloramine which has a significant chlorine-y smell. Chloramine has essentially no disinfecting properties.
So when you go to the public pool and get a whiff of chlorine and think ‘man they’re using a lot of chlorine today’, no, it probably means someone peed in the pool.
You’re welcome :)
Ok, but why then when you open a bottle of bleach or container of chlorine pellets, does it smell like chlorine. Do they add the piss ahead of time?
take all but 1.5mL out of that gallon jug of household bleach, then fill it back up with water. that’s roughly the concentration of chlorine in a swimming pool.
That’s pure chlorine, much higher concentration. At the concentrations of pool chlorination there’s essentially no smell.
But couldn’t they just be over-coordinating. That’s what it feels like.
Either way, I’m glad they came up with salt water systems. Much nicer.
Overchlorination doesn’t lead to the smell, but it can dry out your skin.
Where I live, free chlorine concentrations up to 10.0 ppm are legal, but pools are normally set closer to 2.5 or 3 ppm. Even at 10, you can’t smell a chlorine smell, but my skin won’t feel great after.
However, chloramine concentrations as low as 0.2 ppm can give a chlorine smell.
One of the ways to get rid of chloramines is adding a lot more free chlorine, enough to break down the chloramines.
Fun fact, salt water systems require a gadget called a salt cell which converts some of the salt in the water into chlorine. The salt isn’t actually sanitizing the water, it’s not there in nearly enough concentration to do that. Rather, the salt cell is splitting the sodium chloride into sodium and chlorine, the chlorine is then sanitizing the pool.
Try swimming in bleach and see how it compares