Shocking a swimming pool can be a bit scary, regardless of how seasoned the pool owner is. That’s because whenever you’re dealing with a high volume of chemicals, the slightest slip-up could mean disaster.
It’s these potential dangerous situations that lead to many asking how long to wait after shocking a pool before swimming.
Before we can give you a guideline on how long after shocking a pool before swimming, you must first understand why pool shocking is so dangerous and the amount of chemicals that have been used.
What is Pool Shock?
Pool shock, shocking a pool or super chlorinating is a routine cleaning method designed to clean your pool water and keep it safe to swim. This is usually done by adding three to five times the amount of chlorine that would normally be used to keep your pool clean and safe.
This extreme cleaning process is a great way to bring things back to balance by destroying contaminates like choloramines, bacteria, and algae that could root in your pool.
How Long After Shocking a Pool Before Swimming?
Shocking a pool takes a bit more chlorine than normal so therefore, it will take a bit longer for your pool to adjust. As a result, how long after putting chlorine in a pool before you can swim is going to be longer. Exactly how long you must wait, there are usually several factors you need to consider before coming to that conclusion.
Factors include:
- How bad or dirty your pool is
- Are there algal blooms
- Is it close to becoming a swamp
- How back does it smell
A swimming pool that is suffering from algal blooms can literally takes weeks of shocking. The more serious the condition, the more chlorine the longer the wait to swim after shocking.
Unfortunately, how much chlorine to shock a pool is different in everyone’s situation so there is no definitive answer to how long to wait after shocking pool.
Technically, your able to swim once your free chlorine levels are holding up and you can clearly see the bottom of the pool.
Another very good rule of thumb is to follow the manufacturer’s instructions on the back of the product. On the back of all chemicals, manufacturers usually provide precaution warnings, tips for disposal and storage and how to use the product.
How Often Should You Shock Your Pool?
How often to shock your swimming pool will also depend on the same factors above. If you’re not seeing anything out of the normal, the general rule is once every 2 weeks during peak swim season.
Here are some other rules to follow when adding chemicals to your pool.
Adding Calcium Chloride
The swimmers should wait for a full cycle of the filter or for 2-4 hours to swim in the pool after the chlorine chloride is added to the pool.
Adding Clarifier, pH and Alkalinity
After adding pH, alkalinity, and clarifier to balance the chemicals in the pool water you must wait for 20 minutes at least.
Adding Muriatic Acid
After adding muriatic acid into your pool, you should wait for 30 minutes at east otherwise it can irritate or burn your skin.
Adding Muriatic Acid
After adding muriatic acid into your pool, you should wait for 30 minutes at east otherwise it can irritate or burn your skin.
Adding Floc
You are not recommended to swim in the pool after adding flocculant to it to maintain its effectiveness. You should allow it to settle down at the pool bottom to vacuum it as waste.
Adding Liquid Chlorine
You are not recommended to swim in the pool after adding flocculant to it to maintain its effectiveness. You should allow it to settle down at the pool bottom to vacuum it as waste.
Adding Algaecide
It will be safe for you to wait to swim at least for 15 minutes after adding algaecide to the pool water.
Conclusion
Shocking a pool is a critical aspect of pool maintenance. Although this step is important in keeping your pool clean, you also need to know how long after shocking a pool can you swim. This is to ensure that the chemicals in the pool are safe for those who are looking to swim in it.
