It’s Hot!

It’s hot.  I mean really, really hot. This is the time of year we all love to go swimming. The kids are out of school, it’s vacation time, and did I mention it’s hot. This is the perfect recipe for spending a lazy day at the pool.

It is also the time of year that algae grow really fast. The most common phone call we get this time of year is “Help! My pool is turning green.”  Why do pools turn green?  Algae is a plant and with sunlight and food it will grow in the water.  To prevent or kill algae the pool water must be sanitized. This is most often done by adding chlorine to the pool water. Chlorine comes in different forms, liquid, granular and tablet, but the bottom line is it is the chlorine that kills the algae or prevents it from growing in the first place.
We can also use UV (ultra violet light) and ozone to sanitize pool water. UV will kill anything living in the water when the water passes by the UV light bulb. Ozone is a gas that is generated and added to the pool water killing on contact. When you use UV and Ozone to sanitize the pool water, you will still require some chlorine, but you will need less of it.
Also there is a salt chlorine generator, most commonly called a “salt pool”. Most pool owners think that their “salt pool” means that no chlorine is ever added to the pool water. In reality the salt chlorine generator makes chlorine that is identical to liquid chlorine that comes in a bottle. Salt is added to the pool water and when the salty water passes by the salt cell, the salt cell breaks the salt apart into chlorine and sodium. The chlorinated water then is pushed out into the pool by the circulation pump where it attacks and kills algae. Here in Santa Clarita, just off of San Fernando Road, HASA uses giant salt cells, the size of a semi truck, to make chlorine, then bottles it and trucks it out to distribution. So basically a salt chlorine generator is an expensive machine that makes a $2 gallon of chlorine.
So chlorine kills algae. Yes it helps to have the pool water correctly balanced to enhance the chlorine’s killing ability but it is the chlorine that kills algae. Yes it helps to have a good working circulation pool pump and clean filter to remove all the stuff floating in the water; less stuff means you need less chlorine to prevent the algae from growing… but it is the chlorine that kills the algae.
For more information, call 661-263-7503 or visit www.poolsbyben.com.