Q&A for How to Lower Chlorine in a Pool

Yes, chlorine in a pool can burn your skin if the levels are too high. Even at lower levels, chlorine can cause dry skin and people with sensitive skin can get a chlorine rash; at high levels it can cause a burning sensation, turn skin red and make it itchy. Direct contact with pool chlorine byproducts or off-gas can cause burns or skin blistering.

A pool with too much chlorine has chemical overload. This is bad for both swimmers and the pool. Swimmers may experience a range of symptoms, including burning/itching eyes and skin, breathing problems (including asthma), nausea, stomach and/or chest pains, etc. As for the pool, it may become too acidic, which may corrode metal fittings, pipes and concrete.

Too much chlorine can result in eye and skin irritation/redness. If the chlorine levels are high enough to cause chlorine poisoning, you can experience such symptoms as nausea, vomiting, itching/burning or even blurry eyes, triggering of asthma or other breathing difficulties, burning/painful or swollen throat, restricted breathing, chest and/or stomach pains, skin reactions, blood in your stools, lowered blood pressure, etc. Open wounds may be irritated or burned from contact with high levels of chlorine.

Chlorine is a skin and eye irritant at high levels, may cause nausea and can potentially trigger asthma attacks, coughing fits or other respiratory problems. As such, it is not recommended that you swim in a pool with high chlorine levels. Moreover, high chlorine levels are bad for the pool (it is corrosive of many parts of the pool) and the levels should be lowered to ensure both the pool and swimmers stay safe.

The only way to do that would be by partially draining and then adding non-chlorinated water, or by just waiting until it naturally goes down. You can feel safe if you test the water with a test kit or take a sample to a pool supply store which will test it for you. I was upset that the hot tub at a rental place in NC tested for high chlorine, but was advised that local codes allowed higher than normal levels at rental properties. Maybe a little too much in a pool would also be safe.

It is best to drain and add new water, then balance. The second option is to drain half, fill with fresh water, and balance. The high chlorine is usually because the CYA is too high. Draining and adding fresh water will reduce the CYA. Note that after bringing down the CYA you should consider using 10% Liquid Shock instead of Trichlor tabs. Maintaining CYA below 30 ppm will help you control the chlorine level.

It means the chlorine is very high. The standard test usually shows only to 5ppm chlorine. If you have too much, it will turn orange or even red. There may even be too much chlorine to swim (>10ppm). You should get a FAS-DPD chlorine test, which will be able to tell you how much chlorine is there.

They sell pH plus at stores. Add the amount recommended, then retest after a of hours.

First check and balance pH and alkalinity, pH should be 7.2 and 7.4 for best results, alkalinity should be no higher than 100 and no lower than 80 ppm. Now check your stabilizer also know as CYA. If it is below 10 ppm, add 4 ounces of Dichlor, if it is above 10 ppm, add 24 ounces of 10% Liquid Shock. Either formula will raise the chlorine 2 ppm. Note: If adding Liquid Shock, also add 12 ounces of acid to counter balance the high pH.

The answer here depends on your stablizer level, or CYA. The main purpose of CYA is to act as a “sun screen” for the chlorine allowing it to remain in the water, where you want it.

When there’s zero cyanuric acid (CYA) in the water and the free chlorine (FC) is elevated, fading can occur. The CYA acts here to stabilize the chlorine thus making it safer on suits. Additionally, CYA acts as a sunscreen to protect the chlorine from being rapidly consumed by the sun. Ideally for pools that are manually chlorinated, a user would like a CYA level between 30-50ppm. A pool with a saltwater generator, however, can run just fine with CYA between 70-80ppm.