Dangerously high chlorine levels

[Water Cat]

We decided to test my aunt and uncle pool today, we couldn't get a reading so we took it in to have it tested and the chlorine was 45mg/l four times higher than a public pool.

They have a salt water generator and only check the salinity of their pool.

Is there any way to get this dangerous level back down? My little cousin has been swimming in the pool is this dangerous for people to swim in?

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

Turn off the SWCG and the FC will drop. We could give better advice if you'd post a full set of chemical readings from the pool.

 

[Water Cat]

Unfortunately the water was so bad they couldn't register the other parameters on their instruments, they were all over the place.

My main concern is the safety really. I have heard there's chlorine poisoning that people can get from pools that are overchlorinated.

 

[TinFoilHat]

You need to manually test the water yourself as the pool stores often get it wrong. Get one of the recommended testing kits and report back with all of the results. Then the forum can guide you to a safe, sanitary pool.

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why shouldn't I use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[reggiehammond]

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.

www.troublefreepool.com

If the pool water has CYA, then not all of the measurable FC (free chlorine) is actually sanitizing.
It's impossible to advise safety without knowing CYA, but there's so much bad pool industry information out there that I understand your concern.

My kids swim, without goggles, at FC 10, all the time. Because of my CYA level, there's less active FC than in a pool with 0 CYA and 1/10 that amount of FC.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Cat,

Public pools have about 2 ppm of FC.. four times would be an FC of 8.. Not at all high unless you have zero CYA.

As other have said, without knowing the pools CYA level, it is impossible to know if your FC is too high or even too low.

Take another sample of pool water and mix it 50/50 with tap water and let them test it again. With the goal of finding out what their CYA is reading.

Thanks,

Jim R.