Effects of chlorine levels above SLAM

[Krulligo]

I know the general consensus is that it is safe to swim to levels up to SLAM, however what effects will chlorine have on skin, pool surface and equipment above SLAM. Some questions I have is:

What levels start to effect pool surface and equipment - eg-what level do you risk starting to bleach your liner.
What levels start to have effects on your skin.
What levels might start to bleach your swimsuits.
What happens at 2x SLAM level, 3x, 4x, etc.

Just wondering what the effects would be to keep a pool above SLAM levels for extended periods of time and what might happen to pool surfaces and equipment.

 

[PoolStored]

Why would you want to raise your FC above SLAM level?

 

[Krulligo]

Why would you want to raise your FC above SLAM level?

I didn't say I want to....
I just wanted to learn what the effects of chlorine would do at various levels above SLAM.

 

[Newdude]

What levels start to have effects on your skin.
What levels might start to bleach your swimsuits.
What happens at 2x SLAM level, 3x, 4x, etc.

We don't know. SLAM was road tested and proved to be safe. Chlorine burns off as a %, which burns off quicker as the FC level increases. Above SLAM the burnoff happens so fast its never above SLAM for long. Anyone who has raised to Mustard algae SLAM at 60% instead of 40% can attest that its difficult to maintain, and they only do so for a day. MA SLAM was tested and proved to be safe for 24 hours and everybody is thrilled when their 24 hours is up. Lol.

 

[mgtfp]

Have you ever been to a public indoor pool, and the water felt really really uncomfortable? That's likely because FC was somewhere around 2-4ppm, perfectly within regulations for public pools. But in an indoor pool there was likely no CYA in the water.

Without CYA, the SLAM equivalent would be FC 0.64ppm. FC 2-4ppm without CYA would about 3x-6x SLAM.

Here a good post from Chem Geek on the topic:

How much chlorine is too much?

I am trying to find data on how much chlorine is too much or unhealthy. That is, at what point do the harmful effects of chlorine out weigh the benefits of the chlorine's ability to disinfect? I am a regulator for a local health department, and as such I do not have a single pool that I care...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Krulligo]

Thanks. That's an interesting thread to read.

How about pool surfaces and equipment. Does chlorine (and high amounts of it have an effect). There are instances were I read people miscalculating and dumping in way too much chlorine and it bleached their vinyl liner, but at what levels of chlorine can this start happening?

One practical application of high chlorine I can think of is when you go on vacation. People.say to increase levels to SLAM and cover the pool and hope there is enough chlorine left to keep it sanitized when you come back. Or to get someone to come and add chlorine every 2 or 3 days when you are gone. Why not just raise chlorine to 2-3x SLAM levels and be certain there will be enough chlorine when you get back? Any hurt in doing this if no one is swimming?

 

[PoolStored]

Why not just raise chlorine to 2-3x SLAM levels and be certain there will be enough chlorine when you get back? Any hurt in doing this if no one is swimming?

Chlorine burns off as a %, which burns off quicker as the FC level increases. Above SLAM the burnoff happens so fast its never above SLAM for long. Anyone who has raised to Mustard algae SLAM at 60% instead of 40% can attest that its difficult to maintain, and they only do so for a day.

 

[Newdude]

I read people miscalculating and dumping in way too much chlorine and it bleached their vinyl liner, but at what levels of chlorine can this start happening?

That's dependent on the age and quality of the liner ink. It varies far too much to quantify.

I also believe one is likelier to get a quality inground liner than they are a quality above ground liner. My friends are all equally cheap and ignorant, and the above grounds seem to bleach out far more often. The inground liners will fade too, but not to the point of being white.

 

[PoolStored]

My friends are all equally ignorant

Ouch.

 

[Newdude]

Ouch.

When comes to pools ? Yeah. Every last one of them. We walked into a backyard party recently and my wife couldn't contain herself and blurted out 'it LOOKS like MILK' at first sight of the pool. I was crying as I was shushing her so that we weren't rude to our gracious hosts. It only got cloudier from use during the party.