i put to much chlorine in the pool how long do i wait to swim?

Question

I put 3x the amount of chlorine shock in the pool. How long will this take to even out?

Answer 1

Hot SUN will dissapate the chlorine.
It may take up to 48 hours. Re-test before swimming. Your swim suit may disintegrate.

Answer 2

It will probably only take a day or 2 to even out. If you get some rainwater, or a hot sunny day it will help too.

A chlorine reading of 3.0 is considered high But still safe for swimming. Ideally a level of 1.5 is best. So its only double. For your safety, test your water before you go swimming and make sure the chlorine reading is safe. If your test shows the level being 3.0 or above even after a day or 2, take a sample to your pool store, and explain what happened, and buy a chlorine neutralizing chemical. They are available. Bring the Water sample for them to test the water, and they will instruct you on how to properly use the chlorine neutralizer.

You dont want to just go and add a whole bottle of neutralizer and wipe out all your chlorine. This will create Algae problems for you.

So simply... Wait it out... it will dissapate, or take a sample of water to your local store and get some chlorine neutralizer.

Answer 3

Hi there,

Depending on the volume of water in your pool it could take hours for the water to settle. I use to manage aquatic facilities and when we had to shock treat the water, depending on the nature of the befoulment, sometimes the pool would be closed for the remainder of the day. Your best bet is to keep checking the pH levels every few hours; as long as the pH is fine, the chlorine should not be a problem. remember, it's not the chlorine that causes the eyes to burn but rather either too acidic or to basic water.

Cheers.

Answer 4

It depends on how clean the water is; you only really get nasty affects when the chlorine bonds with bacteria in the water, forming dichloromines. These are what can irritate you skin and eyes

If the water was reasonably clean beforehand, and you've put some fresh water in since I wouldn't worry about swimming in it after a few hours; just wear goggles. Also make sure your filter's nice and clean to deal with all the crap that the chlorine will attach itself to

Answer 5

There is no precise way of telling how long.

Suggest you give it 24 hours running the filter to keep it moving, turn any chlornination devices off, leave the pool uncovered, and test it again then.

Do you have stabiliser (bi-carb of soda) in it? Get a water sample down to the pool shop. They will help you balance it correctly.