Chlorine kills the pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoans to keep everyone in the pool safe from contamination. While using disinfectants for the first time, you may question yourself whether you leave a chlorine floater in the pool overnight or not.
You cannot simply fill-up the Chlorine dispenser and leave it in the pool overnight. There are a lot of variables depending upon which you should use the Chlorine floaters, such as the pool size, water volume, tablet size, tablet ingredients, and more.
Inappropriately using the chlorine floater may over-concentrate the swimming pool. And is not good for the swimmer’s skin and health.
What happens if you leave a chlorine floater in the pool overnight?
Chlorine is easily penetrable in the human body and very harmful as well. The chlorine tablets and chlorine dispensers should be used strictly following the rules. Leaving the Chlorine dispenser unattended in the pool overnight without any test can be physically degrading for you.
Lowers pH
The concentration of Hydrogen-ion in the pool increases if you leave the Chlorine floater overnight. As a result, the acidity of the water increases, and the alkalinity decreases when the chlorine binder in the tablets (Cyanuric Acid) gets dissolved in the water.
A swimming pool’s optimum pH should be around 7.2. It is considered a neutral pH. Lowering the pH will cause skin and eye irritation, hair loss, etc. if longer exposure happens. To neutralize the acidity, you have to use 2-4.5 pounds of Sodium Carbonate in 30000 gallons of water in the pool.
Oversaturation
Chlorine may kill the pathogens, but swimming in oversaturated chlorine is not safe for your body. On average, a pool should contain chlorine of 1-3 ppm (parts per million) of concentration. If the concentration rises above four ppm, it will harm your body and degrade the pool coatings and water pipes by scaling.
To stop oversaturation, you must stop using a Chlorine floater for the time being. Analyze the water parameter quantity and allow the chlorine to disintegrate naturally. Chlorine molecules are photochemical reaction active. It means the UV rays of the sun help in disintegration.
Water Parameter Degradation
Keeping a balance of the pool water parameter is essential to allowing people in the pool. In the chlorine tablets, there are other chemicals except for chlorine which may contaminate the water. This happens mostly when you leave the chlorine tablets in a chlorine floater overnight.
The total alkalinity and the calcium hardness of the pool water should be 80-120ppm or 180-220ppm. Besides, the safe stabilizer limit is 30-50ppm. Longer exposure to the chlorine floater in the pool causes disturbances in these limits.
You should consider the usage parameter of the Chlorine floaters before leaving them in the pool overnight. The water volume, size, and ingredients of the tablet are two important factors. Follow the table below to get a more clear idea.
Pool Volume (water in gallons) | Number of Tablets |
5000 | 1 |
10000 | 2 |
15000 | 3 |
20000 | 4 |
It means for every 5000 gallons of water; you should use one Chlorine tablet for a week. This calculation is for 65% chlorine in a 4-ounce tablet. Hence, for tablets with 90% chlorine, you will need lesser tablets to disinfect the pool.
How long do I leave the chlorine floater in a pool?
It depends upon your pool size and tablet containment. Each cubic foot of volume can hold 7.5 gallons of water. Therefore, you should only use only 1 tablet for smaller pools for 5-6 hours. For larger pools with 30000 gallons, you should use 5 tablets for a week-long to equally dissolve the chlorine in the water.
Do you leave a chlorine floater in the pool while shocking?
In the Shocking method, a very high concentration of Chlorine is added to the water at a time and left to be disinfected. While shocking, bleach such as hypochlorite is used in a liquid state. In comparison, chlorine tablets contain a lesser concentration of Chlorine.
Moreover, shocking instantly adds chlorine to the water but using a Chlorine floater means a slow dissolution of the chlorine. You should not leave chlorine floaters in the water while shocking.
Do you leave chlorine floaters in the pool during winter?
In lower temperature-time such as winter, the pool’s bacteria or other pathogen production becomes slower. This means a low quantity of chlorine tablets will be required to disinfect the pool in winter.
Due to the decrease of 10 degrees of Fahrenheit from 80 degrees, nearly half the amount of Chlorine should be used than the optimum value. As a result, you should not leave the chlorine floater in the pool for a long time during winter.
Do you leave a chlorine floater in the pool while swimming?
The chlorine floater works very slowly to dissolve the chlorine equally in all pool parts. When you release a chlorine floater, it stays in one place for a long time until the wind moves it to a different area.
As a result, the chlorine concentration remains very high where the chlorine floater floats.
Moreover, the chlorine floater continuously releases the chlorine from the tablet in the pool. Therefore, if you start swimming in the pool with the chlorine floater, you will be exposed to a higher chlorine concentration.
The pH level of the water also gets lower nearby the chlorine floater. The acidity and chlorine can cause skin irritation, eye irritation, hair damage, and equipment damage. It is not recommended to leave a chlorine floater in the pool while swimming.
Conclusion
Using the chlorine tablet and chlorine floater while disinfecting the pool requires strict time management and rules. You cannot simply insert a tablet into the floater and release it into the pool. The time required for a floater to work in your pool depends on the tablets’ pool size and containments.
The question in your mind, “do you leave chlorine floaters in the pool overnight” is thus answered. You should analyze the water volume and parameters and check the temperature first. Finally, calculate the time required for the chlorine floater to work.