As a new pool owner you may be faced with some strange new realities. For one, you now have another baby to take care of, the swimming pool. You can make it part of your morning routine, you go out and scoop out any leaves on the surface and keep your pool looking good. But what about when to make chemistry adjustments? If you’re in a routine of shocking the pool, when should you do it? What is the best time to shock pool?
What’s The Best Day To Shock Pool?
First, there’s the day of the week. When planning the best time to shock pool, ideally it’ll be well before planned use. Our recommendation would be 48 hours prior to swimming. If you are planning to swim on Friday afternoon and Saturday, shock your pool on Tuesday or Wednesday. By giving yourself a couple of days as a buffer, you’ll be sure the chlorine levels are back down to a safe level. If you have a pool cover, you may want to retract it if your chlorine levels don’t go down fast enough after shocking.
But what if you’re late? What if it’s the day of the party and you realize you forgot to shock the pool? Assuming there’s nothing wrong with the pool chemistry per se, only your weekly shock hasn’t happened. What do you do in this case to give yourself the peace of mind that the pool is in shape for a party?
What’s The Best Time To Shock Pool Before A Party?
We’ve all been there, when you have a party planned and realize you haven’t done your weekly shock. If you do it now, you’ll create a pool that’s impossible to swim in. Instead, you may want to do a non-chlorine shock. The non-chlorine shock will keep your chlorine in its free and available state. Obviously if your pool chemistry is way out of whack, or your chlorine level is below 1 PPM, you probably should cancel the party and reschedule.
What’s The Best Time To Shock Pool?
Regarding best time to shock a pool relative to time of day, we always like the morning. If you shock the pool early in the morning, then you can give it a test late afternoon and see where you’re at. The sun may have returned your pool to a swimmable state over the course of 12 hours. However, if not, at least you know and can be prepared for the next day.
How To Avoid Having To Shock Your Pool
Maybe you’d like to get out of the weekly shock mentality. Additionally, you want to avoid the peaks and valleys of traditional pool chemistry. In this case, we would recommend considering some alternative disinfection systems.
These systems work to augment the chlorinator, and reduce chlorine use overall. UV disinfection chambers for example, while they have some disadvantages, are one of the best additions to your pool. A UV system helps protect your family from the microorganisms living in the pool water which chlorine has a tough time killing, like cryptosporidium and legionella.
Additionally, ozone systems are a great way to reduce your reliance on chlorine. Ozone systems break down the non-living contaminants and prevent chloramines from forming. Much like non-chlorine shock, ozone is a powerful oxidizer and does much of the work of chlorine without having to put up with the high chemical levels.
What’s The Best Time To Shock Pool Summary
In conclusion, the best time to shock pool is whenever you can 48 hours or so ahead of any event you have planned. We recommend doing it in the morning, but any time of day works great. The important thing is, make sure your pool water is safe, and test your water regularly. You ought to seriously consider some of the alternative disinfection systems as well, as these can greatly improve your day to day swimming experience.
