Chlorine Lock: Well, in this post, I would be walking you through various aspects of chlorine lock to help you get rid of it in the best possible manner.
Moreover, I would also be throwing light on the reasons that lead to chlorine locking and how can you avoid them.
So, without any further ado, let’s begin…
I own a pool for over a decade now, and I can affirm that most of the pool owners often get confused with the term chlorine lock.
And, trust me, some of my clients even gave it the name of a sales gimmick when I explain the concept for the very first time, and of course, I was shocked by their response.
Frankly speaking, not once or twice, I’ve faced this issue quite a few times, and I can affirm that it’s not easy to get rid of chlorine locking in case you’ve totally messed up with the pool chemistry.
The good news is, today I’ll totally settle down the age-old debate on chlorine locking.
Trust me, I and my core team have tried to cover almost all the essential information related to chlorine locking that you might be interested to know about.
What is chlorine lock?
Chlorine lock is a phenomenon that gets initiated when you add too much CYA, a pool stabilizer, to your pool water.
CYA (cyanuric acid) plays a crucial role when it comes to protecting free chlorine in your pool water against the UV rays present in sunlight.
But, at the same time, it is equally important that you refrain from adding too much CYA to your pool water.
As we all know, too much of anything is bad.
Too much CYA in your pool water will push free chlorine toward the chlorine-locking phenomenon and thus making it completely useless.
How to check for chlorine lock in my pool?
Definitely, it’s an important question and most of the newbies find it really difficult to figure out how to check for chlorine locking in their pool.
Have you ever faced an uncontrolled strong bleachy smell while crossing your pool or any public pool?
If YES, then have you wondered what causes the pool to smell so bad?
Some of you might have felt that the smell would be because of adding too much chlorine to the pool, right?
But, sorry to say, your perception is totally WRONG.
So, next time, whenever you find such a strong chlorine smell then definitely check for its cause as in almost all cases, such smells are the result of the formation of a compound named chloramines.
Though chloramines can be formed because of lots of reasons still chlorine lock is one of the most important reasons for the formation of chloramines if NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT.
I’ve seen loads and loads of my clients who own a pool getting confused with the strong smell of chlorine.
Most of them felt that the reason behind the smell is too much chlorine so they either try to dilute the pool water concentration or stop adding chlorine to the pool for some days.
And, as a result, the problem further aggravates rather than getting mitigated.
But, technically, the strong chlorine smell indicates the formation of chloramines which depicts that either the free chlorine isn’t present in the pool in the adequate account or is mostly inactive.
So, to end all the guessing work, all you need to do is to do the proper pool water testing on a frequent basis.
The outcome of the test would help you to figure out the amount of chlorine that you need to add to resolve the chlorine locking problem.
But, if after adding the chlorine on a frequent basis, the test shows NO or negligible chlorine then it SIMPLY means that CYA has initiated the chlorine locking phenomenon.
Remember, in normal circumstances, free chlorine and total chlorine should be equal to each other.
On the contrary, in the case of chlorine lock, free chlorine and total chlorine would be different.
All in all, it is very important to figure out that your pool chemistry is imbalanced and the reason behind the strong chlorine smell is chlorine locking.
Don’t start the preventive measures solely on guesswork as it will backfire for sure.
Once you’ve figured out and confirmed with the help of a pool water testing kit that the cause of the nasty strong chlorine smell is chloramine compound formation, then it’s high time that you start expediting the steps that would help you to do damage control.
How can I fix the chlorine lock with ease?
I’m assuming that your test result has given the indication of chlorine lock so now it’s your turn to carry out the below-mentioned steps to get rid of the problem.
Drain Pool Water
Yes, you heard it RIGHT!
Partially draining your pool water is definitely one of the most effective and successful ways to break the chlorine lock.
After draining the water, adding fresh water to your pool would allow you to start with some cleaner water.
To begin with, drain a certain percentage of your pool water and add fresh water, and if needed repeat the process.
I highly recommend going with not more than 20% draining of the total capacity.
After draining the pool water and adding fresh water, you need to expedite the pool chemistry testing process and find out whether the problem is resolved or NOT.
You need to repeat the draining and refilling pool water process until and unless the free chlorine and total chlorine come out to be equal.
I know it’s a time-consuming and tedious process, but we can’t do anything about that.
Non-Chlorine Shock
Another very effective method to tackle chlorine lock is by using non-chlorine shock.
So, what non-chlorine shock does?
Well, it oxidizes the water, restoring the balance and making it cleaner.
You can use this formula to determine the amount of shock that needs to be added.
(Total Chlorine – Free Chlorine) x ( number of gallons/10,000) x 2 = amount of shock to add
Once you’ve added the shock, all you need to do is to wait and watch for the next few hours.
Then, test the pool water chemistry and if needed REPEAT the process.
Chlorine Shock
Chlorine shock plays a crucial role in achieving breakpoint chlorination which is a MUST to BREAK chlorine lock.
As we all know that chlorine lock is the result of the formation of chloramines so to break the chemical bonds of chloramines you need to add chlorine in a large amount.
And, the easiest and the best way to get rid of chlorine lock is by using the chlorine shock product.
But, to expedite this step successfully, you need to ensure first that the pH of the pool water is in the range of 7.2 and 7.6.
Well, there are formulas available that can help you to calculate the amount of chlorine that is needed in order to reach breakpoint chlorination.
Add the required amount of chlorine and wait for at least 6 hours.
Then, test for the chlorine level again, and if needed expedite the entire process again and again until you get the desired result.
It’s A Wrap
First and foremost, I would like to thank you for being with us till the end.
Moreover, chlorine lock is NOT something that can’t be dealt with successfully.
Needless to say, chlorine lock will take serious effort and time to get broken so you need to be patient as well.
But, chlorine lock needs to be tackled well and on a priority basis.
If your pool is struggling with chlorine lock then you wouldn’t be able to tackle algae and other bacteria growth effectively and so you might have to deal with a series of problems including your pool turning green or cloudy.
So, you can’t ignore a serious problem like chlorine locking.
In case, your pool is exposed to chlorine locking on a frequent basis then it’s high time that you lower the amount of CYA that you use while expediting the chlorinating process.
Moreover, I hope and believe that my team has done a fairly good job in not only highlighting the chlorine locking problem but also in dealing with it in an effective way.
And, in case, you liked our effort and want to appreciate us then feel free to share this piece of information with the ones who are in need of it.
After all, sharing is caring, isn’t it?
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