Understanding Your Swimming Pool

If you own a swimming pool or are looking to install one, please take the time to read our helpful guide on understanding your swimming pool.  This guide has been put together after 18 years experience in the pool industry, in response to questions we are frequently asked here at Allchlor.  This guide contains helpful information on selecting a suitable salt water chlorinator for your pool.  It also includes general tips on chlorination and keeping your swimming pool clean.  Remember, this is a general guide only.  Every pool is different so always check with your local pool shop for specific information relating to YOUR pool.

Sanitising Your Swimming Pool

The primary reason we sanitise our swimming pool and spa water is to prevent the growth of bacteria that can cause illness for swimmers and bathers. Particular forms of bacteria may cause nose, ear, and throat infections sometimes leading to much more serious diseases such as meningitis.  The main source of bacteria in pool and spa water is the bathers themselves. Other contributing factors include water level top-up and debris entering the pool, such as leaves, dirt, dust, and grass etc. Exposure to UV light (sunlight) and increases in water temperature also contribute to the loss of "free chlorine residual”.   Animals contribute significantly to bacteria. Your family dog (or duck!) will contaminate up to twenty times the volume of water that a human can.

Controlling bacteria is most commonly achieved by regularly adding a sanitizer, usually chlorine and then passing the water through a filtration system to remove the dead bacteria. It is important to reduce the risk of any additional bacteria entering the water by maintaining a "chlorine residual" to combat these new bacteria as quickly as possible.