How to Install Pool Chemicals
- 1). Add chlorine to the skimmer or chlorinator. Chlorine, which sanitizes the water and keeps it clean, can cause damage to a pool's liner if allowed to rest for an extended time on the liner. Therefore, it should not be freely tossed into the pool. Either place the chlorine tablets in the skimmer or purchase a chlorinator. With an automatic chlorinator, you can chlorinate your pool for several days. If you use a manual chlorinator or use the skimmer, you have to add chlorine daily.
- 2). Dilute cyanuric acid before adding it to the pool. Cyanuric acid, which stabilizes the chlorine, comes in a crystallized form. These crystals take a long time to break down. To add cyanuric acid to the pool, you have to dilute it in hot water. Use a 5-gallon bucket of hot water to dilute the crystals. Stir the crystals to help them dissolve. Once they're dissolved, broadcast the cyanuric acid into the pool. Broadcasting means adding it to the water at the pool return with the filter running. This helps to disseminate the cyanuric acid quickly around the pool.
- 3). Sprinkle muriatic acid toward the center of the pool with the filter running. Muriatic acid is used to lower a pool's pH level. A pH level that is too high prevents the chlorine from working effectively. Add muriatic acid by sprinkling it close to the center of the pool. You don't want it touching the pool lining. Sprinkle it lightly in a spraying formation. With a stick, break up any large clumps of muriatic acid so that it will sprinkle evenly. Large clumps will take a while to dissolve and sit on the pool liner. Don't add more than one pound of muriatic acid per 10,000 gallons at a time.
- 4). Walk around the pool and sprinkle in soda ash if the pool's pH levels are too low. Low pH levels cause the chlorine to dissipate too quickly. Soda ash safely raises the pH. With the filter running, walk around the perimeter of the pool and gently sprinkle the soda ash in the water. Never add more than 2 pounds per 10,000 gallons at a time at a time.
- 5). Pour shock into the pool at the return with the filter running. Shock is used to quickly raise the pool chlorine levels and kill off algae and bacteria.
