Pool chlorine levels vs tap water

[Oddad]

Hi,

I have read a lot of the pool school info and have one question that is confusing.

If pools require chlorine at 1to 3ppm and my tap water that I bath in is 4 ppm why do I always smell some level of chlorine or dryness getting out of a pool and never out of a bath?

Is my statement wrong about ppm levels?

Thanks!

 

[kimmielea]

Good Morning!

The amount of chlorine that your pool needs will depend on how much Stabilizer (CYA) you have in your pool. The higher the CYA, the more chlorine you need. For Example, my pool has 30ppm of CYA so I need to target between 4 to 6ppm of chlorine. If you have 80ppm of CYA, you would target 9 to 11ppm of chlorine. CYA/FC Chart

The chlorine smell is actually chloramines, basically, the waste product of the chlorine eating bad things in the water. Pool Myths

Check out Pool School, you will find a lot of useful information.

 

[Oddad]

Thank you. I read pool school but obviously not very well. My apologies. This is a lot to take in.

 

[zea3]

Typically you only use the bath water one time. The organic materials that are rinsed off your body are drained away and CC doesn't have time to develop during the short period of time you are in the water. There are no CCs to irritate your skin so you feel fine after a bath or shower.

A pool that has been properly chlorinated and maintained will smell light and fresh with maybe a hint of chlorine. A pool that has not been properly chlorinated will have a strong, harsh chlorine smell that may burn the nose and eyes. This pool has a high CC level and may irritate your skin if you swim in it.

I'm surprised you get 4ppm of FC from the tap. That's high for city water.

 

[cfherrman]

I can smell a hint of clorine in my pool when I'm close to slam level fc. I can also smell cc on my hands because I'm a working man and my hands are always rough and emptying to skimmer will cause some dead skin cells to be eaten. My pool feels like bath water at all other times.

 

[PoolGate]

I tested my tap water (city) and I get 0 chlorine. We do not use chloramimes either I checked with them.

 

[mknauss]

EPA allows up to 4 ppm chlorine in drinking water.

At the end user it is rare to test even at 1/10th that level.

Many water treatment plants add monochloramines instead of chlorine. It is a combination chlorine and ammonia.