Know When to Shock YOUR Pool
Inspect your pool visually on a regular basis.
A 'Happy" pool it will look clear, sparkling and inviting.
You should be able to see a 50C coin on the bottom of the pool
at the deepest poiNT

The process of shocking a swimming pool refers to adding enough chemicals to kill or neutralise all organic substances.
GRANULAR CHLORINE is more often selected -- because most pool owners have it on hand.

Shock your pool on a semi-regular basis (every three of four weeks in summer) and also after heavy summer rain, or a boisterous kids (or even grown-ups) swimming pool party.

This is how to do it .......

You'll need your Water Testing Kit and current (non past-dated) bottles of reagents.

Use this opportunity to check the water balance as well: pH, Total Alkalinity, Calcium Hardness and Stabiliser

INSTRUCTIONS FOR BOTH OZONE and ChLORINE POOLS:

Clues: The water is cloudy or seems milky or hazy. Also, shock the pool if you see any signs of green algae. Follow the OZONE ASSIST program (in your Cascade Pool Owner's Manual) for the off-season months as shocking the pool is replaced by our OZONE ASSIST program

When algae are present, the water may look greenish-gray. It's also possible that the water may seem fairly clear, but you'll see patches or spots of algae growing on the sides or bottom. Algae visible in any form in the swimming season indicates it's time to shock the pool. In off-season use OZONE ASSIST for Ozone pools, and HOT ZONE algaecide for chlorine pools.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CHLORINE ONLY POOLS:

1.     If the pool water appears free of haze and algae, smell the air around the pool or dip your hand in and sniff a sample of the water.  If it smells strongly of 'chlorine', the pool needs to be shocked - it's UNDERCHLORINATED!.

2.    The 'chlorine smell' is the result of oxydising chemicals in the pool reacting partialy to organic matter - such as body oils and urine traces left by naughty swimmers - which have been incompletely oxidised, thus are 'rotting' in your pool. Not nice!

3.     As chlorine 'has no smell'- what you are smelling is the by-product of an incomplete reaction of chlorine to nitrogenous-based organics in the pool rotting away. It means there is NOT ENOUGH chlorine in the pool - NOT as you might imagine, TOO much! Crazy, as it seems.

Shocking the pool breaks down these rotting organic substances, completely destroying them and getting rid of the chlorine smell. Once the chemical levels have returned to normal the pool will not have the 'chlorine smell'.

4.    Test the water every few weeks with your Test Kit (or strips, if they are not past dated) to check on the level of chlorine in the pool, even if you don't see or smell any obvious indicators of a problem.

5.    If your Chlorine pool water has 1.0 part per million (ppm) or less of chlorine then the pool should be shocked.  You can determine the concentration of chlorine in your water by using the testing kit we supplied with your swimming pool.

6.    Mixing the reagents from the kit with a sample of the pool water as instructed on the booklet that came with the Test Kit. Reagents don't last forever (especially if left in the sunlight) so buy new ones each season - they are cheap enough and less cost that having incoprrect readings making you purchase chemicals you don't need!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CHLORINE and OZONE POOLS

It's also a good idea to shock the pool any time it's been heavily used by a number of people, such as after a pool party. Even if the water looks and smells fine and the chlorine levels are in the acceptable range, heavy usage tends to leave a lot of organic matter in the pool that's best dealt with immediately.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR OZONE ONLY POOLS:

THERE ARE NO Ozone test kitS availabLe in new zealand, but by checking visually for bubbles forming in front of the aquagenie, and water clarity (no algae) indicates it's working ok.

following the ozone assist program plus shock dosing on a monthly basis if it needs it, will keep your pool clear and spakling and safe to swim in.