10 Common Complaints that Leslie's Pool Supplies Always Gets (2023)

FAQs

Does it matter what brand pool chemicals you use? ›

With quality chemicals that really work, you can count on crystal clear, algae-free, clean water. So, to answer the question, “Does it matter where you buy your pool chemicals,” we can say without hesitating, “Absolutely.” Having the right amount and the right kind of chemicals on hand is vital to your pool enjoyment.

Quality chemicals have higher concentrations of the beneficial ingredients, and there is a difference between high and low-quality chemical options. Fewer fillers and watered-down products mean the chemicals do a better job of keeping your hot tub clean and functional.

Leslie's Chlor Brite Dichlor is stabilized, containing an ultraviolet inhibitor to help make sure the chlorine sanitizer stays in the water doing its job killing bacteria and algae.

Perhaps most important of all — NEVER add chlorine and muriatic acid or Dry Acid together, whether outside the pool or in it. This creates a dangerous toxic gas that can have severe health consequences if inhaled.

Chlorine. The most popular pool sanitizer due to its efficacy and low cost, chlorine sanitizes your pool by oxidizing contaminants. It enters molecules and destroys them from the inside out. Chlorine is effective at killing viruses, bacteria, and algae and will also help prevent algae from growing in the first place.

Chlorine serves a vital purpose in keeping swimming pool water clean and healthy. In theory, if you have a cloudy swimming pool, you can add chlorine to “shock it” and clear things up. Chlorine will get the job done.

Add chlorinating tablets or granules weekly to maintain a clean and clear pool. For salt pools, add high purity pool salt as well as chlorine products. Always maintain 1 – 4 PPM of Free Chlorine.

High alkalinity levels can cause pH and calcium scaling, which can cause cloudy water. To lower your alkalinity levels, use muriatic acid or a pH decreaser. To raise your alkalinity levels, use an alkalinity increaser or baking soda. Test and balance your pH levels.

Most people think all pool chemicals are the same and it does not matter where you buy them. This is one hundred percent NOT TRUE! Not all chemicals are the same. There is good quality and there is bad quality.

What is the best brand of pool chlorine? ›

Never use stabilized chlorine to 'shock' your pool - it is a waste of good chlorine, it will take much longer to 'calm' down to normal levels and will add loads of unwanted cyanuric acid to your water.

It all depends on you and your pool. If you have an indoor pool, or find yourself needing to shock your pool pretty often, go with unstabilized chlorine. But if you have an outdoor pool, and you want to make water maintenance easier on yourself while spending less money, stabilized chlorine tablets are the way to go.

The addition of a cyanuric acid stabilizer to pool waters treated with chlorine is necessary to protect the active life of chlorine and its derivatives in the waters from the damaging effects of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays. When exposed to UV rays, chlorine evaporates rapidly.

Don't mix bleach with ammonia, acids, or other cleaners.

Mixing bleach with common cleaning products can cause serious injuries. Be sure to always read the product label before using a cleaning product.

Bleach and ammonia are two common household cleaners that should never be mixed. They react together to form toxic chloramine vapors and may lead to the production of poisonous hydrazine.

Chlorine is added to the water to kill germs. But it does not work right away. If used properly, free chlorine* can kill most germs within a few minutes. CDC recommends pH 7.2–7.8 and a free chlorine concentration of at least 1 ppm in pools and at least 3 ppm in hot tubs/spas.

A clean pool is also one that literally feels clean. In other words, when you put your hand in the water, it should feel wet and nothing else. However, if you're noticing a slimy feeling on your hand, it means the chlorine isn't working.

Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate is naturally alkaline, with a pH of 8. When you add baking soda to your pool water, you will raise both the pH and the alkalinity, improving stability and clarity. Many commercial pool products for raising alkalinity utilize baking soda as their main active ingredient.

Does adding chlorine raise or lower pH? ›

Using liquid chlorine raises the pH of the water.

When added to water, liquid chlorine (which has a pH of 13) makes HOCl (hypochlorous acid – the killing form of chlorine) and NaOH (sodium hydroxide), which raises pH.

How Often Should I Shock My Pool? Shocking your pool regularly will help to keep the water clean and free of contaminants. You should aim to shock your pool about once a week, with the additional shock after heavy use. Some tell-tale signs that your pool needs to be shocked are cloudy, foamy, green, or odourous water.

Under normal circumstances, you should add a tablet of chlorine every 3-7 days, depending on the results of your water tests. Tablets are often the best option, as they are easier to handle and measure. Make sure to store them in a cool and dry place.

Having too much chlorine in your swimming pool water can cause it to become cloudy. Having too many chemicals in your water can throw off the delicate pH balance. Using too much of any pool chemical can cause cloudy water. High pH, high chlorine, and high alkalinity are all possible culprits.

If you're in an area where storms occur frequently, this could be a reason why you're pool is often cloudy. Sunshine: Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is very effective at diluting chlorine. Constant, focused sunlight with a high UV index could leave your pool lacking chlorine and explain that cloudiness.

A common question among pool owners is, “Can I over shock the pool?” The short answer is no. You can add more shock than needed, which is a waste of money and materials. You can also get green hair from a reaction to high levels of chlorine. In general, however, over-shocking is harmless.

Increased demand.

As COVID concerns curtailed vacations, more American homeowners put their money in their backyards. Swimming pool construction surged during the pandemic, with many contractors reporting order backlogs well into 2022. More pools mean more demand for chlorine.

You need to wait for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours after using a chlorine-based shock before you can swim. And you'll want to retest your water to make sure your chemical levels are within range. If your free chlorine is at or below 5 ppm and your pH levels are at or below 7.6, it's likely safe to swim.

It is recommended to wait at least 20 minutes to an hour after adding water balancing chemicals. You should wait 2–4 hours (or one full cycle through the filter) to swim from the moment you use calcium chloride in your pool. It is safe to swim once your chlorine levels are around 5 ppm or after 24 hours.

The most significant benefit of using chlorine tablets for your pool is its longer-term nature compared to granules. Once you get the right dosage, you shouldn't have to add another chlorine treatment for at least a few days.

Is it better to use chlorine tablets or liquid? ›

If you want to shock your pool then liquid chlorine will be the perfect fit. But if you want convenience, a stack of chlorine tablets is the way to go. It also helps that tablets are cost-effective too and have a long shelf life.

Liquid chlorine and granular shock have the same active chemical that sanitizes your pool, what changes is the strength and the way you use it. Liquid chlorine is less costly, unstabilized and comes in liquid form. Granular shock is stabilized and comes in a solid form that dissolves in your pool.

They are identical in every way, with the exception of strength. Household bleach is usually a 6% concentration (although some of the cheaper stuff is 3%), while pool chlorine can typically be found in strength between 10% and 12%. All of this is sodium hypochlorite, and works the same in sanitizing your water.

The main difference between bleach and chlorine is their strength. Chlorine is much stronger than bleach. To get your pools chlorine level to the point it needs to be to keep the pool looking clean and bright; you will need to use more bleach than you will chlorine.

This is because when you mix chlorine and algaecide together, it renders both of them useless. Hence, you should first shock the pool and wait for the chlorine levels to fall below 5 PPM.

A typical 'shock dose' is: granular chlorine at a rate of 200 grams/10,000 litres or liquid chlorine at 1 litre/10,000 litres of pool water.

It doesn't mean the chlorine won't break down, but the stabiliser keeps it active in the pool water much longer than chlorine alone can. Stabilised chlorine can reduce the amount of chlorine you have to use in your pool. Over time you will save money as you will not have to use so much.

Too much stabilizer can begin to lock the chlorine in your pool (chlorine lock) and render it useless. There is no exact level of stabilizer that guarantees chlorine lock. We can however determine a pool is over stabilized by testing for stabilizer levels and seeing if any problems are occurring.

What is this? With stabilized chlorine it would take about four days for the available chlorine to reach 0% compared to just 9 hours for unstabilized chlorine. This means stabilized chlorine lasts more than four times as long as unstabilized chlorine when exposed to the sun.

What goes first chlorine or stabilizer? ›

Add Stabilizer (Cyanuric Acid)

Stabilizer is cyanuric acid. It's important that you get this right BEFORE adjusting the chlorine levels. The right level of stabilizer basically makes the chlorine you add more effective and helps it last longer.

Baking Soda is used for raising the total alkalinity of the pool, which is the key to keeping the ph in balance. It's not a stabilizer. That's cyanuric acid.

Usually, you will only need to add stabilizer when you open your pool every year. The good news is, once you put it in, it remains in the pool, unless it gets diluted. So, if you do a water change or water has been added into your pool from either the hose or rain, your CYA level will be lowered.

Wait about 20 minutes after adding balancing chemicals to your newly filled pool, and you should be good to swim. Calcium chloride – If you have hard water issues, it's advised to wait about 2-4 hours before swimming after adding calcium chloride to soften your pool's water—or until one filter cycle has been completed.

Clorox itself recommends using between 100 and 200 ounces of regular-strength bleach per 10,000 gallons of pool water -- one gallon is 128 ounces, and many bottles of bleach are available in one-gallon or half-gallon sizes. Pool professionals tend to recommend more conservative amounts of bleach.

Total Alkalinity (TA) is the first thing you should balance in your pool water. TA refers to the amount of alkaline material in the water. And since alkaline is a pH stabilizer, the number of alkaline substances in water will affect the pH balance.