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We want to help you make informed
decisions before you buy. We do not promote one brand or product. We
want to educate and inform the general public of the large
selection of swimming pool supplies available to them today. Years
ago swimming pool owners did not have as many options available.
 Find swimming pool terms and their meanings here:
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( sorry no other terms found for the letters x, y or z )
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- Calcium Hypochlorite
This is a form of Chlorine sanitizer in powder or granular
form. It contains 65% available Chlorine and is unstabilised.
Because of this it is suitable for shock chlorination where
you need to get a lot of Chlorine into the water quickly.
Also, if the use of stabilized Chlorine has built up too
much stabilizer in the water, Calcium Hypochlorite can be
used as an alternative. Because it contains Calcium, it will
raise the Calcium hardness of the water. This can be a good
thing if you are trying to raise the hardness in a soft
water area or it can be undesirable if you have too much
Calcium and it is causing scaling problems. As it is
alkaline, Calcium Hypochlorite will raise the pH of the
water.
Calcium Hardness
Most of the hardness of your water supply is dissolved
Calcium salts due to the water having arisen in Chalk or
Limestone areas. Magnesium salts also tend to be grouped
with Calcium in this description. Some hardness is good for
your pool otherwise Calcium from sources such as tile grout
will be dissolved. Conversely, too much causes scaling
problems.
Calcium hungry
If water is very soft i.e. it contains little dissolved
Calcium from a hard water source, it will then dissolve
Calcium from other sources such as concrete and tile grout.
The use of Calcium Chloride (Water Hardness Increase) will
counteract this, as may the use of Calcium Hypochlorite as a
sanitizer.
Cal hypo
A shortened version of the name of Calcium Hypochlorite used
by some in the pool trade.
Chelate
See Sequestrant
Chloramines
Combined chlorine products are formed by a reaction between
nitrogen compounds often derived from bathers (think about
it!). These chloramines are responsible for unpleasant odors
and eye irritation. They can be broken down by raising the
free chlorine level.
Chlorides
By products in the water resulting from the use of any
chlorine product. Principal component of Total Dissolved
Solids
Chlorine
The most common sanitizer found in pools. Like Bromine, it
is a member of the halogen family. It dissolves in water to
give hypochlorous acid which sanitizes the water. Chlorine
is provided by various chlorine donors each with advantages
and disadvantages. These are:-
Chlorine products can beneficially be added at night to your
water, when there is no ultraviolet light to degrade them.
This way the chlorine has chance to work on the contaminants
in your pool overnight.
See also Bleaching Out
See also Breakpoint Chlorination
Chlorine Demand
The chlorine required to destroy the organic contaminants of
the water.
Chlorine Donor
A chemical which when dissolved in water provides a solution
of Hypochlorous Acid. See Chlorine
Chlorine Lock
A situation in which the cyanuric acid stabiliser has built
up through continuous use of stabilised sanitisers. This
slows down the rate at which hypochlorous acid forms in
solution. There are two possible remedies. Either introduce
fresh water into the pool or use unstabilised chlorine such
as Sodium or Calcium Hypochlorite.
Chlorine Residual
Any excess of Chlorine after the chlorine demand has been
met.
Chlorine Smell
The smell and irritation associated with chlorine is
probably unfairly attributed to the chlorine itself. More
likely a reaction has taken place with the amine soiling in
the pool and chloramines have been formed, in particularly
dichloramine and worse trichloramine. It is these compounds
which cause irritation, not just 2 - 3 ppm of free chlorine.
Regard this as a sign that there is something wrong with the
pool water treatment and probably it is necessary to add
more unstabilised chlorine to "shock" the pool water.
Combined Chlorine
A reaction product between hypochlorous acid and nitrogen
compounds such as amines from bather pollution.
Clarifier
A substance used to promote water clarity by improving the
filtration characteristics of the haze particles. Various
terms are use to describe clarification such as flocculate,
coagulate and agglomerate. Whatever the term, they work as
follows:
Turbidity of pool water is sometimes caused by tiny
particles which are negatively charged. As each particle has
the same charge, they repel each other and cannot coagulate
together to allow removal by the filtration system. The
addition of a cationic (positively charged) polymer to the
water attracts the negatively charged particles to it and
allows coagulation.
Comparator
A test kit for measuring some of the parameters of pool
water such as pH and Chlorine. A reagent tablet, liquid or
powder is added to a sample of the pool water. A color
develops in the sample which is the compared to a reference
color chart. From the best match of the colors, the result
can be directly read off. See also Photometer
Conditioner
An alternative name for stabilizer. See Cyanuric Acid
Conductivity
It is by measuring the electrical conductivity of the pool
water that a value for total dissolved solids can be found.
The conversion between Conductivity and Total Dissolved
Solids is Conductivity in microsemens/cm X 0.7 = TDS in mg/litre
Creatinine
A product caused by the catabolism of creatine, a substance
present in urine.
Cyanuric Acid
A stabilizer either combined with the chlorine donor (Dichlor
and Trichlor) or added separately to water treated with
Calcium or Sodium Hypochlorite. It helps protect against
chlorine loss in strong sunlight. The Cyanuric Acid range is
recommended to be 50 to 100 mg/litre. Excess cyanuric acid
and certainly over 200mg/litre should be avoided as it
causes chlorine lock.
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