How To Lower High Chlorine Levels In Pool Water

Written By Timothy Te

30th November 2018

Oh no! Your pool water may be harmful to swimmers and cause skin and eye irritations if you Chlorine level is too high. Luckily, you're in the right place! We can help you fix that.

Chlorine is a chemical that is in charge of keeping your pool safe to swim in by killing nasty algae and bacteria, which in turn helps every other pool chemical do their job properly. Sanitisation first! Though, too much can be detrimental.

Before you can fix, maintain or enjoy your pool, you have to test it! Test your pool water using the Aquachek 7 in 1 test strips. These handy test strips test your pool water quickly and accurately, letting you know in seconds if you chemical levels are too low, too high or just right.

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View our ultimate guide to testing your pool water here.

Too much chlorine in the water can be harmful to swimmers and cause skin and eye irritations. Green hair incoming!

Reasons it could be high:

Your pool has been over dosed with too much liquid or powder chlorine.
Your Chlorinator is turned up too high.
Your TOTAL chlorine level is high (and your FREE chlorine is low) but ineffective due to a “chlorine lock”, which happens when too much Cyanuric Acid is added to the pool.

How to fix it?

You can get a “chlorine remover” chemical if it is urgent. Though, this is expensive and may end up costing you an arm, leg and your first-born. If it's not urgent, the sun will naturally dissolve excess chlorine within 3-5 days in exposed sunlight. (Note: Mr Pool Man doesn't stock chlorine remover online for the simple reason that by the time chlorine remover gets to your door by courier, your chlorine levels should have gone down naturally, we're saving you money!)
Turn your Chlorinator down to its lowest setting (10-20%)
If you're manually dosing your pool Liquid Chlorine or Granulated Chlorine, stop adding Chlorine until it is back down to normal range on your test strip. Avoid swimming, or wear goggles if you do.
Check Stabiliser (UV Blockout) levels and ensure that levels are a max 30 - 50ppm on your test strip. If higher, caution will need to be taken to remove water from the pool and refill with fresh water. (Remember, when you remove pool water and refresh it with new water, you'll need to rebalance EVERYTHING and not just chlorine levels, so be extra careful when doing this.)

Click here for our comprehensive guide on fixing your pool water.

Conclusion

An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, this is especially true with pool chemicals. For more information on pool chemicals and what they do, don't forget to check out our Ultimate Guide to Pool Chemicals.

Do you have any questions about this topic or the featured products? No worries, we're here to help! Drop us a question down below and we'll get back to you ASAP.

Happy swimming :)