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Ben's Pool Care Guide: Less Chlorine, More Ionization!

Pools sound like a wonderful idea but can easily turn into a nightmare! It can get costly, time consuming, and even dangerous. In some cases, it can take as much time and maintenance as a pet or child. Thankfully, through experience, heart ache, blood and tears, I have figured out how to tame the swimming pool beast!

Welcome to my pool care series where I'll take you through some tips, tricks, and overall guidance to get your swimming pool in beautifully clean condition. These guides are going to be brief and made for "easy swimming" 😉.

Disclaimer: These series of guides are 100% suggestions and opinions. I am not a professional however, I am sharing what really works for me. If this guide does not relate to your current pool setup, please consult with your pool professional prior to attempting these tips.

Let's get to it! Today's topic is what everyone thinks is essential and is the biggest headache when it comes to balance: CHLORINE! The dreaded, burn your eyes and flesh chemical guaranteed to murder microbes in your swimming hole! Sadly, it gets expensive and frustrating so, let's dive deep to save you money and sanitize your pool safely!

Why sanitize the pool?

It's pretty self explanatory for most and simply put, who wants to swim in dirty water? The problem is, chemicals can get expensive and a filter alone is not a cure all. Also, not sanitizing regularly can make your pool water dangerous and even a public hazard. Allow me to introduce you to 3 main reasons to not neglect your pool and keep it sanitized: 

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1. Mosquitoes - Everyone hates these useless creatures (aside from fish). With standing, non-sanitized pool water, you welcome a breeding ground for these blood suckers. While their bites are forever annoying, they can spread disease, some people are allergic, and mosquitoes can officially become a public hazard costing you money from your city, county, and/or state. For more information on how mosquitoes can be a public hazard, please go to the following link: EPA.GOV

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

2. Microbes, fungus, and more - Dangerous bacteria and mold can grow, if a pool is not kept to shape with sanitation and maintenance. Ear infections, E.coli, Giardia, and more can make their way from the unsuspecting dirty-ish water you're taking a risk as you for a swim.

3. Algae - It's an eyesore unless you stock trout regularly in that pond of a pool. Joking aside, it can clog filters, lower the effectiveness of circulation, make other chemicals useless, and overall just create a lot more work and money spent.

Let's get to sanitizing and saving some money!

Just about everything on the internet and the brick and mortar pool store is going to tell you to buy and dump a bunch of chlorine and other chemicals in your pool daily. I'm here to tell you, from experience and research done by my family and I, that while chemicals are necessary, they aren't needed as much as you're led to believe.

Introducing the ionizer!

Get yourself a pool ionizer, get yourself a pool ionizer, GET YOURSELF A POOL IONIZER. A pool ionizer will disinfect and kill algae without the use of harmful chemicals. The ionizer is a device charged positively with copper and/or silver ions that make their way into your water through the device. 

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

On the upside

- It kills bacteria, viruses, and algae

- Makes your water silky smooth

- Keeps mosquitos out of your water and from reproducing  (best benefit in my opinion)

- Safe for your pool lining and guests

- It saves you money on the need for chemicals

- Set it and forget it (for the most part)

On the downside

- It's slow. The process can take a while opposed to chlorine

- Chlorine will be needed depending on how often the pool is used as microbes can build a tolerance to the copper and silver.

Suggested ionizer

There are two types of ionizers, professionally installed semi-permanent ionizers that can require professional installation and can cost up to $1,500 and a smaller, solar powered, ionizer running at most up to $250. I would recommend and currently use the following affordable solar ionizer: Affordable pool ionizer I use. It's low cost and low maintenance. Just set it and forget it!

Do I still need chlorine?

Photo by Hans Reniers on Unsplash

Yes, you will need chlorine but significantly less. You can put in the normal amount of chlorine and oxidizer that you would normally put once every 2 weeks dependent on pool usage. For example, my family uses the pool 1 to 3 times a week and I use chlorine at about 3 weeks.

Overall

Through my experience, I used to have to put chlorine twice a week. Sometimes these chemicals cause cloudiness, burning, or just won't "stick" to the water enough becoming ineffective. It became expensive and I truly feel this is now the best route for all pool owners. 

Still want to stay with chlorine but want to make the most of it? Stay tuned for my next blog tutorial, "Ben's Pool Care Guide: Making Your Chlorine Stick!"