For your pool to remain clean and swimmable, it needs different chemicals. The water must be sanitized, balanced, and contain chemicals to kill algae.
Any chlorine pool needs a stabilizer. Your pool chemicals will be protected from the sun’s rays, which can evaporate up to 90% of them. Keeping chlorine and other chemicals protected will save you a lot of money.
This means you won’t have to spend much money replacing your chlorine, and your pool will stay swimmable all season long.
Whenever chlorine is free or without an intermediary, it is more sensitive to evaporation from the sun’s rays. In this case, a stabilizer is needed. Stabilizers are also known as pool conditioners. It protects your pool chemicals from the sun’s rays.
How does a Pool Stablozer work?
In your pool, the moment you add chlorine, the powerful radiation from the sun starts to work and burns it – sometimes as fast as you added it. The sun can consume up to 1 ppm (parts per million) of chlorine per hour if left unprotected.
When you increase the chlorine in your pool with a quiet aid like a pool stabilizer, what it actually does on a molecular level is quickly bind to the chlorine ions in the chlorine. These types are stronger together than they are separate: without this chemical bond, UV rays break down the chlorine, causing it to lose all of its disinfectant power.
Pool Stabilizer Functions
With that knowledge, you should also know the following functions:
- ( Multiple forms) There are two types of pool conditioner: granules and liquids. A trichlor-based PH stabilizer is also available for pool use. It is also included in some chlorine tablets.
- (During pool draining ) Under normal circumstances, applying a stabilizer to your pool at the start of the swimming season is sufficient to retain chemicals. However, if, for some reason, you need to drain the pool, you will need to add a stabilizer again.
- (Chemicals that already contain it) If you find that your pool chemicals contain something called CYA (cyanuric acid), you don’t need to add a stabilizer – CYA actually does the same thing.
- (Strike the Right Balance ) There is too much and too little stabilizer. You’ll generally want to keep stabilizer levels between 30 and 50 ppm. If you overdo it, you can render the chlorine useless and invalidate your chemical tests.
- (Regularly Test Needed) If you add a stabilizer to your pool water, be sure to test it regularly.
How to add a stabilizer to your pool?
Most manufacturers will tell you to add your CYA to a bucket of hot water first, and others say you can pour it directly into the pool.
I always recommend dissolving it in a bucket of water as it is an acid that can cause skin irritation or damage the pool liner.
Simply pour the product into your bucket and pour the mixture over the sides of your pool.
Never pour chemicals directly into your skimmer.
Additionally, these steps explain how to add cyanuric acid to above-ground pools. Following are the steps to follow if your pool does not have a skimmer:
- Fill the bucket about halfway with warm water.
- Put on your safety gear, such as gloves and goggles.
- Fill the bucket with CYA according to the instructions. (When adding the treatment, check the pool size and brand’s instructions. For 10,000 gallons of water, 10 ppm of this acid is recommended, which is equivalent to adding 13 ounces of CYA)
- Fill the pool with the mixture, covering all corners.
- Ensure the acid is mixed with the water by running the pool pump for a few hours. This is the same as stirring your swimming pool.
Precaution: Avoid pouring this acid directly into your pool if you have a skimmer.
Chlorine Stabilizer Not Dissolving – A Common Issue
It can be quite frustrating that the stabilizer won’t dissolve; this is a common complaint among pool owners. If your pool stabilizer won’t dissolve or your cyanuric acid is slow to dissolve, read on.
First, we are talking about a powder or granular stabilizer (cyanuric acid), not a liquid chlorine stabilizer. If you’re using liquid cyanuric acid, you probably don’t need to read this article because the liquid stabilizer mixes immediately with the pool water and doesn’t need to be dissolved.
The reason your chlorine stabilizer isn’t dissolving isn’t that you did something wrong. This is because cyanuric acid is not a rapidly soluble chemical.
While there are a few tricks you can do to make cyanuric acid dissolve faster, it generally takes time to dissolve granular or powdered cyanuric acid.
Tips & Tricks
When using the sock method, some people like to squeeze the sock occasionally to promote the dissolution of the cyanuric acid. It’s not proven to dissolve stabilizer faster, but give it a try.
It is important to run the pump and circulate the water 24 hours a day for the first 48 hours. This will help the cyanuric acid mix and dissolve faster.
It is essential to be patient and wait for it to dissolve before adding more cyanuric acid to the water completely. Cyanuric acid levels will continue to rise until all chlorine stabilizer is completely dissolved.
You don’t want to add more pool stabilizers than necessary. Having too much cyanuric acid in your pool means chlorine is less effective at fighting harmful bacteria. If you’ve added too much stabilizer, see our article here on how to reduce cyanuric acid levels.
Sometimes the pool stabilizer may appear to have dissolved, but keep in mind that it is unlikely to dissolve entirely in less than 48 hours.
How long after adding a stabilizer can I swim?
As with any other item you own, maintaining your pool is also important. There are times when you need to treat it by adding chemicals to stabilize your pool or make the water clear. These chemicals can harm your body, so jumping into the pool immediately is not recommended.
Although there is no hard and fast rule, you should never shock the pool immediately after adding a stabilizer. It takes 3-4 days for the pool stabilizer to spread and disperse evenly in the pool. Test the chlorine level in your water to see if it’s necessary before shocking the pool. If your chlorine level is good, wait another 1-2 days.
Never shock your pool after adding a stabilizer if the pH and chlorine levels are balanced. This wastes chlorine, which you may need to drain and backwash to fix the problem. Keep test strips at home to quickly check your chlorine and alkalinity levels before shocking the pool.
Why do stabilizers need to be balanced?
But as important as a pool stabilizer, having the wrong amount in the pool can be a problem. Your pool may have too much or too little stabilizer. And both will have adverse effects on the pool.
When stabilizer levels in a pool are too high, it neutralizes and neutralizes chlorine. This is because the total dissolved solids in the pool have increased to the point where the chlorine is impairing its ability to kill bacteria and algae.
Too much CYA can also lead to a condition called “violet” or copper cyanurate. And this causes chlorine blockage. This is a situation where chlorine tests come back negative even though chlorine is in the water.
Too little CYA will leave pools unprotected against chlorine and will be sunburned within hours. This exposes the pool to bacteria and algae. Deficient CYA levels often occur when there is heavy rain or after a large pool party where the water level in the pool drops significantly. Pool stabilizer levels do not drop easily because CYA does not deplete easily.
When not to use the pool stabilizer?
Using pool stabilizers in indoor pools is a waste of money and time. It can also affect the productivity of your chlorine. Since indoor pools are not exposed to the sun, the chemical stabilizer is an unnecessary addition to your soup and is essentially useless.
The same is true for spas. The purpose of a hot tub cover is severalfold: to keep chlorine out of your hot tub, keep the heat in, and keep unwanted debris out. The stabilizer is completely useless in hot tubs and should never be used.
Upside A Pool Stabilizer
The pool stabilizer has a job and does it well. Its job is to keep chlorine in your pool longer than it would without help. Indeed, chlorine in the presence of a pool stabilizer can last 3 to 5 times longer than without.
The increased lifespan of chlorine is a huge plus. These things don’t come cheap, and your pool always needs them. If you don’t use a stabilizer or allow your level to get too low, you’re opening Pandora’s box full of bacteria and algae that can invade your pool and disrupt your water chemistry within hours.
Adding a stabilizer to your pool gives chlorine a chance to fight the sun effectively.
The downside of Pool Stabilizer
While a pool stabilizer can provide surprising benefits by preserving your chlorine and extending its life, the downside is that the effectiveness of the chlorine (or its cleaning power) is reduced.
When the pool stabilizer is bound to chlorine, the ability of chlorine to kill (and therefore sterilize) bacteria is somewhat limited. The term used for the sterilizing power of chlorine is known as oxidation-reduction potential. This potential is reduced when chlorine and pool stabilizer are bound. Simply put, stabilized chlorine lasts longer but is less potent than it would have been in its original state.
It is important to keep an eye on the levels of stabilizers in your pool just as you would with other chemicals. If the amount of stabilizer in your pool water gets too high, there is a risk of chlorine lockout when the stabilizer actually drowns out the chlorine.
There’s a downside to the chlorine lock because it eliminates the water test and gives a false negative result, even when the pool is in use.
Summary
Now you have learned “How to add Stabilizer to Pool without Skimmer”.Stabilizers have the advantage and disadvantage of not being used as much as other pool chemicals. When you drain the facilities or re-fill them, they stay the same.
Otherwise, it’s fair game. Pool stabilizer, pool conditioner, cyanuric acid – whatever you call it, it’s a valuable addition to any outdoor pool that will keep your pool cleaner and better sanitized by extending the chlorine life put in it. Long-term savings as well.
Maintaining your pool’s chlorine levels and extending their lifespan will prevent bacteria and algae outbreaks, keeping your backyard oasis fresh and clean all year.
However, when you need to add these acids, you should always follow the manufacturer’s instructions. One product to consider is cyanuric acid, which is recommended to add early in the season.
Checking your water chemistry with test strips weekly is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to keep track of all levels in our pool. You can also take a water sample to your pool store or use a fluid test kit.
Thanks for Reading & Enjoy Swimming with your Partner!