Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/water-treatment

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Shock chlorination

Process used to reduce bacterial and algal residue in water

Process used to reduce bacterial and algal residue in water

Shock chlorination is a process used in many swimming pools, water wells, springs, and other water sources to reduce the bacterial and algal residue in the water. Shock chlorination is performed by mixing a large amount of sodium hypochlorite, which can be in the form of a powder or a liquid such as chlorine bleach, into the water. The common advice is that the amount added must raise the level of chlorine to 10X the level (in parts per million) of chloramines present in the pool water; this is "shocking". A lesser ratio is termed superchlorinating. Water that is being shock chlorinated should not be swum in or drunk until the sodium hypochlorite count in the water goes down to three ppm or less which is generally more than 6 hours. Commercial sodium hypochlorite should not be mixed with commercial calcium hypochlorite, as there is a risk of explosion. Although a verb for superchlorination, "shock" is often misunderstood (through marketing and sales language) to be a unique type of product.

Drawbacks

While "shocking" pools to reduce the buildup of chloramines works with inorganic, ammonia-based chloramines, in two studies it was found ineffective with the organic chloramines present in all pool water e.g. with creatinine, an organic component in human sweat. Indeed, superchlorination produces free chlorine that reacts with organic contaminants to form a variety of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) which are hazardous to swimmer health e.g. one of the worst DBPs is the noxious and volatile trichloramine (NCl3), well known for irritating the eyes nearby a pool. It has been pointed out that ozone is an excellent alternative, a much more effective oxidizer than chlorine shock.

References

References

  1. Cox, Rob. (January 14, 2011). "Shocking or Super-Chlorinating your swimming pool". Poolcenter.com.
  2. Ivaan, S. (August 23, 2023). "How Long I Have to Wait For Swimming After Shocking The Pool". Poolandtubcare.com.
  3. Webb, Scott. (May 2011). "Is Superchlorinating The Best Way To Eliminate Chloramines?". AQUA Magazine.
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

water-treatment chlorine
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Shock chlorination — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report