What is chlorine-element?
Using chlorine in your pool is one of many ways to keep the water clean, clear and safe for swimming. Not only does it kill harmful microorganisms and bacteria in the water, it also deters algae growth and helps control organic wastes like sweat, urine and body oils that end up in the water.
How Does Chlorine Work?
When chlorine is added to pool water, it breaks down into smaller chemical compounds, namely hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and hypochlorite ions (OCL-). Testing for free chlorine (FC) will tell you the parts per million (ppm) concentration of these compounds, which will also indicate the disinfecting power of the water in the pool. FC levels should be somewhere between 1.0 and 3.0 ppm at all times.
Once these these smaller compounds meet up with microorganisms in the water, they destroy the interior and exterior structure of the cell, rendering organisms like bacteria harmless. Both HOCl and OCL- aid in disinfecting the pool, but HOCl works much faster than the OCL- ions.
On the other hand, when these two compounds come in contact with organic wastes like oils, sweat or urine from swimmers, they react to form combined chlorine (CC), also called chloramines. When the CC levels in a pool get too high, a strong chlorine odor is noticed in the pool area. Chloramines can also cause skin and eye irritation for swimmers. Contrary to popular belief, the strong smell of chlorine near a pool does not indicate a sanitary pool; it actually means there are too many chloramines (and possibly un-sanitary).