Chlorine Tablets have become an efficient and dependable way of adding chlorine to small aboveground or large inground pools that can be used in automatic feeders that are attached to the effluent side of the pool pump or like most pool owners used in a floating dispenser that bobs around in your pool keeping it clean. What’s the best way to use chlorine tablets?
Unless your pool is equipped with an in-line chlorinator that holds Chl tablets use a floater-type plastic dispenser that works well with chlorine tablets inside the pool but never put Chl tablets into the skimmer baskets/filter baskets of the pool as this will cause damage to your filtering system.
When you own a pool there is a lot of work involved like testing and maintenance chores that need to be taken care of daily so it’s nice to know that there is an easy way to keep chlorine residual disinfecting 24-7 in your pool while you are busy with other things like a cold beer and a water raft. Yea Chlorine Tablets are definitely worth the cost!
How Many Chlorine Tablets in Floater
The first thing you must do is figure out the size of your swimming pool to determine how many tablets your swimming pool will need on a weekly basis based on the pool’s water capacity. For every 10,000 gallons of water in your pool, you will need to use 1 or 2- 3″ chlorine tablets.
Bigger inground swimming pools with larger surface areas need more than one floater dispenser. Check your chlorine residual and determine if the pucks are doing the job. Always keep the free chlorine levels between 1 and 3 ppm. Floaters can keep a large or small pool clean and disinfected if the tablets are changed at least weekly.
I always use 2 floater dispensers with two 3-inch pucks for keeping a strong residual for my big (40,000 gallons) inground pool because the surface area was large and the pool was busy with kids. There were summers when temperatures got very high I added a 3rd floater depending on the chlorine residual.
How Long Do 3-inch Chlorine Tablets Last in Floater
Normally 3″ chlorine tablets or Pucks will last 3- 5 days inside a floater dispenser. This depends on a few variables that can dissolve the tablets at faster rates.
- A Chlorine Dispenser sometimes will drift over to the suction skimmers where pool water will draw hardest in the pool
- The vents on the bottom of the dispenser will sometimes close down from activity in the pool
- Pool Pump run time can determine how long pucks last
- Pool water temperature- warmer water temperatures will dissolve tablets faster toward the end of the season
These variables will help dissolve the chlorine tablets faster than normal. You can’t stop these things from happening. Checking the vents and location of the floaters regularly should be added to the maintenance daily.
Can You Add Chlorine Tablets to Skimmer
No, Chlorine tablets are made up of condensed chemical acids, other byproducts binders, and inert ingredients that are meant to dissolve over days in large quantities of pool water. If you put them in the skimmers and filter pump cycles which they should then the tablets in the skimmer will sit and dissolve creating a strong residual of acid and chlorine concentrate.
Using Chlorine tablets in the Skimmer baskets or the Pump Basket introduces too much chlorine product into the swimming pool in too close proximity to the swimming pool equipment.
High levels of chlorine close to the pool pump, pool filter, and pool heater can damage the equipment. The pool heater is especially susceptible to having the copper in the heater get into the pool and ruin the paint and the pool plaster.
Used a dependable kit with fresh reagents that are changed every season for the best results before Testing Pool Water.
If you are not getting the residual work in your pool from the floaters then an in-line chlorinator can be the very best way to evenly distribute chlorine in your pool. But chlorine floaters can be added if 1 or 2 tabs don’t cut it.
Their function is to dilute chlorine mixed throughout the entire pool as far away from the swimming pool equipment as possible. The chlorine dispenser or floater is not perfectly distributing chlorine tabs as an in-line chlorinator but is still a great way for swimming pool chlorination if you set them upright and keep chlorinator tabs in them.
Chlorine Tablets Not Dissolving
- Inspect your Chlorine Chemical feeder to identify any potentially obvious reasons that the chlorine tablets are not dissolving. Check for clogs in the feeder check-valve when you add chlorine.
- For the floating chlorine dispenser, check the vents on the bottom of the floating dispenser (adjustable slits or vents) during regularly scheduled pool care- or daily pool maintenance.
- Take the water temperature. If the temperature is fine, then it might be something else.
- Switch to a different type or brand of chemical tablets. It could be that you are using the wrong-bargain 1 or 3″ chlorine pucks that were contaminated with moisture from last year and you ended up with them.
- Buy regular price reputable chemicals every year and do it strategically, so that there is none left over at the end of the season, especially chlorine products
Most often, if your chlorine tablets aren’t dissolving, it’s because there is something wrong with the chemical feeder. Most commonly, it’s because the chemical feeder is clogged up or dirty, so water isn’t reaching the tablets properly, and therefore they aren’t getting dissolved into the pool. Most likely you will notice that they are sitting there in the feeder, with not much water.
If that’s not the problem, switch to a different type or brand of chemical tablets. It could be that they are bad, or you are using the wrong ones for your type of swimming pool. Try a new product but don’t let the chlorine tablets sit in the floaters at the very least swap them out with fresh chlorine
Chlorine Tablets vs Granules
For more great informative articles on Chlorine tablets like this one stay right here at MyWaterEarth&Sky-when the swimming pool’s usage is on a different day today, the temperatures can be extreme. Which way is the best way to add Chlorine to your swimming pool chlorine ……………………………… Continue reading
JimGalloway Author/Editor
