You may love to soak up the summer sun, but your pool's chlorine doesn't. The sun can heat up your pool, but its UV rays eat up chlorine before it has a chance to do its job - keeping your water clean! Similar to applying sunblock to protect yourself from these harmful rays, your pool could use some sunblock, too.

Now, how can you protect your pool from the sun? While covering your pool would be the best option, that is just not realistic for most pool owners. This is where chlorine stabilizer comes into play.

What is Chlorine Stabilizer?

It goes by a few different names such as pool conditioner, stabilizer, and Cyanuric Acid (its formal name). Cyanuric Acid works as a stabilizer by binding to chlorine, protecting it from UV breakdown, and extending its life. These days, chlorine has been experiencing shortages and high prices, so a stabilizer is a great way to prevent waste and save you money!

How to use Chlorine Stabilizer:

To determine how much chlorine stabilizer is already in your water, you need to check your Cyanuric Acid level or CYA level. You can test this by using test strips, a liquid test kit, or taking a water sample to your local pool supply store. Just make sure the test kit you buy can check CYA levels!

Stabilizer comes in liquid or granular form that is applied to reach an ideal level of 50 ppm (parts per million) or in a range from 30-80 ppm. If you end up with too much cyanuric acid in your pool your sanitizer will be less effective in killing bacteria and the only way to lower it is to dilute your pool by adding more water.

Note: As long as you maintain proper Free Chlorine levels around 3 ppm, the stabilizer will help maintain chlorine in your pool!

The choice between using a liquid or granular chlorine stabilizer comes down to cost. Liquid stabilizer is more expensive, but you will not have to wait as long for it to dissolve, meaning it can start working immediately. Granular stabilizer will give you a greater bang for your buck and it comes down to what speed you would like it to dissolve in your pool. Either one you choose, we recommend purchasing from Accu Chem or OnGuard brands!

So with summer heating up and chlorine shortages present, now you know how to easily save chlorine loss from your pool. While you’re putting on your own sunblock, remember to give your water a dose of chlorine stabilizer, too!

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