Think Twice Before Simply Tossing Chlorine Tablets Into Your Pool

Keeping up with pool maintenance is a lot of work, and while throwing a chlorine tablet straight into your pool might seem like an easy way to ensure the water is clean, it's not worth the risk. Chlorine tablets are designed to slowly dissolve over time and distribute the chemicals evenly throughout the water. When you toss a tablet straight into the water, it will sink to the bottom, and that area will be more heavily chlorinated than the rest of the pool. Too much chlorine can irritate your eyes and skin (via Ochsner Health). Since the rest of the pool will still be untreated, you may need to end up using even more chemicals. 

Not only will you spend more money on chlorine, but overuse can lead to a higher pH level in your pool and cause the water to appear cloudy. Besides potentially under or over-chlorinating your pool, putting a tablet directly into the water may damage the pool itself. High pH levels may stain or cause a build-up of calcium on the inside of the pool, and when tablets sit in the same spot at the bottom of the pool, they could bleach the liner. Chlorine tablets also contain cyanuric acid. This chemical typically allows the chlorine to remain in the water for longer, but when cyanuric acid levels are too high, it prevents the chlorine from properly cleaning the water. 

Rather than dropping the tablet into your pool, investing in a floating dispenser is the safest way to use chlorine tablets. Make sure to put the recommended number of tablets for your size pool into the dispenser and let it float around in the water. If you add too many or too few tablets to the floater, it will not sanitize your pool properly. The floater will distribute the chlorine around throughout the water and shouldn't damage the pool liner. Remember to check on your floater to ensure it isn't stuck and only releasing chlorine in one area.

While some believe that adding chlorine tablets to the pool's skimmer is another safe and effective method, it can wear out the pump and filter more quickly than normal. This is due to the highly acidic water passing through these mechanisms before the chlorine is dispersed to the rest of the pool. If you prefer to simply drop chemicals into your pool, chlorine granules are a better option than tablets. Granules can be poured directly into your pool to treat it quickly because they dissolve more easily than tablets. However, you decide to chlorinate your pool, ensuring the water has properly balanced chemicals and pH levels will keep you and your pool safe.