After you shock your pool, it’s recommended you wait at least 24 hours before making contact with the water. This is the recommended amount of time because sometimes pool cleaners are very intense, and when they come into contact with skin, it can cause serious issues. When you are shocking your pool, you are adding chemicals to make water compositions ideal for users.
So, shocking your pool will mean that you are attempting to ensure the chemical levels are balanced and won’t hurt those wanting to swim. Shocking a pool is very important to the cleanliness of your facilities and will ensure no infections will occur in those taking a dip.
24 hours after shocking your pool, it’s also recommended to test the chlorine and pH using a test kit. These test kits will be able to determine if it’s safe to swim in your pool or not and if your pool’s chlorine levels have returned to 3 ppm or less.
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How long after adding chlorine can I test?
When you are shocking your pool, odds are you are doing so for a reason. If the reason is to reset your chemical levels and clean your pool, you need to wait at least 24 hours before testing. By waiting this long, the chemicals you have added will have had the proper amount of time to circulate.
When this occurs, your pool will have a better reading because of the spreading out of these cleaning solutions. The test you will then administer will assess your pool’s pH, chlorine, total alkalinity, and calcium levels.
It’s imperative that these chemical levels are in the recommended ranges, to ensure the cleanliness of your pool. These recommended ranges are:
- pH: 7.6 to 7.8
- Chlorine: 1.0 to 3.0 ppm
- Alkalinity: 125 to 150 ppm
- Calcium hardness: 175 to 200 ppm
Additionally, a test will also measure the amount of total dissolved solids within your pool. The recommended range for this is typically less than 2,500 ppm. These tests are best completed in the morning or during the day because sometimes the chlorine levels can burn off as the day goes by and give you an incorrect reading.
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Can you swim in a pool after you shock it?
No, swimming in a pool is not recommended after being shocked. This is because the chemicals that are used for maintaining your pool are harsh and can cause skin irritation or infections throughout the insides of your body.
Do you have to wait 24 hours after shocking a pool?
Yes, it is highly recommended to wait 24 hours before entering a pool that has recently been shocked. This is because of the intensity of the chemicals that are used and the importance of this cleaning technique’s success.
However, even though it’s recommended to wait 24 hours before entering a pool that has previously been shocked, you should also wait until chlorine and pH levels are tested. This can be done easily with a test kit, as we have previously mentioned.
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What happens if you go in a pool that was just shocked?
If you go into a pool that has been recently shocked, it can cause some issues on a person’s skin and within their body. As we stated before, the chemicals used to shock a pool are very intense and are working towards a purpose. If you go and swim into the pool, you will be directly affected by these chemicals, which cause them to not work properly in the pool.
When you enter a pool that has just been shocked, you can face issues such as:
- Eye irritations
- Skin rashes
- Lung problems
One of the health problems that are most common for those who swim in shocked pools are skin rashes. Because the chemicals used to shock your pool are so intense, a person’s skin isn’t used to being exposed to these chemicals.
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A skin rash from a hot tub will showcase countless symptoms, such as a light cough, hives, irritation, itching, and sometimes discoloration. Depending on the severity of the rash, they will likely go away on their own within a few days to a few weeks.
