Skin and Eye Irritation
One of the most common concerns of pool owners is the occurrence of skin and eye irritation while swimming. This is often a result of unbalanced water chemistry. By ensuring your water chemistry levels meet the recommended standards, skin and eye irritations can be treated and prevented. When the pH is too low, the water is acidic and can cause skin and eye irritation. When the pH is too high, it can cause difficult to remove scale formation on pool surfaces and equipment. At first sign of skin and eye irritation, be sure to get a complete water test done including all parameters: Alkalinity, pH, Total Chlorine, Free Chlorine, Calcium Hardness, Total Dissolved Solids, and Cyanuric Acid (stabilizer or conditioner). If any of these are outside of the recommended range, adjust as needed.
Free Chlorine (ppm)
1.0-3.0
Combined Chlorine (ppm)
0
Bromine (ppm)
2.0-4.0
pH
7.2-78
Total Alkalinity (ppm)
80-120
Calcium Hardness (ppm)
200-400
TDS (ppm)
1000-2000
Cyanuric Acid (ppm)
30-50
If all of the water chemistry levels fall within the required ranges, eye and skin irritation may be the result of high non-living organic contamination within the pool. With regular use of enzyme products to break down this non-living organic load, eye and skin irritations can be reduced and eliminated. Some products to consider include: Pool First Aid as a problem solver for pools, Pool Perfect or Pool Perfect + Phosfree as a weekly maintenance for pools, Salt Water Magic as a monthly treatment for salt pools, Spa Purge prior to draining spas, and/or Spa Perfect as a weekly spa maintenance.
