What Is Cyanuric Acid For Pools

Ideal cyanuric acid levels.

What is cyanuric acid for pools.

Cyanuric acid is a chemical that improves the longevity and effectiveness of chlorine in an outdoor pool. Keep in mind that the higher your cyanuric acid levels the weaker your chlorine becomes. C hlorine is the most common pool chemical and is a pool disinfectant. You can buy it by itself or as an additive that can be dropped into chlorine tablets.

It is sold as a standalone product or can be purchased as a convenient additive to chlorine tablets. High levels of cyanuric acid cya in pool water can cause issues. Determine if you need to add cyanuric acid to your pool. As long as your cyanuric acid is at a reasonable level e g.

Cyanuric acid is used in swimming pools to lower the rate of photochemical reduction of chlorine hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite ion. Cyanuric acid is a chemical essential to keeping chlorine working the way it should to clean and sanitize your pool. Cyanuric acid technically is an acid but is dissimilar to muriatic acid which the pool industry uses to manage and adjust pool ph levels. Hi gh cyanuric acid amounts in your pool are likely caused simply by applying too much of the chemical into the pool.

A common pool service household name cyanuric acid is now in the toolbox of most residential and commercial pool service professionals who are servicing outdoor pools. The cyanuric acid in your pool should be between 30 and 50 ppm although some find it more effective closer to 80 ppm. For example if your pool has a current cyanuric acid concentration of 80 ppm and you would like it to be 60 ppm then you would replace 25 of your pool s current water with fresh water. They arrived at this number based on the assumption that children will likely swallow some water while swimming and if they ingest too much cya it can make them sick.

And yet we encounter many people that are hesitant to drain or even dilute their pool to reduce cya levels. Cyanuric acid is a stabilizing agent to assist chlorine in being effective. Since it s invention in 1829 cyanuric acid has been revered as magical invaluable and essential to keeping chlorinated pools clean and sanitary. The world health organization recommends an upper limit of 100 parts per million ppm of cyanuric acid in a swimming pool.

U se proper amounts of cyanuric acid according to your specific pool type. That s why minimal cya is orenda s fourth pillar of proactive pool care.