The Chlorine Boogieman

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I rarely go a day without dealing with myths that surround pools, and chlorine in particular. Rarely is any of it based upon knowledge or science, most often its of the old wives tale variety, whipped up into a frenzy by snake oil salesmen marketing some chlorine alternative that often has much worse issues. Here's a few:

Myth: Chlorine makes your skin itch.

Fact: I've spilled 12% sodium hypochlorite solution (three times the strength of household bleach) on my skin many times and it never itches. In most cases it's a pH imbalance that causes itch, or in the worst cases, it's a an infection caused by having too little chlorine in the water.

Myth: Chlorine dries your skin out.

Fact: There is simply not enough chlorine in a pool to do this. Even at a heavy dosage of 5ppm, the liquid volume of chlorine is only 0.0005%.

Myth: Chlorine makes your eyes burn.

Fact: Two things make eyes burn. Improper pH balance (the fluid around a human eye is 7.3-7.4pH), and pools that are not shocked to remove combined chlorine. While the chlorine itself does not cause the eyes to burn, failure to burn off the dead organic material causes chloromines to be produced which do irritate eyes and produce a strong smell. No properly maintained outdoor pool should give off a chlorine-like smell. (It's normal for indoor pools who often use unstabilized chlorine.)

Myth: Chlorine bleaches clothing.

Fact: The average load of whites in laundry is about 1000 times the chlorine concentration of your pool. If you are using the proper amount of chlorine, which for a home pool should never be more than 2ppm, you'll get more bleaching from the sun.

There are chlorine alternatives out there but few if any have proven over time to be effective. In most jurisdictions they are banned for use in public pools because they have been shown to be a health risk. Do yourself a favour and look at the science before you fall for the fear-based marketing.