The Best Way To Lower CYA In Your Swimming Pool
When it comes to keeping your pool sanitized, clear and blue, chlorine is one of the most important chemicals that you will use in your swimming pool. Whereas, Cyanuric Acid (CYA), also known as conditioner/stabilizer, helps prevent chlorine loss in swimming pools. Think of it as a “sunblock” for your pool that prevents rapid chlorine loss. As much as this chemical is vital in your swimming pool, it can also be extremely challenging when the levels get too high! During the hot summer months the sun’s ultraviolet rays destroy free chlorine but having the proper amount of CYA in the swimming pool can prevent that and we hope that this post helps explain why CYA is necessary for your swimming pool and how to lower it when the levels get higher than normal recommended amounts.
Typically, the ideal amount of CYA in your pool is between 30 and 50 parts per million (ppm). If your swimming pool gets more direct sunlight, that number might need to be a little higher. If you own a salt chlorinator Weber Pools recommends referring to the owner’s manual as each system has different CYA requirements. But, what happens when the number gets much higher than 100 ppm and why does this happen? When CYA levels rise above 100 ppm, it can cause a fair amount of problems. It can actually “bind or lock” up the chlorine and reduce its effectiveness thus making it harder to kill algae and other bacteria in your swimming pool. The most common reason why CYA increases is because stabilizer is one of the main ingredients in chlorine tabs. Tabs are frequently overused and cause CYA to rapidly rise. When this happens it can be much more challenging to keep free chlorine working optimally in your swimming pool because the factor to establish the level of free chlorine needed to combat algae is the level of CYA x .075. So, if you had 100 ppm it would take approximately 7.5 ppm (free chlorine) to keep your pool algae free and that can be challenging especially when the water is warm. That’s why the recommended levels of CYA in a chlorine pool are between 30 – 50 ppm. When this happens you can do numerous backwashes in your swimming pool if you have a sand filter or DE filter but that can be extremely time consuming and also a huge waste of water. A better option is to use our Reverse Osmosis (RO) Mobile Filtration System to recycle your swimming pool water instead of draining it.
In conclusion, if you maintain proper CYA levels, it can reduce the cost of operating your pool because it prevents chlorine loss and reduces the amount of chlorine needed to properly sanitize your swimming pool. If you’re interested in learning more about how our mobile filtration trailer can help you, contact us today!