What is Chlorine Stabilizer?

• Chlorine stabilizer is a money-saving tool for your above-ground swimming pool. During extremely hot weather, chlorine dissipates faster, rendering the chlorine in your pool less effective. The role of chlorine stabilizer is to preserve the chlorine in your pool from breaking down. It lessens the frequency that you will have to add chlorine to the pool, which allows the pool user to save money over the unstabilized pools. Chlorine stabilizer is an organic compound also known as cyanuric acid and is often referred to as conditioner.
  
  

Low Stabilizer Readings

• The ideal reading for chlorine stabilizer in your pool should read somewhere between 30 and 60 ppm as indicated by a testing kit or strips. A low chlorine stabilizer reading will not damage your pool. For every 35 minutes of exposure to the sun, your current dosage of chlorine loses half its bacteria-killing capabilities. If the stabilizer is not added and you fail to apply the necessary amount of chlorine, your pool will get cloudy and eventually facilitate the growth of algae.
  
  

Raising Stabilizer Levels

• Add chlorine stabilizer treatments to your water when it falls below 30 ppm. Raise the stabilizer levels to restore the readings on your testing kit to 40 ppm. To do this, add the suggested amount of chlorine stabilizer as indicated by the manufacturer's directions. Many pool stabilizers require the pool owner to add one pound of chlorine stabilizer for every 3,000 gallons of water to raise the stabilizer levels 30 ppm. Adjust as necessary based on your pool's gallon capacity and reading.
  
  

Don't add too Much

• Some chlorine products have stabilizer already manufactured into the chlorine. If this is the case, you won't need any chlorine stabilizer. In the event you add stabilizer to these types of chlorine, it will have a negative effect on sanitizing. The same applies when adding chlorine stabilizer to your stabilizer-free chlorine system. It slows down the effectiveness of the chlorine to the point where it doesn't work hard enough to clean the water.