DIY guidePool

Test and balance the pool water

Dip a test strip, read it against the bottle's chart, and adjust one thing at a time in the right order: alkalinity, then pH, then chlorine.

9 steps

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Read each product's label first. Wear gloves and goggles, and keep children and pets away.
Never mix pool chemicals. Store them apart, dry and out of the sun.
With the pump running, dip a test strip elbow-deep, away from the return jets, and pull it straight out.
Hold it beside the chart on the bottle, in daylight, for as long as the bottle says. Each pad should match a colour in its green band.
Add one product at a time. Dissolve it in a bucket of pool water if its label says, and pour it slowly in front of a return jet.
Always add the chemical to the water, never water to the chemical.
If it's off, fix the alkalinity first. It holds the pH steady, so the next step stays put.
Adjust the pH next, with the product for raising or lowering it, by the amount its label gives for your pool's size.
Add the chlorine last, let the pump run, and wait as long as its label says before anyone swims.
Test again the next day. In a heat wave, after a crowd or after a storm, test every day: the chlorine burns off faster.
Water that stays green or cloudy once it's balanced, or a chemical spill: ask Handyman for a pool pro.
Chemical in the eyes or a strong fume? Rinse with water, get to fresh air and call poison control.

Handyman says: Still green? I'll find a pool pro.

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