As a non-pool owner, I had no idea what it meant to shock a swimming pool until recently. I was at a pool and overheard the owner saying he needed to shock his pool that evening. Having no clue what he was referring to I inquired, “why would you shock a swimming pool?” The man informed me that shocking gets rid of the bacteria and unwanted organic material that can get in your pools water.
He also explained that when pools have the chlorine smell it’s not because of too much chlorine, but actually not enough. That’s when you know a pool needs to be shocked to kind of freshen up the water after a lot of activity.
I being the pool novice wanted to see this pool get shocked, envisioning a spectacular show of water & electricity, only to realize it’s actually a pretty uninteresting process of pouring stuff into the pool. However, I did learn that it also takes some finesse.
The video above from the team over at Swim University does a nice job of showing you exactly how to shock your pool safely and effectively. Take a look and you’ll be sure to have the info to make your pool the envy of the neighborhood and avoid that overly chlorine smell.
