Q: What is ‘superchlorination’ and why do people keep telling me it’s necessary for my pool?
A: Superchlorination is an important part of your pool maintenance. It helps to keep your chlorine at just the right level to effectively kill off bacteria and other pool contaminants. Superchlorination or shocking the pool should be done once a week.
Once in a while, your chlorine will need a boost to continue to be most effective. This is especially important when it comes to removing ammonia from your pool. Ammonia is a problem for pools because it combines with chlorine and forms chloramines. This leaves the chlorine ineffective at killing the contaminants in your pool.
If you are testing your pool water, it might show the correct chlorine level. However, your chlorine might not be most effective. In order to boost your chlorine’s effectiveness and keep your pool as sanitary as possible, superchlorination is recommended.