swimming pool chemical- cyanuric acid
TRANSCRIPT
Cyanuric acid or 1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triol is a white, odorless solid finds use as aprecursor or a component of chlorine products used in swimming pool.Cyanuric acid is classified as “essentially nontoxic”. Cyanuric acid is marketedas a chlorine sabilizer for swimming pools.
Free chlorine can be protected from theeffects of UV light in sunlight by the additionof Cyanuric acid, sometimes called stabilizer.Cyanuric acid is only recommended foroutdoor pools and spas where sunlight canbreak down free chlorine quickly. There isNO chlorine benefit to feeding Cyanuric acidinto indoor pools and spas. The recommendrange for swimming pools, the optimal rangefor Cyanuric acid is 30-50 ppm. At levelsabove 50 ppm, pools reach the point ofdiminishing returns where the reduction inchlorine effectiveness and cost of buyingCyanuric acid outweighs the benefits. Somehealth departments regulate the level ofCyanuric acid in a pool, some indicating amaximum of 30ppm and others as high as100ppm.
There are two ways by which Cyanuric acid is introduced into the pool. The first is by theaddition of Cyanuric acid, the second is by the use of stabilized chlorine. StabilizedChlorine tablets come in three forms from three and one inch circular tablets, a stickform and finally a granular form.
Regardless of the form, the chemical composition is either dichlor or tri-chlor, theseproducts when consumed breakdown to Cyanuric acid.Some health departmentsregulate the level of Cyanuric acid in a pool, some indicating a maximum of 30ppmand others as high as 100ppm.
For whatever reason to reduce the Cyanuric level there is essentially three ways, Thefirst is to drain part of the water from the pool and replace it with water that does notcontain Cyanuric acid (Tap Water). The second is to use another form of chlorine thatdoes not contain Cyanuric acid, this prevents Cyanuric acid from going higher andwith rainwater and backwashing over time this will bring down the Cyanuric acidlevel. While there is a third way is to reduce Cyanuric acid level the use a chemicalknown as melamine is not recommended. Introducing Melamine into the pool willcause the water to become cloudy and most filters would have difficulty in removingthese very fine particles. One pound of melamine will reduce the Cyanuric acid levelby 12 ppm in a 10,000 gallon pool.
Controlling the type of chlorine you use is the best way to control Cyanuric acid levels.Switching to a non-CYA based sanitizer such as liquid chlorine, liquid bleach, calciumhypochlorite or lithium hypochlorite will lower CYA only because these chlorineproducts do not contain Cyanuric acid.
Testing for Cyanuric acid:
Melamine combines with cyanuric acid and related compounds to form melaminecyanurate. This compound forms a precipitate, which makes the water cloudy,how cloudy the water becomes is a measure of the Cyanuric acid level in the pool.
