Your swimming pool is subject to a wide variety of contaminants and other substances that can make your pool unsuitable for use. To keep your swimming pool sparkling and welcoming, there are several water treatment options available. One treatment method that continues to grow since its introduction in the 1950s is ozone. Although ozone will not completely remove your need for chlorine, it does allow you to drastically reduce the amount of chlorine you need to keep the pool clean.
Reason for Swimming Pool Treatment
One of the primary reasons for treating a swimming pool is to prevent the growth of algae. Algae can quickly turn your pool from clear to green in a matter of weeks if left untreated. Treating your swimming pool also removes potential disease-causing pathogens. Your pool can also become contaminated with introduced substances like urine, cosmetics, sweat and suntan lotion, which can react with other pool chemicals to create water that can irritate the eyes or produce an unwanted smell. As such, regular treatment of your swimming pool ensures that the water stays clean and clear for your enjoyment.
How Ozone Treatment Works
Ozone is a type of unstable gas made from oxygen. However, if left alone it will turn back into oxygen within 20 minutes after creation. As such, ozone treatment equipment is typically installed on site near the pool. As ozone is introduced into your pool, it reacts with the contaminants in the pool water, helping to disinfect the pool. Unlike other chemicals used to treat a pool, ozone eventually turns back into oxygen. This means that no residual chemicals are left in the pool once the ozone has been introduced. Ozone also reduces larger unwanted particles in your pool to smaller particles that are more easily handled by your pool's filtration system.
How Ozone Is Made
Ozone is created on site in two different ways. For smaller residential applications, ozone can be made using ultraviolet radiation. The UV radiation splits the oxygen molecules, creating enough ozone to treat the pool in a more economical way. For larger pools, corona discharge can be used to create ozone. Corona discharge involves subjecting oxygen molecules to a high-voltage electrical discharge which splits the molecule. This method is more expensive but can create greater amounts of ozone for commercial pools.
Benefits
Ozone provides many benefits over using traditional pool treatments like chlorine and bromine on their own. Unlike these other treatments, ozone does not react with body contaminants like sweat and urea. This reduces the smell often associated with adding chlorine to a swimming pool and also reduces reactions of chlorine that can occur on swimmers, such as burning sensation of the eyes or dying of the hair. Ozone also has no effect on water pH levels, meaning that your pool pH will remain more stable, requiring less maintenance. Also, because ozone naturally turns back into oxygen, the product is environmentally friendly.
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