Are you a Texas homeowner? Do you own a swimming pool? Have you often heard of the term calcium chloride for pools and wondering what it is?
Calcium chloride is best known as a deicer. Americans apply more than 15,000,000 tons to streets and highways each year. This product also has a number of other purposes. It responds to moisture and temperatures somewhat differently than regular salt.
Before we discuss what calcium chloride is for pools, let us help you get a better understanding of calcium chloride by stating the facts and how calcium chloride is used.
5 Calcium Chloride Uses
1. People use this highly versatile substance to control dust on surfaces, such as gravel roads. It can serve as a desiccant as well. Additionally, some swimming pools and fire extinguishers contain calcium chloride.
2. Manufacturers put it in food and drinks to add an electrolyte or create a salty flavor. Food-grade calcium chloride also acts as a preservative. It appears on ingredient lists for olives and dill relish. Unlike the alternatives, it doesn’t add sodium.
3. This ionic compound is a natural derivative of limestone, but manufacturers can also create it using synthetic methods. The substance is considered to be a type of salt and has a completely white surface. Major sources include Europe, North America, and Eastern Asia.
4. One trait that differentiates this compound is that it’s deliquescent; it can absorb the water in moist air. Consequently, this salt may become a liquid when it gets exposed to considerable amounts of humidity. The same outcome results if it comes into contact with water.
5. An advantage of this substance is that it melts ice under a broader range of conditions than alternative products. Regular salt may fail to produce melting in very cold weather. Consumer Reports recommends using calcium chloride when temperatures range from negative 25 to five above Fahrenheit.
To sum it up, this kind of salt has a greater variety of applications than many people realize. Its wide-ranging benefits can improve safety, enhance nutrition, preserve food, reduce moisture, and minimize particulate matter levels in the air.
Calcium Chloride for Pools?
Pool owners in Texas and across the country know how important it is to maintain a healthy swimming pool. Depending on the dissolved mineral content of water, water can be hard or soft.
Calcium chloride is a salt compound of chlorine and calcium and is used to balance swimming pool water.
To maintain the pool water’s health and safety, the water must always have a proper balance of alkalinity, acidity, and calcium hardness. As the environment changes, it affects pool water. Adding calcium chloride to a pool will maintain calcium hardness.
If the pool water is hard, the excess of calcium will show as a white scale on the pool surface. The amount of calcium chloride in the water will need to be reduced. If the water is too soft, pool pipes and fixtures will start to erode. You will need to add calcium chloride to level the balance.
We hope to have addressed and provided the answers to your questions regarding calcium chloride for pools.
If you have a pool or are looking to have a new custom pool built, contact our team at Precision Pools & Spas. We will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you have about pools and provide you with a FREE consultation.