If you're the manager or owner of a hotel with a pool, be warned: the negative effects of swimming in a pool can go way beyond making your guests' eyes look red and bloodshot. When your pool is improperly maintained, swimming in its water can leave your guests looking like creatures from another planet, with discolored hair, nails, and teeth. Read this guide to learn how and why this happens and what you can do to fix it.
Copper
Though sometimes blamed on chlorine, an excess of copper in the pool's water can leave swimmers emerging with blue fingernails and green hair. It can also alter the color of swimsuits, potentially leaving you with some very distraught guests.
Copper can get into your pool in a couple of ways. Trace amounts of copper are often found in tap water, which usually doesn't cause a problem for swimmers. However, as the water evaporates, the copper in it remains behind. This copper builds up until it can change the color of hair, fingernails and fabric.
Additionally, if the water in your pool has a low pH level, the water may be slightly corrosive to mechanical, metal parts of your pool, like pumps and pipes. Copper can leach out of these components and end up in the water, increasing its copper levels while simultaneously causing your pool's filtering system to break down more often as the pump and pipes corrode.
To test the copper level in your pool, you'll need a copper test strip; follow the instructions on the strip to determine if your copper level is too high. If it is, you can reduce the copper level in your pool with a sequestering agent.
pH Balance
Excess copper isn't the only problem an imbalanced pH level can bring to your swimming pool. Imbalanced pH levels can inflame skin, leaving your swimmers itchy and uncomfortable. Shockingly, an imbalanced pH level can even stain and erode teeth, speeding up tooth decay and increasing your guests' risk of losing their teeth.
Tooth decay doesn't occur immediately, but whether your guest is swimming once or a dozen times, you shouldn't put their dental health at risk. In addition, an imbalanced pH level may prevent chlorine from sanitizing the pool as well as it should, so it's something all pool owners should monitor.
Monitoring a pH level is easy: pool maintenance and supply stores sell test strips that you can dip in the pool water. A healthy pH level for a pool is between 7.2 to 7.8, which will protect your swimmers from unpleasant side effects and your pool from corrosion. Maintaining your pool's pH level can be performed by you or a professional.
Hotel guests enjoy a dip in a pool as a way to relax, unwind, and enjoy themselves. Don't let yours emerge with rotting teeth and oddly-colored features: carefully monitor your pool's pH and copper levels to protect your guests and the functionality of your pool.
For more information, contact The Pool Doctor or a similar company.
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