While the average person does not have a need to for chlorine levels much above 3 to 5 parts per million, and even then they would typically only need to do so to make sure their swimming pools had a sufficient amount of free chlorine, but other folks have the need to test for free chlorine levels in excess of 25 or 50 parts per million on a regular basis. Below we will list a few of the places where you might expect to see a need for high range free chlorine testing.

Fruit & Vegetable Processing

After fresh produce leaves the fields it travels to a processing facility where it typically gets washed with a solution containing some sort of sanitizer such as chlorine, ozone, etc. In cases where the produce processing plant uses chlorine employees must make sure the rinse water contains a certain amount of free chlorine after it has passed over the fruit/vegetables.

Levels of free chlorine drop with an increase in biological load (contamination) and the rinse water having free chlorine left after use indicates that the produce no longer contains biological contamination on its surfaces.

Childcare Facilities

State laws require that childcare facilities clean their surfaces with properly mixed sanitizing and disinfecting solutions that contain an appropriate concentration of sanitizing or disinfecting chemicals. In many cases these facilities use chlorine bleach solutions for cleaning purposes.

As a general rule these solutions must contain anywhere from 50 to 200 parts per million free chlorine for sanitizing solutions and anywhere from 500 to 800 parts per million free chlorine for disinfecting solutions. In case like this the Waterworks High Range Free Chlorine Test Strips will not work because they have an upper detection limit of only 120 parts per million free chlorine, but WaterWorks Free Chlorine Check Ultra High II has an upper detection limit of 2,000 parts per million free chlorine and works well in this application.

Some states leave it up to individual childcare facilities to determine testing frequency of sanitizing and disinfecting solutions while other states, like North Carolina for example, have strict laws dictating how often childcare facilities must perform testing.

As of January 1, 2006, all licensed, non-in-home daycare centers in the State of North Carolina had to have the ability to test the chlorine bleach content in both their sanitizing and their disinfecting solutions. Previously the law stated that they had to test only the chlorine concentration in their sanitizing solutions. ( source )

If interested in purchasing a test kit for testing sanitizing & disinfecting solutions in a childcare facility, you can find them readily available on the Filters Fast web site.

Water Lines and Water Mains

Before a water line can go into service for the first time or go back into service after a breakage or leak has gotten repaired technicians must flush (burn) the lines with water containing a high concentration of free chlorine to clean out any and biological contaminants. Typically the technicians must test the discharge water periodically until the free chlorine level remains constant at a high level for a set amount of time.

Waterworks High Range Free Chlorine Test Strips work very well for this application.

Product-specific information about Waterworks High Range Free Chlorine Test Strips:

• Testing requires just 32 seconds
• Each bottle contains 50 ready-to-use tests
• Color chart has easily distinguished color blocks at 1, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 120 ppm
• No harmful chemicals or reagents to handle

The other day we received a question from a reader in California who asked a question about free and total chlorine readings in what she called the ‘high range’.

I work at the front desk of a company that works on water lines and the guys are always complaining about ‘powder pillers’ and so today I finally asked what a ‘powder piller’ was. I learned two things today. One never ask a cranky engineer a question unless you know what your asking cuz they’re called POWDER PILLOWS and two the guys use them to test chlorine and they are a real pain to work with on a job. Do you have something else the guys can use cuz they REALLY don’t like those things nad they don’t test very high either it seems. Thanks for helping. MandyMandy113

A very interesting question, indeed, Mandy, and definitely one many people besides yourself probably would like to have answered — especially that cranky ‘ole engineer! He probably has spent years testing for free chlorine residual in water mains using DPD-Based test kits that require users to tear open a tiny foil packet and pour a pre-measured amount of reagent powder into a small test tube or vial.

Believe it or not, opening those small foil packets, often referred to as powder pillows, and pouring their contents into tiny openings using dirty, wet hands in cold, windy conditions really DOES take a lot of concentration and effort. Who knew, right?

So anyways, Mandy, other options do exist and they have a few bonuses they your co-workers, even the cranky ‘ole engineer, might appreciate. One option in particular even has approval by the EPA for use when testing the free chlorine residual in drinking water! See how he likes THEM apples. We think he will.

The SenSafe Free Chlorine Water Check test kit for free chlorine residuals in drinking water detects free chlorine residuals as low as 0.05 parts per million in a matter of seconds and requires the user to do nothing more than dip the strip into a sample, wait a few seconds, and compare the color on the test pad to a color chart.

Now before you say, “Oh great… a test strip…” let us remind you that the USEPA has thoroughly evaluated the SenSafe Free Chlorine Water Check test strips and found them more than adequate for testing free chlorine levels in municipal water supplies.

In the past test strips had color charts with hard to read colors, but this products stands as testament to the fact that times have changed and test strip technology has progressed quite far. See for yourself.

Many people (like several of the people here at Water Testing Blog) have difficulty telling the difference between different shades of colors with red in them so the fact that Free Chlorine Water Check uses a reagent that turns different shades of blue can really make a difference in how accurately a tester can interpret test results.

Testing higher levels of free chlorine

Since Mandy’s co-workers work on water lines, they most likely need to test for higher levels of chlorine (between 20 and 50 ppm) when flushing a new line or putting a repaired water line back in service. For testing like that they probably had to dilute samples 4 or 5 to 1 so they could get readable results with their dpd-based test kits. Not a fun task, especially since they would need to carry a supply of chlorine-free water with them to dilute their test samples.

As an alternative to diluting and testing with dpd reagents, SenSafe created a dip-n-read test strip that uses the same reagent as Free Chlorine Water Check, but has the ability to accurately detect up to 120 parts per million free chlorine w/ no monochloramine interference: WaterWorks Free Chlorine High Range.

Whether you need a basic test kit for chlorine & pH, a set of easy-to-use chlorine test strips, or an electronic chlorine testing meter, you will find the product to suit your testing needs on ChlorineTests.Com.

You can also find replacement reagents for several different chlorine test kits on ChlorineTests.Com, which naturally means you will find DPD tablets on the site for sure.

And now for a few basic chlorine testing facts:

• Test kits containing only OTO as their chlorine testing reagent will test for total chlorine only.

• Free chlorine testing requires DPD-1. Adding DPD-3 to the sample after adding DPD-1 allows a person to test for total chlorine.

• The USEPA has set the maximum contaminant level for chlorine in drinking water at 4.0ppm. This limit applies to both free chlorine levels and total chlorine levels.

• When testing for parameters other than chlorine, some test kits will require the use of chlorine eliminating agents such as sodium thiosulfate before testing can take place.

• Water containing the same amount of total chlorine as it does has very little or no free chlorine.

• The difference between the free chlorine level and the total chlorine level equals the chloramine concentration.

Everyone loves a bargain, right? Well if you have waited to purchase a test kit for drinking water because you could never find one on sale, well, you no longer have a reason to wait.

FilterWater.Com recently dropped the price of Sensafe’s most popular test kit for drinking water quality, an easy-to-use test kit that tests for 15 critical water quality contaminants and does not require users to mix powders, crush tablets, or have a degree in chemistry to figure out the directions.

Considered by some the most complete do-it-yourself Water Quality Test Kit on the market, this water test kit tests up to 2 water sources for 15 critical water quality parameters and allows you to quickly and easily test your drinking water and/or check to see if your water filter does a good job.

In this particular drinking water test kit you will find the only available USEPA Approved Free Chlorine Test Strip as well as color-coded, visual, on the spot tests for 13 other parameters. The bacteria test kit, however, requires 48 hours, just as it does in kits manufactured by all other companies.

In total, the Water Quality Test Kit contains the following:

• Free Chlorine – 2 tests
• Total Chlorine – 2 tests
• Chloride – 2 tests
• pH – 2 tests
• Total Alkalinity – 2 tests
• Total Hardness – 2 tests
• Nitrate – 2 tests
• Nitrite – 2 tests
• Iron – 2 tests
• Sulfate – 2 tests
• Hydrogen Sulfide – 2 tests
• Copper – 2 tests
• Lead – 1 test
• Pesticide – 1 test
• Bacteria – 1 test

Included with the kit you will receive a chart so that you can compare your results to USEPA recommended levels is included.

And remember…

Despite the great price on this home drinking water test kit, no at-home testing can ever take the place of having a certified water testing laboratory such as National Testing Labs analyze your drinking water if you have serious reason to suspect contamination.

The Omnipure Inline Water Filter CL10ROT33-B received certification by NSF against NSF/ANSI standard 42 for the reduction of Chlorine, Taste and Odor. This filter uses granular activated carbon to reduce chlorine, taste and odor from your drinking water.

Economically priced at around $14, the Omnipure CL10RO T-33 Inline Filter has a 0.5 Micron, a water flow rating of 0.5 gallons per minutes, can handle water pressure up to 125 PSI, and has a life expectancy of 1,500 gallons or approximately 12 months.

You can use the Omnipure CL10RO T-33 Inline Filter in place of the Ametek INCF-10, Omnipure K2533 BB, and P3916.

This filter also replaces the following inline filters: Honeywell RF-66, Kenmore 46-38447 and Kenmore 4638447. The Omnipure CL10RO T-33 Inline Filter also works as Stage 5 of the 5-Stage PuROLine 5000 Reverse Osmosis System.

How Do I Know if I Have Chlorine in My Water?

Most often we hear, “How can I get rid of the chlorine taste/smell in my water?” but sometimes people have such low amounts that they cannot tell for sure if they have ANY chlorine in their drinking water and/or they have an impaired sense of smell and cannot detect the chlorine odors… but know they don’t want to drink it regardless of whether or not they can smell or taste it.

The easiest way to test chlorine levels in drinking water, Chlorine Test Strips, and at this time we recommend using test strip products from two manufacturers: SenSafe and Watersafe.

We recently learned that for a limited time only, a company by the name of Nature’s Own Water Care plans to give away free water hardness test strips so people can test their tap/well water for the presence of magnesium and calcium, two naturally occurring minerals in water which can cause ‘problems’ in high concentrations.

Typically people refer to water which contains large amounts of one or both minerals as ‘hard’ and water which contains little of either as ‘soft’.

Why you should care about hard/soft water

Soft water has corrosive tendencies and may cause pitting of some surfaces as it attempts to pull minerals out of them. The majority of people will encounter problems with hard water, though, and not soft water.

Hard water can make clothes feel dingy and scratchy, prevent soaps and detergents from properly bubbling or lathering up, cause fabrics to wear prematurely, increase the need for maintenance work on water heaters and dishwashers, clog pipes with scale deposits, and leave an unpleasant film on people’s skin after a bath or shower.

Why does Nature’s Own Water Care want to give away free hardness test strips?

National and local retailers such as Ace Hardware, Do It Best, Duckwall-Alco, Hy-Vee, Menards, Nuts and Bolts, True Value, Sears, Sutherland Lumber, and Westlake Ace Hardware carry water treatment products manufactured by Nature’s Own Water Care… and Nature’s Own Water Care manufactures chemicals that consumers can use with water softeners purchased at those retailers.

Nature’s Own Water Care providing you with a free water hardness test kit will, in theory, make some folks more inclined to go out and purchase their products in the future.

Salt-free water softeners

Read the following posting on this site for information about salt-free water conditioners.

Popular test kits for water hardness

Many people do not know why algae keep re-appearing in their swimming pool despite the use of shock treatments and superchlorination on a regular basis. Those folks may want to test their water for phosphates, a necessary ‘building block’ for algae blooms. Without phosphates algae has a really hard, if not impossible, time growing.

Phosphates can find their way into swimming pools in several different ways including, but not limited to, rainwater, water used to fill the pool, grass clippings and leaves that have fertilizer residue on them, poolside cleaners and chemicals, body fluids (which includes human waste — see “1 in 5 Americans Admits Peeing in Swimming Pools“), and vegetation (leaves, grass, etc.) which starts to break down in the water.

By removing phosphates with products such as Phos Free, a pool owner can greatly reduce their chances of having a bad outbreak of algae.

Won’t chlorine in the water keep algae from growing?

Tricky question because one would think that chlorine would stop algae from growing, but if other water parameters have strayed out of acceptable ranges or you have a whole lot of combined chlorine (instead of free chlorine) the chlorine in a swimming pool may not work as you’d hope — and the algae will grow.

We use algaecide so we don’t need to worry about algae, right?

Wrong. Most algaecides provide pool owners with an extra layer of protection against algae when chlorine levels drop too low but algaecides do NOT guarantee an algae-free swimming pool.

As an example, suppose your pool pump died over a long weekend when you and the family went camping and as a result no water passed through your automatic chlorinator for a few days. The algaecide in your pool water would slow the development and growth of algae blooms after all the chlorine got used up… hopefully long enough for you to return home, fix the pump, and get more chlorine back in the pool.

Moral of the story?

Frequent testing of your pool for critical water parameters such as free chlorine, pH, alkalinity and phosphates along with using of a good algaecide as a last line of defense makes sense if you want to keep algae out of your pool.

A naturally occurring reddish metal that appears in rock, water, soil, sediment and in the air, copper has unique physical properties which make it perhaps one of the most commonly used and important metals. You can find copper in pennies, as part of electrical wiring systems, and in plumbing. You can also find it used in some pesticides and algaecides.

As humans we require a minute amount of copper to live, but as with anything, too much copper in a short period of time and prolonged exposure to excess copper can have detrimental effects on our health.

For that reason health officials suggest testing your drinking water for copper, and other things obviously, on a semi-regular basis… especially if you live in an older home, in an area that has older water delivery lines, or if you have well water.

How can you test for copper?

Previously you would have to use a test kit that used drops, tablets, powders, etc. or have your water tested by a water testing laboratory. As usual we suggest that people use water testing labs if they have serious reason to suspect drinking water contamination and that owners of wells have their water tested by a certified water testing lab at least once a year, for occasional testing needs you can use copper test strips such as the John’s Copper product manufactured by SenSafe.

If you think you may have a need to test your water for copper, then you may also want to test for other metals such as iron, manganese, mercury, and lead.

A test kit such as the Well Driller Master Test Kit has all those tests and more.

Ready or not, folks, pool season has crept up on a lot of us and that means the time has come to start checking the pool water for sanitizer content, pH and alkalinity on a regular basis… or wind up with green, nasty, algae-infested water!

For years Pool Check 3 Way Test Strips have served as the workhorse for pool and spa owners checking basic pool water parameters on a regular basis… and right now you can pick up a bottle of 50 test strips for about $5 at TestProducts.Com.

Detection Ranges:

• Free Chlorine: 0, 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 ppm
• Bromine: 0, 1, 2, 6, 10, 20, 40 ppm
• Total Alkalinity: 0, 40, 80, 120, 180, 240, 360 ppm
• pH: 6.0, 6.4, 6.8, 7.2, 7.6, 8.2, 9.0

Just to let you know, TestProducts.Com normally charges more than seven dollars for the Pool Check 3 Way Test Strips.

For those who would like a definition of pH and an explanation of why testing for pH matters, take a look at one of our previous blog entries: “Testing for pH Levels and Why pH Matters“.

Since we have not, as of yet, posted a blog entry specifically about alkalinity, we figure we will take care of that matter right now by including a basic definition of alkalinity in this blog entry:

In a nutshell, alkalinity refers to water’s ability to resist sudden changes to its pH and to measure alkalinity we measure the amount of CaCO₃ in the water. In nature CaCO₃ typically comes from rocks and soil that water passes over in its travels.

Pool and spa owners will add CaCO₃, sometimes referred to as “Alkalinity Increaser, to counteract the basic (high pH) nature of liquid chlorine and/or the acidic (low pH) nature of most chlorine tablets and sticks.

Since pH and alkalinity have such a close relationship, and it would make sense to measure one if you planned to measure the other, the makers of the WaterWorks brand of water quality test strips created the pH and Total Alkalinity Test Strip which measures both water quality parameters simultaneously and gives accurate, repeatable results in under 30 seconds.

Directions:

1. Dip 1 test strip into a water sample for 10 seconds, then remove.
2. Immediately match pH color, then match alkalinity test pad color.

Detection Levels:

• pH: 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0
• Total Alkalinity: 0, 80, 120, 180, 240, 360 ppm (mg/L)