Free Chlorine Vs Total Chlorine Vs Combined Chlorine. Total chlorine is basically the sum of free chlorine and combined chlorine. Should be equal to free chlorine most of the.
Combined is the chlorine that has mixed with organic matter that has mostly been used up; Total chlorine is simply the sum of the free and combined chlorine in the pool water. Luckily, total chlorine is an easy enough concept to grasp.
Free chlorine is the chlorine that is present to kill microorganisms, while total chlorine is free chlorine plus the combined chlorine.
Chlorine in water comes in two basic varieties: Fac + cac = tc for example, if your free chlorine (fac) levels and total chlorine (tc) levels are the same, then there’s no combined (or used chlorine) in your water and there’s no need to add any chemicals today. The goal is to achieve a higher level of free chlorine than combined chlorine. Once you better understand what the differences between free, combined chlorine and total can help you make sure that chlorine is helping your pool and not hurting your swimmers.
