Is Rain Harmful to My Pool?

A question we often get from our pool service clients is whether or not rain is harmful to their pools — especially after a heavy rainfall from a tropical storm or hurricane.

The answer is that rain isn’t necessarily harmful, but it can affect your pool’s water conditions.

Heavy Rains Can Affect pH

Under normal conditions, the pH of the water in your pool is balanced properly by your pool service. But when a lot of additional water is added to the pool from heavy rains, it can throw this balance off.

Rain tends to be naturally acidic, so the pH of your pool sometimes will be lower after a heavy rainfall. But unless your area received several inches of rain in just a few hours, it’s probably not going to affect the comfort level of swimmers.

Chlorine Dilution

Another potential side effect is that the chlorine levels of your pool can be diluted from too much rain. This is why after heavy rains you will sometimes see discoloration in the water.

Chlorine in pool water kills off bacteria, algae, and other microorganisms. When the chlorine is diluted, it can’t work fast enough.

This type of effect from rainwater generally only occurs when there is an extraordinarily heavy rain. The chemicals in most pools are strong enough to handle typical rainfalls. The swimming conditions of your pool should be fine most of the time.

It’s only when there are strong, fast storms that dump a lot of water very quickly in your area that you need to be concerned about. Everything else should be fine.

Call for Service

Fortunately, in South Florida, these types of heavy rains are not common. If your pool should get flooded with a lot of rainwater, simply call us and we can come out and re-balance the chemicals in your pool.