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Starting a Commercial Pool Enzyme Program

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Busy, heavily-loaded pools tend to have a lot of bather waste. Swimmers shed sweat, body oils, and yes, urine; and those are only the natural forms of body waste. Let’s not forget lotions, cosmetics, sunscreen, deodorants and the like. All of these non-living contaminants are forms of organic waste that chlorine must oxidize to remove from the water.

Unfortunately, chlorine is not an efficient oxidizer.

Chlorine, specifically its strong, killing form of Hypochlorous Acid (HOCl) is an excellent sanitizer and disinfectant. It is a relatively weak oxidizer though, as it gets reduced rapidly. Because of this rapid reduction of chlorine, we find it prudent to supplement chlorine with enzymes and [if possible] a secondary disinfection system like UV or Ozone.

Related: ORP vs. Free Chlorine: Which is more important?

Commercial Pool Enzyme Program

Before explaining the benefits of using enzymes in swimming pools, let’s first distinguish between different types of enzymes. There are many enzyme products in the aquatics business, and most of them are made for residential pools. But can you think of a residential pool that has even a fraction of the bather load and demand of a busy commercial pool? If so, they are the exception, not the norm.

Commercial pools need an enzyme that is made for the job; an enzyme that is strong enough to handle the demand and also hold a residual over time. Otherwise, you’re wasting money and still not getting results…we know this because so many of our customers who have switched to Natural Pool Products have told us so. It may be hard to appreciate the difference until you see it for yourself.

Related: Organic Waste and Carbon Management (Pillar 2)

How enzymes work

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Enzymes are protein and amino acid compounds that catalyze reactions. They pull in a specific type of substance or compound, force a reaction–usually either a combining or separation of molecules–and release. We call these substances substrates. A good commercial pool enzyme will target non-living organics (carbon-based bather waste) substrates. They break the carbon bonds and metabolize them into carbon dioxide (CO2). The rest gets broken down and digested.

Benefits of enzymes in pools

prominent controller enzyme, nsf 50 enzyme, nsf 50 chemical, pool chemicals, natural pool productsAs mentioned before, without an enzyme, chlorine is held responsible for all of this bather waste. And while chlorine is excellent at disinfection, it gets used up quickly and inefficiently when fighting bather waste and oils. Enzymes, however, devour them. Enzymes are an affordable, safe and easy supplement to help keep your pool water clean and clear. Especially for the heavily-loaded pools.

Another thing of note is NSF/ANSI Certification. The Model Aquatic Health Code mandates an NSF-50 or NSF-60 certification for commercial pool chemicals if such chemicals do not already have an EPA registration number. All Natural Pool Products are NSF-50 certified, including our enzyme SimplyPURE.

Starting an Enzyme Program

concept plus, prominent pool, natural pool products, simplypure enzyme, simply pure enzyme, commercial pool enzymeThe initial dose of SimplyPURE enzymes is one quart per 10,000 gallons (32 fl.oz./10,000 gallons). This should be applied to either the surge tank or directly into the gutter. The idea is to put the enzymes directly into circulation so they spread around the pool quickly and evenly. Sure, you could pour them into the pool, but they will not circulate as fast.

After the purge dose, we recommend a weekly maintenance dosing of SimplyPURE based on the volume of water you have and more importantly, your bather load. The starting commercial pool enzyme dose is 10 fl.oz./10,000 gallons per week. The truth is, however, many commercial pools don’t even need that much. Our recommended residential pool dose of 5 fl.oz./10,000 gallons per week is often enough. Start with 10 oz/week and dial it in from there. You may find your pool can get away with less and still have great results.

We strongly recommend using a feed pump for SimplyPURE, to automate the dosing. Prominent makes a great feed pump called the ConceptPlus pump. Many of our customers use it, and can even control it using their Prominent controller itself (see photo above of the Prominent controller). For easy math, try 7 fl.oz./10,000 gallons per week, so it’s just 1 oz/10,000 gallons per day. Automation is a beautiful thing.

Here’s a video showing how to install a stenner pump, and we will also create a video on how to install a Prominent Concept+ pump as well.