you are smelling chloramines that form when free chlorine is reacting with organics in the water. they can be volatile and will smell. usually if you shock the pool to like 10ppm it will destroy all this combined chlorine and or chloramines and this smell will cease.
Tim, I've never had to shock our pool as I've never allowed it to have a problem and I keep all the levels correct. Although just slightly on the plus side for chlorine.
despite what alot of people you cant really smell chlorine at a reasonable pool concentration. what happens tho, say you get like 100 kids pissing and sweating into a pool is you get a high load of combined chlorine in the water really fast, and you can smell that, defiantly.
While I have to be really close in our pool, yes I can smell it, even if the kids haven’t been swimming for weeks, maybe you’re nose isn’t that sensitive. BTW there’s never been more than a few kids in our pool and you say 100 kids haha, I'd have moved long ago.
i hate it when people just say... NO YOU CANT SMELL CHLORINE...yea, open a bucket of calcium hypo tell me you cant smell that. lol. bleach too, pool grade bleach... the 12% stuff has an odor 100% i dont get why people say that.
While I wouldn’t like to make enemies here, I hate it when someone tells me I can’t smell something when I know I can. When I’ve proven this to myself with various orchids I’ve grown near our pool … I’ve taken care of our pool over 17 years and I have no doubt what I can and can not smell, while it may be a reaction, I can smell it when no one’s even been in the pool for months (winter) …
i whole hardheartedly disagree with the chlorine phobia that is so prevalent in the gardening community for a bunch of reasons.
imo don't worry about it, you are just wasting your time.
I have no chlorine phobia but certainly can smell it, sure it’s not as strong as the smell from the jug. BTW below is the plant that never bloomed for years next to the pool and as I said before within a month just 15' away from it in the same lighting it now constantly blooms. I've noted this with various orchids I grow and have had the same results, so all I did was pose a question about peppers (which may very well have no effect on them) and you reply with insulting my nose, lol
Edit: I’ve checked with the rest of out family members and I’m the only one that can notice it and I have to be very close to the water level to smell anything. I double checked and water is around 3 to 4 ppm. Sure I understand that when the pool water is not properly sanitized, free chlorine can combine with ammonia in the pool water creating chloramines that smell but I still say I can smell something even though I’m sure we don’t have a chemical issue.