Can I wear my engagement ring in a swimming pool?

No. Not in a chlorinated pool, not in a saltwater pool, not in a lake. When someone asks can I wear my engagement ring in a swimming pool, I give them the same warning I gave a client named Daniel last August: only if you're comfortable losing it or paying to rebuild the setting.

What the water actually does

Chlorine is the main problem. It doesn't dissolve gold, but it does attack copper and nickel in the alloy, especially 14k white gold. Platinum resists chlorine pitting better, but it still gets scratched by pool coping and sand. Over time you get pitting along the prongs, then a prong snaps when you snag a towel. I've seen it happen often enough to mention it every June.

A well-maintained pool runs 1 to 3 parts per million free chlorine. That's low enough that one afternoon won't usually ruin a ring, but repeat exposure and wet/dry cycles do the damage. Saltwater pools generate chlorine too, and the salt itself leaves a fine abrasive grit in every tiny seam. If the ring has pavé, the little beads holding those stones are exactly where the grit collects.

Hot tubs are worse. Higher heat, higher chlorine, and more dissolved solids. I'd take a pool over a hot tub if I had to choose, which I don't.

The diamond won't dissolve. That's not the point. After a summer of swimming twice a week, a prong that once held a 1.2 carat stone firm in place can be worn to a third of its original thickness, and you will not feel the difference until it fails. The setting is what fails, and it usually fails in water.

The bigger risk is losing it

Fingers shrink in cool water. A ring that felt snug on the pool deck can slide off in cool water after a few laps, and the water is exactly where you will not see it go. Daniel's ring was a 1.03 carat round solitaire in 18k white gold. It slipped off in four feet of water. He never found it. Pool drains and sand do not give things back.

If you already wore it in the pool

Rinse it in warm water with a few drops of plain blue Dawn. Scrub gently with a soft children's toothbrush around the prongs. Then bring it in for a prong check. I charge nothing to look, and I'll tell you honestly whether the setting is still doing its job.

A typical 18k white gold solitaire setting runs $400 to $900 depending on size and melee. Losing the stone because you wanted to keep the ring on in the water is a much more expensive way to learn that.

Leave the ring in the room safe. Or in a hard case in your beach bag, zipped. The pool will still be there when you get back.