Vacation - What to do with the pool

[dlaslo]

We are going out of town for a week and a half and are debating what to do with the pool

Suggestions so far are

1) Slam the pool with clorox to maybe 20 ppm and put the winter cover on.
2) Use tri-chlor pucks - have a neighbor replenish every 3 days and deal with stabilizer buildup on return
3) Have the neighbor dump a 120 oz jug of clorox into the pool every 3rd day.

Thoughts?

Current numbers are
pH=7.5
FC=7
cc=0
TA=100
CYN=42

and won't change much from these values

 

[kimkats]

I would do the combo of pucks and adding bleach just to be on the safe side.

Nice to have friends who will help.

Kim

 

[pooldv]

I would do all 3. Raise FC to shock level, toss some pucks in the floater and have a neighbor pour in some bleach. Your CYA probably needs to come up a little anyway. Unless you live in the cold part of TN!

Also, if your PH moves around much then adjust it to 7.2 or 7.8 depending on which way it moves.

 

[dlaslo]

I'm wondering what happens to FC if I bring it up to shock levels and then cover the pool. Will it last a week and a half ?? I will also have a neighbor put a couple of pucks in the skimmer every 3 days.

Anyone have any real life data ??

 

[Texas Splash]

Depending on the type of cover, it can help to reduce FC loss during the day. It may not hold FC on its for 1.5 weeks, but it should help you. Pucks don't dissolve all that fast, so simply adding a couple in a floater should be fine. I wouldn't put them directly in the skimmer. If your pump was to go off, they could cause a problem there. But adding the liquid bleach every 2-3 days (regular, generic is fine) would be a good thing as well to ensure anything lost (FC) is replenished.

 

[Agent99]

LOL, our pools are like another pet, eh?

We often go on 3-4 week vacations (wife and I work for the same company...LOVE the amount of vacation we get per year! ).

The Liquidator plays a big role for us (I max it out for chlorine...8 gallons). Pool cover as well although it only keeps tree stuff out but that still helps a ton. I turn off the solar heating and due to inactivity in the pool, I can run the VS pump very low.

I also have from back in the puck days, my plumbed-in puck feeder that can handle about 6 or 7 pucks IIRC so I'd fill that up as well.

And as a final, SLAM the pool. Now go enjoy your vacation and don't worry about your pool pet.

 

[pabeader]

Just me mindful of the CYA in the pucks. Hopefully, you have some room there.

 

[chem geek]

It depends also on your pool water temperature, but if your pool cover is opaque or mostly opaque then perhaps your daily chlorine loss will be roughly 1 ppm FC at say 10% FC/CYA levels. So let's say that this is 20% of the FC level for your particular CYA. 10 ppm FC after 10 days would be 10*(1-0.2)¹⁰ = 1.1 ppm FC. So you can't really go more than a week even if you were to start with significantly elevated chlorine levels. Using Trichlor pucks in a feeder to supplement the chlorine in addition to starting with it elevated is probably the way to go.

 

[dlaslo]

Well.....it seems to have worked. I started with an elevated TC and had the neighbor add one puck a day. We also had significant rains and the neighbor took it on himself to operate the filter backwash (and leave the electrical box open to the elements).

But the pool was crystal clear when I returned after 12 days. We then when on a shorter vacation over the Labor Day Weekend and this time only used an elevated TC. It looks OK except for some leaf vacuuming needed. And the cc is 0.5 ppm (was always zero)

This afternoon I will check the FC at dusk and next morning. But Im guessing it will be OK.

I think we lucked out.

 

[ITR]

I normally just bring the FC up to 8-ish and the pH down to 7.2 (since it rises on me) and then add a few pucks to the auto-chlorinator. A couple of pucks will not raise your CYA enough to even notice....in the neighborhood of 3 ppm. Mine is an inline chlorinator so it will cover the spa and pool. If you don't have one in-line and use "floaters"...and are worried about the pump not running like Pat said....I would suggest putting a floater in the spa as well (tied to something of course so it doesn't move out of the spa/spillway. Personally I don't go that far...but Pat did make me think of another "worst case scenario" I haven't considered before.

 

[dlaslo]

I spoke too soon. There is a stain around the floor perimeter. Argh.

Update: It seems to be dirt.....not algae