I'm curious how you handle frequent "away" time from your pool using the BBB method (long weekends more often than not through the summer) when a house/pool sitter is NOT an option.
BBB and Frequent Travel?
- Thread starter Kymberly
- Start date
I have a Liquidator which keeps my pool chlorinated for more than a week without any attention. The only thing I need done for my pool while I'm gone is to check the skimmer for leaves if we have high wind. I've had a neighbor add a few jugs of liquid chlorine to the Liquidator periodically when we were gone for more than a week.
Once everything is dialed in, all the maintenance I do when I'm home is to skim the bugs and leaves off the surface and empty the skimmer basket.
Once everything is dialed in, all the maintenance I do when I'm home is to skim the bugs and leaves off the surface and empty the skimmer basket.
I have a stenner injection system and I leave for 3-5 days nearly every week...just making sure I have enough chlorine in the jug for the pump.
Some choose to simply use a tablet floater and place trichlor tablets in it. Now, if your CYA is highish, you may not want to do this.
I keep my CYA on the low side at the beginning of summer (25-30), and add pucks when I'm gone. About to leave for 5 days tomorrow morning and I'll toss some pucks in and bring the FC level up tonight before I leave. Last time we left for 4 days, and I came home to a clear, fairly balanced pool. Had to bring FC level up and vacuum some debris off the bottom, but it was good otherweise. My ph tends to slowly rise over time, so I make sure to push it down to 7.2 before we leave.
The other option, if you have room in the budget, is to install a SWG. It uses electricity to convert salt into chlorine. They can be expensive, though.
Kymberly:
In your situation, I would try the easiest method first...pucks in a floater or in an inline chlorinator if you have one. Of course, you will need to keep a close eye on the CYA level. This is the method I use when I go on vacation and it has worked well so far. Since most of your away time appears to be long weekends, you can remove the floaters when you return and save any unused pucks by wrapping them after they dry a bit and place them back into the bucket they came in. This will help mitigate the CYA rise. You can reuse the pucks on your next trip. The pucks I use are very slow dissolving and I could probably get about 4 long weekends in before these pucks dissolved down to a point where I needed to add a new puck or two.
As an extra measure of protection, give the pool a higher than normal dose of bleach before you leave - say at the high end of the maintenance FC range for your CYA + perhaps an additional 1-2 ppm. I would test FC right before you leave and as soon as possible when you return and record the results. This should give you an idea of the chlorine demand while you are gone and may allow you to fine-tune your approach over time.
This should work for you but, if for some reason it doesn't, then you can look into other more complex but effective options like a Liquidator, peristaltic pump, or SWG.
In your situation, I would try the easiest method first...pucks in a floater or in an inline chlorinator if you have one. Of course, you will need to keep a close eye on the CYA level. This is the method I use when I go on vacation and it has worked well so far. Since most of your away time appears to be long weekends, you can remove the floaters when you return and save any unused pucks by wrapping them after they dry a bit and place them back into the bucket they came in. This will help mitigate the CYA rise. You can reuse the pucks on your next trip. The pucks I use are very slow dissolving and I could probably get about 4 long weekends in before these pucks dissolved down to a point where I needed to add a new puck or two.
As an extra measure of protection, give the pool a higher than normal dose of bleach before you leave - say at the high end of the maintenance FC range for your CYA + perhaps an additional 1-2 ppm. I would test FC right before you leave and as soon as possible when you return and record the results. This should give you an idea of the chlorine demand while you are gone and may allow you to fine-tune your approach over time.
This should work for you but, if for some reason it doesn't, then you can look into other more complex but effective options like a Liquidator, peristaltic pump, or SWG.
BoDarville said:
I used the
extra bleach" method this weekend and it worked beautifully! I don't think I've ever come home to such a pretty pool.
No stains, no murky water, just sparkle clean. It rained while we were gone but it was also very cold (mid-60's!) which I think helped. My CYA is very low so I'm thinking of trying your puck idea - thanks for sharing! I would not have thought to rewrap and re-use them.
I am a very frequent business traveler (Platinum/Million Miler). I just fall back onto pucks in the skimmer when away and the family is home. If we are all gone, the tried and true "floater" gets me by until I return. I also monitor my CYA level so usually it's not a problem.
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