How to deal with an extended power outage?

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ptbrunet

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Jun 20, 2012
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I'd like to understand what I would need to do to maintain my pool in the event of a prolonged power outage.

I chlorinate with bleach and a 15 gal peristaltic pump. I should have enough bleach on hand to manually dose the pool for an extended period. I usually have 3 bottles on hand but I suppose I should have more.

Since the pump and DE filter wouldn't be on and I assume there is no manual equivalent, what are the resulting issues and possible resolutions.

My phosphates are high but I've never worried about it because I've never let my FC get low enough to start a bloom. But should I reduce my phosphates just in case?

I would likely also have a water supply issue in such a scenario. Is pool water safe to drink, either by itself or run through a hiker's water filter?

What other issues would there be? How would those issues be resolved?
 
Hello,
If you can't circulate with the pump, manually add chlorine and brush the sides of the pool, it will mix the chlorine and kill the nasties (algae). You'll have dead nasties that will need to be vacuumed out/filtered, but it sure beats an algae bloom. When the power comes back on, you'll be able to filter/vac out the dead algae.

No need to reduce phosphates if you maintain the proper free chlorine level. (Unless you want to spend/waste money just because.)

Depends on the filter rating, what it filters, but should work in a pinch.
 
A lot depends on what sort of resources you have on hand, a standby generator does let one sleep easier about such things, but last summer I had a couple of weeks that I could not use my pool pump due to an underground suction side leak, so I used my 4 HP diesel powered water pump and a slime bag to filter the water, running it for an hour or so each day. I was just utilizing what I already had on hand though, my expense other than fuel was limited to a couple of PVC pipe fittings to adapt the pump output line to a T fitting that forced part of the output through the slime bag (the pump is rated about double the GPM as the slime bag)
 
ptbrunet:

Not sure where you are located (may consider putting nearest major city in your profile), but if you keep your pool open/operational year-round and the power goes out during below freezing weather, you will want to locate the drain plugs on all your pool equipment (pump, filter, heater, etc.) before you need to use them. Note that some individual components may have more than one drain plug. If the power goes out for an extended period of time when temps are significantly below freezing, you will want to drain your equipment as the above-ground plumbing is most susceptible to freeze damage.
 
Thanks for all the comments.

One more question: Let's say the pool water quality has degraded and I have collected 5 gallons that needs to be sanitized for drinking. Could a trichlor tab be used for sanitation and what would the proper sanitation process be? It seems a tab would be too large for 5 gallons so maybe submersing it for a certain amount of time would be how it would be done. Or maybe better would be to collect more water, enough to be suitable for a single tab. Since tabs dissolve so slowly maybe this would not be a very effective approach to sanitizing water.
 

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As the CDC notes in this link, for emergency disinfection of drinking water one can add 1/8 teaspoon of regular unscented liquid household bleach for each gallon of water, stir it well, and let it stand for 30 minutes before you use it. When bleach was 6% concentration, this would be 10 ppm FC, but with 8.25% bleach you'll get almost 14 ppm FC which is also OK. However, as noted in the other threads pool water that is chlorinated still has chemicals and a salt level that make it only a last resort for drinking water. If you have a hot water heater, you can use its water in an emergency, though bottled water would be better in case the water supply gets contaminated.

The Berkey filter will remove nearly everything but salts. As I noted in a post i one of the threads you found, Reverse Osmosis would remove even the salt.
 
I can't see sanitizing drinking water with trichlor. That just sounds like a bad idea, but I've read you can use calcium hypochlorite. You basically mix it with water to make a bleach like solution, than the process is the same as using bleach. It made me realize that the bucket of calcium hypochlorite I own could sanitize an insane amount of drinking water.

I keep bottled water for emergencies.
 
This is a great thread.

Question so when the power goes off should I power down equipment in fear of when the power comes back on? Surge of electricity might damage equipment. Or will breakers be able to handle this?

Besides maintaining my chlorine level and brushing is there anything I could do without a power generator?
 
I don't think anything is gonna make bottled water go bad per se. BUT..you'll be better off storing it in a dark water container which is thicker against leakage. As long as you can filter then boil, or just boil water.......you should be good to go within reason. I have a Berkey Light filter, several Berkey bottles and a couple different other portable filters as well in backpacks (should I have to leave) as well as a portable stove (or two). Sawyer makes some nice filters.
 
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