Pump Died - Should I shock?

[h2o]

I noticed today that my pump wasn't running. It could have quit either yesterday or today. I called up the home warranty company and set up the repair. The only problem is that they won't be out until Wednesday. That's 5, possibly 6 days with no pump and no circulation and we had heavy rains on Thursday.

My question is...should I go ahead and shock the pool to boost the chlorine level in hopes that I won't have an algae bloom or should I just wait it out?

 

[AnnaK]

Sorry to hear about your pump.

Shocking now is what I would do in this case. I would handle it as though I were going on vacation with the pump turned off. You have the benefit of being there to keep an eye on it. You can mix the chlorine in manually and you can brush daily to discourage algae patches.

 

[TizMe]

I agree with AnnaK. We had pump issues the begining of this swim season and couldnt use it for several days. Just make sure you "stir" up the pool water good and get some good motion going in the pool when your pouring in the bleach. It will get mixed in quicker.

Good Luck!

 

[JasonLion]

Anything you can do to get some water circulation happening will help. If you have a cover pump or sump pump you can use to circulate a little water that is much better than just letting things sit.

 

[h2o]

I shocked this morning. Just for grins I tested the chlorine before I did and, as I figured, FC was 0. I also went down and picked up a floater and threw it in there with some pucks.

I don't have any kind of sump pump so hopefully I won't have a green swamp on my hands come Wednesday.

 

[h2o]

Update:

They came out yesterday and replaced the pump. All in all, it wasn't bad. I was beginning to see algae form on the pool walls, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. I let the pump run all night and I have watched my filter pressure go up about 8psi overnight. I will backwash andd recharge the filter once I am sure the algae is gone.