Another new owner vacation thread

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NewHomeowner

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Jul 16, 2014
104
Westport, CT
Hi everyone! Sorry to start yet another thread on this but I searched and couldn't find an answer...

Basically, since switching from pucks to liquid bleach and testing daily with my TF100, my water has been crystal clear and low maintenance.
I'm going away for vacation for a week, and there's no one around who can help add bleach.

I wonder what my best bet would be, since I don't want to add pucks again. Going through the whole water drain refill thing and worrying about hydrostatic pressure,.. not going through that again...


1. what about be the issue if I shocked up to some ridiculous amount, like 50 or 60 ppm FC before leaving (gunite pool). At 4-5ppm FC loss due to sunlight a day, i'd still be able to get through a week, I think. This would be the same cost as buying several quarts of poly60 or adding anything else... unless I'm thinking about this wrong and the FC loss is a percentage loss (e.g. 5% a day) and not a consistent number (e.g. 5ppm a day)
2. i can bring the FC up to some mid range number, like 30ppm (my cya is about 45 and I recently had a bout with mustard algae) and then add some poly60.
3. suck it up and add borates and acid (although i'd prefer to do this at the beginning of next year, since the pool will be closed next month).

Any thoughts? Thanks everyone!
 
Forgot to add that I don't have a solar cover nor do I have a liquidator... Preference would be option 1 since I've been maintaining 10ppm fc for past 2 weeks so wouldn't take much more bleach (12.5% liquid chlorine from BJs wholesale only $14 for 4 gallons).
 
You are correct, the chlorine ppm loss per day is a percentage of available (not bound to CYA) chlorine, not a linear loss. I would be afraid that before a week was out you would be out of chlorine.

Thoughts -

Is there no one who could just stop by mid week and pour in a couple of gallons of chlorine? No testing, just pour. It is not the best solution, but a down and dirty way to get through the week.

If your CH is OK, then you could use Cal Hypo tablets. They are hard to find and are more expensive, but can be used. It is my understanding that "Sustain® 3-Inch Blue Chlorinating Tablets" are Cal Hypo as well as CCH Tablets.
 
Best bet would be to cover with an opaque cover and bring to shock level. Should get you through the week without problems. Might also want to run the filter a bit daily. I did exactly this a month ago, came back after 11 days and everything was still crystal clear.
 
Also, if you could edit your profile to add the state it would help. This is one of those situations where location may be a factor. "Westport" could be in one of three states, but there may be more.....
 
Wow, that was quick. Thanks for the replies!

@GuinnessPhish: CYA at ~45ppm (subjective black dot test)

@tim5055: DOH! That's what I was afraid of... I must've just been burning bleach by maintaining the 10ppm FC i've been doing as of late. No wonder folks keep it at the levels dictated in the best guess chart. Didn't know about Cal Hypo tablets,... other than the suspected expense, folks should really use those instead of CYA pucks then when they have no choice... Will search for these!!

@crimsondr: The pump is on a timer and currently runs about 7 hours a day from 11am to 6pm. Unfortunately, I don't have an opaque cover (other than pulling out loop loc, which is an undertaking i've never attempted myself)... I can understand that the cover will protect against loss of chems, but others on this board post that leaving a cover unmanaged might cause more problems that not (e.g. sunlight and uv unable to help resolve any problems that might otherwise come up. This is a good suggestion though, as a cover would also help to keep leaves out of the skimmer, since no one will be cleaning it for a week...

@tim5055: done. I'm in Connecticut, so northeast weather. Been mild summer, around 80's during day and upper 60's at night.
 
I believe leaving a cover on for extending periods would only cause an issue if you had no circulation (ie. not run the pump). Otherwise it should be fine and has the benefits of keeping out dirt/leaves and blocking UV so that your chlorine is not burned off. After my trip I was a couple FC above the minimum. I doubt I would have been without the cover.
 
Thanks GuinnessPhish. I had really wanted to avoid using tri chlor, as I recently went through an ordeal of draining and refilling >50% of the pool to get CYA below 100ppm. We have a septic system so there's no sewer and mine is a closed system so there's no backwash or way to discharge water other than a utility pump run for days at a time and slow refilling via a hose. Furthermore, I don't have hydrostatic valves in my pool so I was so afraid of the gunite popping out.... I'd rather avoid the mess if I can.

I do have a floater,... so gather....
at 8oz 3" tri chlor pucks, would give 1.1 FC and raise CYA by 0.7ppm
To maintain 6ppm FC, I'd have to add about 6 pucks, assuming they last a week in a floater, adding 4.2ppm CYA. Coming back, i'd have to replace 8% of my water... (which again, is a painful process given my set up) SUCKS...

- - - Updated - - -

Also, no one commented on the poly60 approach. What about option 2, of raising to shock level and then adding 2 quarts of poly60? Leaving for 8 days,... so if my FC should get to 0 on day 5 or 6, would the poly60 help get me over the line?
 

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crimsondr said:
I believe leaving a cover on for extending periods would only cause an issue if you had no circulation (ie. not run the pump). Otherwise it should be fine and has the benefits of keeping out dirt/leaves and blocking UV so that your chlorine is not burned off. After my trip I was a couple FC above the minimum. I doubt I would have been without the cover.
Click to expand...

Thanks @crimsondr. This seems like the most economical option, and sounds like can't hurt anything (even in addition to the other options). Guess i'd better hurry up and go and get a Loop-Loc Installation Tool. Did you just shock, cover, filter, and walk away, or did you also add algecide or any other additives?
 
To corroborate with crimsondr, found this other thread and response from respected ChemGeek.

"Re: Polyquat algaecides: Mode of Action
The best thing to do would be to have a mostly opaque pool cover since that would eliminate most of the chlorine loss and let you shock to a higher level and still have chlorine left by the time you return 10 days later. Another option is to have someone come by and dose with more chlorine -- if you shock, then only one more shock dose after 5 days or so should do the trick. If you were gone only for 1 week, then Trichlor tabs in a floating feeder could work, but 10 days is a stretch for having them last that long (even piling them up in the feeder) and for sure 2 weeks would be too long.

As for using algicide, that would mostly be to prevent algae when the chlorine level went too low. There are several options there. Since you have a vinyl liner pool I presume your CH level is low so Polyquat should work just fine. See this post for winterizing instructions from Buckman Labs, the makers/patent-owners of Polyquat. I would add to that you should check the chlorine level a couple of days after adding the Polyquat and if it's lower than around 20% of the CYA level, raise it as your last step before you leave (I wouldn't go to shock level, which is about double that, since it'll just react even more quickly with the Polyquat). I would bet that between chlorine and Polyquat that one could go 2 weeks without a problem, but longer than that could be an issue since the Polyquat doesn't last.

After the above methods (going down a scale of practicality and reasonableness), are others that have various side effects or extra costs that are likely to be higher. These include phosphate removers, copper-based algicide, and 50 ppm Borates. The Borates don't have side effects, but probably don't completely prevent algae either but would slow down such growth and would be a larger initial one-time cost. Copper, of course, has potential metal staining and greenish blond hair issues. Phosphate removers are expensive (especially if you have high phosphate levels) and won't completely work if you've got organic phosphates in the water since algae can still slowly use those and if the chlorine level gets to zero and bacteria grow, then bacteria can convert organic phosphates to inorganic orthophosphate which algae take up readily."

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/46432-Polyquat-algaecides-Mode-of-Action
 
Just wanted to follow up and thanks the folks on this board again. Per advice in this thread, I took the FC level of the pool up to about 30ppm before I left for vacation, covered with opaque cover (winter loop loc cover), and let the pump run on its regular 7 hour a day schedule. Came back 8 days later (mid August in Northeast mind you) to 14ppm FC. Water was COLD (thought it was get warmer with dark cover) but clear!

Thanks everyone!
 
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