Vacation and new SWG. What to do?

[Brandoga]

First, thanks to the all the info here on TFP and to those who have responded to my few questions, and against the advice of a few pool professionals I've changed to a 2 speed motor and SWG and I'm deliriously happy. I also got a dense mesh safety cover last fall, and the pool was completely clear when I opened it this spring. Here's a picture of the final adjustment - aeration to raise pH (after adjusting TA).
View attachment 81002

I'm going on vacation for two weeks as of Tuesday and plan to put the safety cover on when I'm gone. Any advice on how to set the SWG output? I'm guessing the mesh cover will do a lot to prevent chlorine deactivation. I really don't want to cover it for a few days in this beautiful weather to find out by trial and error...

FC 6
pH 7.4
TA 80
CH 350
CYA 79
Salt 3700

Thanks again for all the advice.

 

[mknauss]

With a CYA of 80 you have a lot of room on the upside for FC to climb. So if you want to be conservative, target adding 2 ppm FC per day while you are away. You might come home to a pool with near SLAM FC, or you may not.

You might get away with adding 1 ppm FC per day.

Choice is yours.

 

[sleepysdad]

I would err on the high side. If you come back and FC is high - you can shut off the generator for a few days while it drifts down. If you set it too low and FC hits 0 while you're gone, you might come back to a green pool

 

[Virtual]

I will be in a similar boat in a few weeks. The SWG has been doing a good job keeping the chlorine level up and I feel good that it will keep it up while we're gone. Based on what I've read, I'm not expecting things like CYA, TA and CH to become issues in just a few weeks. I this assumption correct? My concern though is with the Ph which drifts up and needs to be routinely lowered to keep the pool balanced. Other than bribe a neighbor to check it and adjust it as needed, I'm not sure what other options there might be?

 

[Dirk]

I will be in a similar boat in a few weeks. The SWG has been doing a good job keeping the chlorine level up and I feel good that it will keep it up while we're gone. Based on what I've read, I'm not expecting things like CYA, TA and CH to become issues in just a few weeks. I this assumption correct? My concern though is with the Ph which drifts up and needs to be routinely lowered to keep the pool balanced. Other than bribe a neighbor to check it and adjust it as needed, I'm not sure what other options there might be?

I'm working on it, using both an SWG and an acid injector system. My pH rise is pretty aggressive. Couldn't really leave the pool for more than a day. Now I've gone three days without adding anything and both FC and pH have been stable. My goal is a week without any human intervention.

The problem for you, and the OP, and me, is figuring out the settings. I kinda lucked out with both in that I got my output percentages very close in just a few days. So conceivably you could install systems and have them calibrated in time for your trip. But the wild card is the weather, and bather load, both of which affect FC loss greatly. I'm not sure yet how stable pH is, and how it is affected by outside forces (or even what those outside forces are), it's only been a few days since I put that online. My weather here is 100s this week, and then 80s next week. I expect that'll throw off my SWG settings a bit, but I don't know yet, from experience, how much. And who knows what a dead gopher would do to the whole works. When you go, bather load drops to zero, so that's another factor. Without monitoring (testing), and adjusting everything accordingly, automation is only a slightly better solution than nothing at all.

So leaving is always going to be a gamble. My best case scenario is to fine-tune the gizmos, and then convince my daughter or neighbor to test the water once or twice while I'm away. Email me for what to do (they'd only have to learn two tests, the two simplest tests, not the entire TFPC method, to keep an eye on your pool). That would be pretty safe. Short of that, goose the FC up (goose the SWG output up) and hope for the best... As pointed out, coming home to high FC is way preferable to zero and a two-week SLAM. If the pH is relatively stable, but rises a bit, start at the low end of its safe range and let it drift up. High pH, which can promote calcium scaling is preferable (IMO) to low pH which can etch plaster. Neither is going to occur to any great degree in a week or two with pH just slightly out of range.

The others, TA, CH, CYA... Test/balance them before you go and you can forget about them...