Vacation Maintenance?

[eagle47]

'Morning all! Any suggestions on best approach for pool maintenance while I'm out of town?

The good news...so far, this has been one of those years where pool problems have been few, the chemical levels are good and consistent, and the pool looks great.

The bad news...unfortunately, due to a medical crisis back home, I have to leave town for the next few weeks and I'm concerned about the "care and feeding" of my pool while I'm gone. We're in kind of a remote area, and I've had no luck finding someone to "poolsit" for the duration. I've thought about loading up a floater (or two) with CL pucks, but don't want to drive the CYA off the charts.

Aside from getting everything in "perfect" shape before leaving, what can I do to ensure I don't have a disaster pool awaiting my return?

 

[Wasted0101]

With being gone for a few weeks your choices are limited. Other than hiring a pool company to come or installing a chlorine dispensing pump you are stuck. You could just bite the bullet and load up some floaters and hope for the best. You might have to drain to lower the CYA at some point but at least you wouldn't have a green swamp upon your return. Maybe someone else here has a more creative solution.

 

[AftonJeeper]

Being gone a couple weeks is tough, more so for the reason your leaving. Bring FC to shock level and load up a floater with pucks. As Wasted0101 said know that you will be adding CYA to your pool so test that when you get back and decide what you need to do from there.

 

[Donldson]

If you are going to be unable to touch the pool for more than two weeks I would give some thought to bringing the FC to SLAM, adding a dose of polyquat, shutting off the pump, and covering the pool. Not being able to check or empty the skimmer basket could cause the pump to run dry and burn out the motor. If your pool turned and algae clogged the filter it could also cause more serious problems. I think in this case, especially if you aren't positive when you will return, just doing a soft close (closing as mentioned above without any winterizing) and fixing it when you return is the option with the least question marks.

 

[eagle47]

Thanks Wasted01010- sounds like the best of some bad choices. It's just after years of faithfully keeping the CYA level under control, I hate to let it run wild.

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Being gone a couple weeks is tough, more so for the reason your leaving. Bring FC to shock level and load up a floater with pucks. As Wasted0101 said know that you will be adding CYA to your pool so test that when you get back and decide what you need to do from there.

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Thanks - as I mentioned in earlier replay, I just hate to let the CYA run wild after years of faithfully keeping it under control.

- - - Updated - - -

If you are going to be unable to touch the pool for more than two weeks I would give some thought to bringing the FC to SLAM, adding a dose of polyquat, shutting off the pump, and covering the pool. Not being able to check or empty the skimmer basket could cause the pump to run dry and burn out the motor. If your pool turned and algae clogged the filter it could also cause more serious problems. I think in this case, especially if you aren't positive when you will return, just doing a soft close (closing as mentioned above without any winterizing) and fixing it when you return is the option with the least question marks.

Whoa...I hadn't considered those possibilities. OK, guess I need to either find a "sitter" or get started on the soft close. Thanks for the heads-up.