We just opened our pool this weekend and my CYA is < 20, so I'll need to work on bringing that up. We're headed to Mexico on May 20 for a week and I was thinking of throwing some tri-chlor pucks in a floater for the week with our pump on an automatic timer. However, I think we might want to keep the solar cover on while we're gone instead since it's been pretty chilly, relatively speaking for this area and time of year (although we're expecting 80's all of the sudden this week), so we'd not be able to use the floater then (right?). In that case, do you think bringing the pool up to shock level (or some other level?) and then leaving it for the week with the solar cover on would keep our FC level up enough so that we might be able to use the pool when we return Memorial weekend?
Need help w/vacation plan
- Thread starter xtencornfield
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I would do the solar cover route, after you raise the CYA, shock it and cover it. Is there anyone who can stop in mid-week or towards the second half of the trip to make sure everything is functioning properly? They could pour in a small jug of bleach, not have to test or anything...
frustratedpoolmom said:
We might be able to possibly have my mother-in-law stop by. However, it's a long shot. We live in a small town that's a bit of a drive for everyone we know that we could ask to do this. I'd ask our nextdoor neighbors who also have a pool but we don't know them very well and I wouldn't feel comfortable asking something like that at this point
ive gone out of town for 9, 10, and 11 days. shocked and covered and always returned above my "min". YMMV... but we can help you if there is a problem.
frustratedpoolmom said:ive gone out of town for 9, 10, and 11 days. shocked and covered and always returned above my "min". YMMV... but we can help you if there is a problem.
Very true! Question, when you go OOT, do you have your pump run while you are away?
I am in texas and have left for 7 and 10 days. No cover and brought up to shock level and came back above min as well. I left my pump running the whole time. Also this was in the heat of summer.
xtencornfield said:frustratedpoolmom said:ive gone out of town for 9, 10, and 11 days. shocked and covered and always returned above my "min". YMMV... but we can help you if there is a problem.
Question, when you go OOT, do you have your pump run while you are away?
Yes, my pump runs on low 24/7 anyway.
Just wanted to bump this in case it can help anyone out there. I did as suggested and brought my pool up to shock level and covered with our solar cover two Thursdays ago before we left for vacation all week. Ran our pump 8 hours a day on a timer. When I returned and tested my water this past Saturday, all levels were great and my FC was still at 5.5 CC at 0. Worked like a charm!
i'll be in the same situation shortly. i also plan to bring pool to shock level prior to leaving it unattended for a week or so. i typically filter 8-12 hours/day, but my pump/filter are in the garage and i'm not thrilled about running it while away (even on the timer).
sorry if this is a ridiculous question, but what would happen if i brought pool to shock level a day prior then no filtering for a week?
all numbers are within normal ranges as per tfp. no cover.
sorry if this is a ridiculous question, but what would happen if i brought pool to shock level a day prior then no filtering for a week?
all numbers are within normal ranges as per tfp. no cover.
I'm afraid you'd have an algae bloom when you returned. An opaque cover makes a huge difference. Even if you left the running pump on the timer, without a cover you'd still get to zero FC and have algae.
Bama Rambler said:
So you can shock it up to 16, put the bubble cover stuff over it without the pump running for 9 days, and you think it wouldn't be a mess when you get back? Won't that cover bring the temp in the pool real high when you're running 105+ days?
JJ
I think it would be a mess but it wouldn't be as much of a mess. An opaque winter cover is the best bet and even then it'd still stand a chance of being a mess.
I think the cover keeps the temp down. When I was trying to boost my pools temp earlier in the season I had the cover off in the day and on at night. It's really more of a blanket to retain heat at night than to gather it during the day. That said, the top 6 inches get's really warm if the pump is not circulating the water.
I thought that a solar cover helped to warm the pool water by allowing the sun to heat the water and preventing cooling of the pool by preventing evaporation.
it does much better at stopping heat loss during the night than heating during the day but I wouldn't use the cover if you aren't going to run the pump because the top layer of water will get really warm.