To Clean or not to Clean?

[Richard_S]

Hi there,

we have an outside SWG pool which has been used all summer without too many issues. We are now no longer at the house and the pool has been unattended for 3 weeks although pumps etc have all been left running. The "pool man" popped around yesterday to inform me that as the weather has been unseasonably hot, the pool has gone green. Last year we had no issues with it remaining clean until we returned to close it down in mid October (and the weather was not dissimilar)

Q1: As we are no longer using it, does it make any sense shocking it back to clean and then maintaining it until mid October when the water temp will have dropped to below 15C? I ask this because obviously it will require a certain level of cost to do so and seems a waste if this operation is to be carried out again in the Spring. If I leave it green, will it be that much harder to get it started and could it potentially stain the liner?

Q2: I am assuming that the Chlorine generator is not doing it's job, as the same scenario last year did not result in a green pool. Is there any simple way to assess how well the generator is working?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

thanks,

R.

 

[zea3]

The algae will not stain the liner but the pool will take longer to clean up on opening. To figure out what happened, post a complete set of test results. If you have had a lot of rain this season your salt may have dropped too low, or the CYA may be too low, or those things may be fine and the cell needs cleaning. Test results will tell us where to look first.

 

[Richard_S]

All was good at the end of august, as we left it with all the levels including salt correct. I cannot currently test as the house is in another country!! I used a k2006 Taylor kit so confident that I got accurate readings.

Ps have had a chlorine demand all season, which I covered using 4 tablets of slow release chlorine per week. I could not shock until we closed up, so did not manage to shock over more than one day...which obviously didn't do the trick... The water was crystal clear all summer though so a big thanks to the forum for the SWG guide

 

[duraleigh]

I am assuming that the Chlorine generator is not doing it's job,

Not necessarily. Your use of pucks may have driven the stabilizer too high so that the amount of chlorine it produces is no longer capable of adequate protection.

Without test results, everything is just a guess and there could be many reasons why your pool is green.

If you cannot get a set of current results, I suggest you simply leave it until spring and correct the problems then.

 

[Richard_S]

CYA levels were about 80...

thanks for your response though - will save myself the expense of clearing it and leave it until spring.