out of town..concerned about wife maintaining pool

[dprosper75]

First of all, thanks for all the great help that I've received so far. We just got our pool up and running
again after a 2 year hiatus and so far all is well. Of course it has only been 3 days and CYA isn't
completely where it needs to be as it take some time to dissolve. Here is the potential issue....I
have to go to CA for work for a week and will have to leave the pool in the care of the wife while I'm
gone before things with the pool are dialed in. We have a almost 5 year old and a 1 year old and with
me not being home it puts a lot on the wife to do. I'm concerned about finding out a somewhat regular
dose of bleach to add (with waiting for the final CYA number is will be tough). I'm scared she will
forget and algae will start to take hold. Now the pool has a completely fresh new fill. Would I be
over reaching by adding some polyquat 60% as a preventive while I'm gone. Next week will be sunny
and very hot and I know FC use will change.

Any suggestions? I come back on Friday and the following weekend is the almost 5 years olds pool
party and don't want it to be messed up for him. I'm probably over analyzing. I've worked hard to
get the pool up and running and looking good...just concerned the stressful days will affect the pool
care. BTW...I added enough CYA to hit a level of 40 (2 days later it was at 25).

Also, with current levels to raise my PH from 7.2 to 7.5, pool calculator calls for 52oz of borax. I believe that will give a borate of 3.5. Am I correct in thinking the 3.5 number is different then the
50ppm number I see for adding borates to the pool?

Thanks............
D

 

[JohnT]

You can care for it by phone if she has time to test. I helped a friend's wife care for his pool 2 hours from me while he was overseas. She tested every evening after supper and sent me a text with the results, sometimes a picture of the pH and OTO tests for me to check her readings. I texted her back with what to do, or called her if things were going strangely.

 

[dprosper75]

Thanks for the advice John. I just wish the pool was dialed in enough to make it easier. The hours
I'll be working in CA are 4pm to midnight (which would be 7pm to 3am Maryland time) and cell
phones are spotty in the Mojave. Makes it hard to communicate with 2 boys that need supper, baths, and bed. I'll talk to her and see how comfortable she is at least doing the chlorine test. I guess if I can get her to do in the late afternoon it would be ok. It would be a lot easier if I could just say...add this much bleach per day and I"ll see you on Friday. At least that was my reasoning for maybe adding the poly...as a little insurance.

-D

 

[Isaac-1]

Maybe it is time for some trichlor pucks in a floater, and deal with the CYA fine tuning when you get back

 

[Hub]

Can you at all estimate how much FC is burning off each day? No real harm in getting the FC up too high that I can tell. It will come back down in time for that birthday party. Just have her add an exact amount of bleach each day that replaces the expected lost FC and if you get to communicate more than expected then you can be more specific.

In my case that would be enough bleach to increase FC 2 ppm per day, which is pretty standard burn off.

 

[march2012]

Can you at all estimate how much FC is burning off each day? No real harm in getting the FC up too high that I can tell. It will come back down in time for that birthday party. Just have her add an exact amount of bleach each day that replaces the expected lost FC and if you get to communicate more than expected then you can be more specific.

In my case that would be enough bleach to increase FC 2 ppm per day, which is pretty standard burn off.

This is what I would do. If you get a bit extra it is no big deal. If you are typically adding 32 oz, then just have her add that much every day.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'd do as Hub suggested and have her run the OTO test every couple of days. Not so much to see the level, as just to make sure there's some chlorine in there.

Take a sample, put 5 drops in it, see if it turns yellow. If it does you're good to go.

 

[Thinkly]

I'd do as Hub suggested and have her run the OTO test every couple of days. Not so much to see the level, as just to make sure there's some chlorine in there.

Take a sample, put 5 drops in it, see if it turns yellow. If it does you're good to go.

That is my advice. I have a pretty routine amount of bleach i dump into the pool each day. I tell my wife to count to six slowly while dumping and then quit. But that is my pool, yours could be different. I also dump more when it is hotter/sunnier and with higher swim loads.

The OTO test is simple. Just tell her it needs to be in the high yellow band at least. That should get you by until you get home. If you can't trust your wife (not trying to get you in trouble) to do this every day. Go buy a floater, load it with pucks and put it in the pool.

I would prefer that to coming home to a swamp.

 

[Shane1]

I think I would go with the floater and tabs, let the wife tend to the kids and all the other stuff without taking on your stress of the pool. Or if the family is out in the pool have her dump some bleach in when they are done.

 

[dprosper75]

Thanks for all the great advice. I wound up measuring what would increase the FC by 2 and premeasured it
out for the wife to dump in every night. It was the least painful way to do it in having to go away. Pool
hadn't been losing anymore than 1 to 2 a day so it should all be fine by the time I can get back home!!

Once again...thanks for all the advice. I appreciate it!!

-D