Need to leave pool for 6 weeks, help please???

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UltraIntex

UltraIntex

0
Sep 7, 2012
63
Australia
Ok this is a bit of a disaster.
First my Intex pump/filter chlorinator died and is still sitting in the pump repair place a long way from here, so that is out of action and may have to be replaced once they can work out what is wrong with it.
I went away for a week and when I came back I had lost half my water due to a stupid mistake with a hose, which I wont embarrass myself by explaining further.
I had to add about 25,000 litres of clean rainwater, which I had stored.

So my pump/chlorinator is out of action, my pool water is no longer balanced and to top it all I have to leave the pool unattended for about 6 weeks.
It is coming to the end of summer here. So I only filled the pool up to just over 3/4 (no frosts here ever), cleaned out all the leaves, covered with the solar cover and then put on the
winter cover and roped it down.

So my stats are:
CYA 20 (usually about 40 or 50)
FC 1.5 ( have been using liquid chlorine this week)
TA 40
PH 7.2

Now I have a fair bit of liquid chlorine and a pack of once a week tabs (890g/kg available chlorine present as Trichlorosocyanuric Acid).
I have bought one of those big blue Waterco floating dispensers which allows you to close of the slats by turning to reduce the amount dissolved.

I may have to go away again for another month after I get back in 6 weeks so may have to use these tabs again.
My question is what level of CYA should I take the pool up to bearing in mind I may be using the tabs for the next 6 months. I need enough so that the tabs last and not
too much that the tabs cause the CYA to go too high so that next summer I have to empty out water (no mains water here only rainwater stored in tanks).
Also what level of FC should I take the pool up to with the liquid chlorine before putting in the tab tomorrow. Should I put in one tab or more than one. Is there a way of getting
a second tab to drop down when the first has dissolved.

I realise this is far from ideal but I have eliminated most of the sunlight from the pool and I do find that when I do so, chlorination in the winter at least is minimal with a CYA of 40.
I dont have anyone round here who I would want to ask to put in tabs for me as I think its a bit of an imposition to ask a neighbour.

Thanks.
 
I would not add anymore CYA if you need to use the tabs for awhile. A single 7 ounce trichlor tablet will raise CYA by 3ppm. If your tablets add any thing else, such as copper it may be a little lower. Figure out how many tablets you plan to use and multiply it by 3 to see how much it will raise your CYA. For example if you used 3 tablets a week for 6 weeks that would be 18 tablets total. Multiply 18 by 3 and you get 54. So 18 tablets would raise your CYA by 54ppm. Add that to the 20 you already have and you will end up with 74ppm of CYA.

Most floaters keep the tablet area below the waterline, so all the tablets will be exposed to the water. I would bring the pool up to shock level with liquid chlorine and cover it. You could fill the floater and put it on the lowest setting, but without a pump it will not circulate the chlorine throughout the water. I would save the tablets for when I was home and could monitor how much was being added to the water and stop when it was close to the desired CYA level.
 
duraleigh said:
A pool unattended for 6 weeks will be trouble sooner or later. That's too long.
Click to expand...

Thanks for stating the obvious, but I would have thought it would have been quite clear, that was why I was asking the question.
Not sure what you would have me do instead; just do nothing perhaps or never leave home?
 
Without either a SWG or an automatic pump to inject liquid chlorine to maintain FC levels, your options are:

1. Have someone go to the house to add the chlorine on a regular basis (friend / hire a company)
2. Use the pucks, likely cause the CYA to rise too high, may get algae anyway, replace the water when you get back to lower the CYA, and then go through the shock process
3. Do nothing, follow the shock process to clear the algae when you get back
4. Raise the FC to shock level, cover the pool to reduce chlorine loss to sun, hope for the best. But, in reality, this is likely to only work for a period of 1-2 weeks and then algae will start, and you will have to go through the shock process when you get back.

Sorry you did not like Dave's answer, but there is no magic way to leave a pool unattended that long in the summer and not have problems develop.
 
jblizzle said:
Without either a SWG or an automatic pump to inject liquid chlorine to maintain FC levels, your options are:

1. Have someone go to the house to add the chlorine on a regular basis (friend / hire a company)
2. Use the pucks, likely cause the CYA to rise too high, may get algae anyway, replace the water when you get back to lower the CYA, and then go through the shock process
3. Do nothing, follow the shock process to clear the algae when you get back
4. Raise the FC to shock level, cover the pool to reduce chlorine loss to sun, hope for the best. But, in reality, this is likely to only work for a period of 1-2 weeks and then algae will start, and you will have to go through the shock process when you get back.

Sorry you did not like Dave's answer, but there is no magic way to leave a pool unattended that long in the summer and not have problems develop.
Click to expand...


Thanks for your response but I cant see anywhere where I have asked for or intimated that I believed there was a "magic way".
 
Look at it this way, you are asking what can I do in this situation, and they are saying that there isn't anything you can do. That is over simplifying a little, but that is why others are saying things like "no magic way". It doesn't really matter what you do, you will have a mess to cleanup when you get back regardless.

To answer the original question, my suggestion is covering the pool and turning off the equipment. That is probably the best you can do short of having someone else look after the pool. I would avoid tabs, they won't last long enough to make any difference, and they might conceivably cause a problem.
 
JasonLion said:
Look at it this way, you are asking what can I do in this situation, and they are saying that there isn't anything you can do. That is over simplifying a little, but that is why others are saying things like "no magic way". It doesn't really matter what you do, you will have a mess to cleanup when you get back regardless.

To answer the original question, my suggestion is covering the pool and turning off the equipment. That is probably the best you can do short of having someone else look after the pool. I would avoid tabs, they won't last long enough to make any difference, and they might conceivably cause a problem.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks, after some fairly mixed messages, I have decided that whatever I do this thing is going to go green. Cheapest easiest and least stress thing to do is just forget about 'till next spring.
My only concern is permanent algae staining on the liner, the rest I can handle.
 

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if you are not covering it, I would say raise to shock and use enough tablets in floaters to raise it to 50-60ppm cya.
it'll at least keep it from going green quickly. i would rather take care of a slightly green pool than a disastrous swamp during spring. just my $.02
 
How cold does your pool get? I ignore my pool for quite a few weeks in FL winters, and it does get cloudy and a little algae, but Pool temps under 70 degrees keep it mostly under control. I just started dealing with it this past week, my ph was really high at 8, but a half jug of MA fixed that, then I shocked the pool, and it's crystal clear now. I do keep cleaning the cartridge filter 1x a month, but other than that, the pool sits in December and January with no chem checking, just making sure it doesn't get full of leaves, and the pump runs regularly (6 hrs a day)
 
Letting your pH drift up like that for months at a time is what can lead to calcium staining ... might be worth checking at least the pH a few times.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 
danivdp said:
How cold does your pool get? I ignore my pool for quite a few weeks in FL winters, and it does get cloudy and a little algae, but Pool temps under 70 degrees keep it mostly under control. I just started dealing with it this past week, my ph was really high at 8, but a half jug of MA fixed that, then I shocked the pool, and it's crystal clear now. I do keep cleaning the cartridge filter 1x a month, but other than that, the pool sits in December and January with no chem checking, just making sure it doesn't get full of leaves, and the pump runs regularly (6 hrs a day)
Click to expand...

it's summer in Australia now :)
 
You could try shocking then adding polyquat algaecide. It won't be a miracle if it keeps things not awful. It may require a lot of work when you get back, but probably less than if you don't use the polyquat.

Sent via Tapatalk...
 
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