Any weekenders?...and a few newbie questions

[wrh1972]

Are there any other weekend-only pool owners on line here? If so, how do you guys deal with regular maintenance. From what I've been reading on TFP, most of our forum-mates live with their pools full time and can spend the time each day keeping things on the rails.

I signed a pool service contract for this year out of fear of not knowing what to do . Now after reading the boards I'm wondering if that was the right thing. Unless they surprise me, I doubt they will keep the pool to the standard I would expect. I anticipate I will be spending Saturday mornings testing my levels and re-vacuuming.

I am hoping that this weekend will be our first jump in the brand new pool. I have my TF Test Kit and will post my numbers this weekend once I get a chance to get my hands wet. I'm so excited to finally jump in the water, I've stopped sleeping at night.

And I have a few questions for the experts:

1) I heard from my garden guy that the pump wasn't working when he was up there yesterday. If there has been an issue and it's not run for a week, how long do I need to keep it going for to get things back in control?

2) As I'm not using the pool all week I'm hoping to keep the pump on a 12 hour timer during the week. I have it set for 6pm to 6am now, is that sustainable on a midweek basis (note the SWG)?

3) If I get up there this weekend and the numbers are somewhat out of whack, is the pool safe for swimming or do I need to wait for everything to be exact before we use it?

I had some other Q's but they escape me now...I'm sure I'll have more once I get up there. I'll get some pics up too. The fence went in last week and I've not seen it yet!

Thanks!

 

[JasonLion]

The pool is safe if the water is clear and it can hold a chlorine level. If the pump has been off for a week you will very likely have algae. Recovering from algae can easily take most of a week.

Depending somewhat on the relative size of the pump and the pool, running the pump 12 hours a day is probably fine. If you don't have time of day electrical rates it is a little better to run the pump during the day. If you do have time of day rates, running at night is acceptable.

If you have a SWG and the pump is working it isn't all that difficult to leave the pool alone for a week at a time. You will need to setup the water chemistry carefully to be sure that PH doesn't get out of control while you are away.

 

[wrh1972]

Thanks for that. Presumably my first test on Saturday morning will give me an indication on the Chlorine level and whether or not we can jump in?