What to do while away for a week?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
I see you have a SWG listed so you should be able to maintain FC levels. Test PH and adjust if need be. Test CYA. Is your pump on a timer ?

Somebody else may have some more advice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
 
It looks like you have a SWG pool. A day or so before you leave, I would do a full series of tests and balance the water as needed while making sure the CYA is in the proper range for a SWG (60-80 ppm). Bottom line: If it is properly chlorinating your pool right now, it should keep doing so while you are gone. It will not know (or care) whether you are in town or not. That's the beauty of a SWG. I would enjoy your vacation and not give it a second thought.
 
I do maintenance on a weekly basis for all of my customers. If the chemicals are in balance and the SWG is working, there is no reason you should have problems in the course of a week. A few things come to mind that I would recommend before leaving it for a week.

Check the weather forecast. If you are about to see a heat wave, you might want to turn up the SWG.

Backwash before you go. Chances are your filter can handle more than a week of filtering without a problem, but why chance it.
 
In my experience, the automated systems are an expensive way to go. They are usually designed to handle every option out there, and most pools only have what they need to function. They tend to be overkill, and often make things more complicated than they need to be.

A timer is a great idea. Typically timers are installed so they control both the pump and the salt system. That way your salt system will not try to generate when there is not water circulating. You can certainly get by without one, but they are nice because you don't have to worry about keeping track of how long the pool runs during the day. Once you set the timer, you know.
 
TreeFiter said:
In my experience, the automated systems are an expensive way to go. They are usually designed to handle every option out there, and most pools only have what they need to function. They tend to be overkill, and often make things more complicated than they need to be.

A timer is a great idea. Typically timers are installed so they control both the pump and the salt system. That way your salt system will not try to generate when there is not water circulating. You can certainly get by without one, but they are nice because you don't have to worry about keeping track of how long the pool runs during the day. Once you set the timer, you know.
Click to expand...

I agree. I am ok with no crazy automation.

I have been turning on and off the SWCG and pump, as well as manually adjusting the heater and all.

So.. I assume I get two timers. One 240v one and another 120v one. Set them up for the same timings and that's it..
 
As far as I know, most SWGs can be wired for either 120 or 240v. It might be a good idea to talk to an Electrician. It might be possible to convert the SWG to 240, or there may be a way to wire the timer to control both even at different voltages.
 
TreeFiter said:
As far as I know, most SWGs can be wired for either 120 or 240v. It might be a good idea to talk to an Electrician. It might be possible to convert the SWG to 240, or there may be a way to wire the timer to control both even at different voltages.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Will check. Currently both wired independently. Would be good If I can get both wired together and use one timer and save an outlet too.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
So.. may be going away for just 4 days.

Is this plan ok?

1. Test water and add anything to bring it to balance
2. Backwash
3. Top up water maybe an extra inch
4. We are using a solar cover - is it ok to leave it on for 4 days?
5. I have been running the pump and SWCG about 10 hrs a day (manually). Since I don't have a timer, can I leave the pump (and SWCG) on for the 4 days on V1 at 1200 rpm (low)? What happens if there is a blip in power? Does the pump come back on or will it stay off?

Thanks!
 
I don't have much experience with the Variable Speed pumps, but I would imagine they should behave the same in a power outage as they would if they were unplugged, or the breaker were tripped. You could try that to find out what happens if you have a power outage.

I don't see any reason you can't leave the pump and SWG running 24/7. You just want to be careful because by changing the run time, you will be adding to the on time of the SWG. SWGs typically run at a percentage. So at 10% they are on 6 minutes out of every hour. At 100% they are on the whole hour. So if you normally run during daylight hours, lets say 12 hours (I run most of my pools from 8am to 8pm), and you run it for 24hrs while you are away, you are running the SWG twice as much and generating twice as much chlorine. Since your solar cover will be on all day every day, you won't see as much loss of FC from sunlight, so you will see FC levels rise. So basically, you will be overchlorinating your pool by running 24/7 at your normal setting. I would probably turn it down to half what it normally runs at if it is going to run 24/7. If your CYA levels are good you will most likely come back to a pool with high FC, which is better than a green one. If that happens, your FC will start to come down on its own once you return to the normal schedule. You can help it along by turning off the SWG for a while. Just keep an eye on the FC levels so that you don't have algae start to grow.
 
TreeFiter said:
I don't have much experience with the Variable Speed pumps, but I would imagine they should behave the same in a power outage as they would if they were unplugged, or the breaker were tripped. You could try that to find out what happens if you have a power outage.

I don't see any reason you can't leave the pump and SWG running 24/7. You just want to be careful because by changing the run time, you will be adding to the on time of the SWG. SWGs typically run at a percentage. So at 10% they are on 6 minutes out of every hour. At 100% they are on the whole hour. So if you normally run during daylight hours, lets say 12 hours (I run most of my pools from 8am to 8pm), and you run it for 24hrs while you are away, you are running the SWG twice as much and generating twice as much chlorine. Since your solar cover will be on all day every day, you won't see as much loss of FC from sunlight, so you will see FC levels rise. So basically, you will be overchlorinating your pool by running 24/7 at your normal setting. I would probably turn it down to half what it normally runs at if it is going to run 24/7. If your CYA levels are good you will most likely come back to a pool with high FC, which is better than a green one. If that happens, your FC will start to come down on its own once you return to the normal schedule. You can help it along by turning off the SWG for a while. Just keep an eye on the FC levels so that you don't have algae start to grow.
Click to expand...

Great. Thanks!

DO high FC levels cause algae to grow?
 
Assuming your Aquarite SWG is the same as ours it can be converted to 240v easily. The diagram is on the inside of the panel door. Our pump and SWG are wired together and turn on and off at the same time. I just put in a timer that controls both.....very simple and convenient.
 
mmcgovern said:
Assuming your Aquarite SWG is the same as ours it can be converted to 240v easily. The diagram is on the inside of the panel door. Our pump and SWG are wired together and turn on and off at the same time. I just put in a timer that controls both.....very simple and convenient.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I looked and yes, it can be used at 120v or 240v.... Will change the jumpers and wire it into one plug for both the pump and SWCG.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply