Going on Vacation

[darrenw]

I have a new inground salt water pool. I will be going on vacation for 10 days and I have a couple of questions on what I should do to the pool while I'm away.

1) Should I leave the solar blanket on the pool and dial up the chlorine level? I will program the pump to run from 6am to 6pm.

2) Should I leave the solar blanket off the pool and just run the pump during the day? By not keeping the solar blanket on, I am worried about evaporation of water.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I would leave it on.

Is there anyone who can do a pool check for you, once or twice during the 10 days? Just to be sure there's no malfunction?

There are a few differing opinions on this. Some say shock it, cover it, and turn everything off. IF it's green when you come back, you'll know how to deal with it (with everyones' help here of course). That's its better not to risk damaging the pump/filter if theres a problems, etc.

My experience has been fine, 2 years I have been gone for between 9-11 days each vacation. I shock it and cover it and leave the filter running. Last year I had a friend add chlorine for me on day 4-8. This year I was only planning to be gone for 8 days so I didn't ask her to add any chlorine. I did ask her to come by if we had no rain, just to make sure the water level was okay. But it rained so she didn't need to. Anyway, I came home and all was fine, water was clear. My CL was down to about 1 or so, so I was pushing my luck....

It's really a personal decision, what your comfortable with, if you have someone to check, etc.

Whatever will cause you the least amount of worry/concern so it doesn't detract from your vacation.

A green pool can be dealt with, upon return. That's certainly not the end of the world, and cheaper to deal with than replacing a burned out pump if something goes wrong. It's really up to you.

Have a great vacation!

 

[tnthudson]

Hello and welcome!
You may get varying advice from the more experienced members, but I just went on vacation in June for 10 days myself, and I have a SWG inground pool.
I personally did not put my solar cover on; the reason is, I have been told that leaving the solar blanket on for extended periods of time can lead to cloudy water...and I would be concerned about algae...I've left it on for two or three days at a time, but never more than that. But as you see, frustratedpoolmom left hers on and she was fine...maybe it depends on the weather in your area...
The only plus I can see to that is that it would help prevent evaporation of your water. If you can make sure your pool has plenty of water before you leave, and maybe have someone check the water level once, that would help.
When I went on vacation, I left my SWG on the setting that I had it on normally (I never run my pump more than 12 hours/day since I got my SWG anyway, you can search and see some posts on that issue on this site); and when I got back everything tested out pretty well.
You may have to deal with some higher pH levels when you get back, since a SWG increases pH levels over time anyway, so you probably want to test everything before you leave and get it as balanced as possible.
Jason's pool calculator can help with this - it's in JasonLion's signature and I'm sure it's in the Pool School section somewhere.
Good luck!