Gone for a couple days -- can I jack up chlorine to compensate?

[BrandonD]

We are leaving to go out of town today and come back Monday. This is my first pool and also my first absence from it. I will be able to balance the pool this afternoon but won't be able to again until Monday. My chlorine target is generally 5ppm and I lose maybe 2ppm a day. Can I put enough chlorine in today to bring it up to ~9-10ppm to last over the weekend? My daughter and her grand mother will still be around, can they safely go swimming in this level of chlorine without bleaching swimsuits, etc.?

For that matter, both my wife and I will be gone for an entire week this summer. I'm guessing I can't jack up the chlorine to ~16ppm to compensate for that week, can I?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Can you get a floater and put some tablets in it? The chlorine won't last through the weekend. That level is not going to bleach anything out (unless one had that level with 0 CYA).

 

[Smykowski]

What's your CYA level?

You can safely bring the FC up to SLAM level, and as long as it's below SLAM level, it's safe to swim in. When I go on vacation, I raise FC to SLAM and put the solar blanket on it. No problems for a week.

Can you trust Grandma to pour bleach in the pool once while you're gone? If you showed her exactly how to do it, exactly how much, and exactly when to do it?

 

[Butterfly]

You can do a site search for "vacation" and get lots of info/ideas

 

[BrandonD]

Pool isn't two weeks old yet, my CYA level a week after adding my first dose was 30. I added another 15ppm this past Monday in a second dose to hopefully bring it up to 45ppm. Looking at the chart, SLAM level is between 16-20 for 40-50CYA.

I thought floater tablets were a bad idea? And why wouldn't the chlorine last, does it use up more a day with more chlorine in it or something?

I could maybe trust her and I suppose I could even make it easier for her and just tell her to add X amount of bleach on Sunday without testing, assuming X wouldn't raise it past SLAM level. Although she sometimes has troubles getting around and forgets things, so if it's safe and doable I'd rather just jack it up today.

 

[zea3]

Floaters are ok as long as you know your CYA level. If you are in the recommended range it is ok to use 1 or 2 pucks while you are away from the pool. You can't do it all the time or the CYA will be out of control in a big hurry!