Overnight trip - Looking for advice/suggestions

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suziequsie2945

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May 31, 2013
176
New Jersey
Hi,

We are planning an overnight trip: leaving early in the morning, staying overnight, and then coming home later the next evening.

We don't use the chlorinator ever. We had an issue with it two years ago and I don't want to use it, especially when we are not home (not an option). We use strictly liquid chlorine, therefore I am wondering how to make sure our chlorine levels stay above minimum the whole time.

The only thing I can come up with is adding enough liquid chlorine to bring it to a SLAM level and letting it drop on its own, so it never falls below the minimum; however, with that, don't I have to run the filter 24/7, all night long? Not fond of that idea either but not sure what our other options are.

What about those floating chlorinator things? Could we get away with using just that? Never used one before and don't know much about them but are they useful? And would that be better than adding all of that chlorine and running the filter all night (when really there is no actual need to SLAM)?

I really wouldn't mind staying on our trip a day longer but the pool is definitely one of the reasons I am cutting it short only because I am not sure how to handle it while we are gone.
 
tim5055 said:
What is your normal FC/CYA level? Yes, you should be able to do it just the way you propose. I have done it that way when I was gone for two or three days.
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I'm sorry...I meant to add that our CYA is 30, so our minimum is 2, target 4, and SLAM 12.

Did you run the filter 24/7 when you were gone? I'm guessing if we don't have the filter running the whole time, the chlorine will bleach the liner.

If we do happen to stay more than one day, I guess I would have to add more chlorine than my SLAM level so it doesn't go below the minimum (depending on how long we stay), that right? Is adding more chlorine than the SLAM level harmful to the liner/pool in any way?
 
suziequsie2945 said:
I'm sorry...I meant to add that our CYA is 30, so our minimum is 2, target 4, and SLAM 12.

Did you run the filter 24/7 when you were gone? I'm guessing if we don't have the filter running the whole time, the chlorine will bleach the liner.

If we do happen to stay more than one day, I guess I would have to add more chlorine than my SLAM level so it doesn't go below the minimum, that right?
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Chlorine drop per day is a percentage, not an exact number. So if your FC is 4 and you normally loose 2 per day you will basically loose 50% per day. Using those numbers, if you brought it up to 8, at the end of the day it would be 4. The second day would start 4 and then come down to 2 by the end of the day.

Obviously it's not exact, as many factors come into play but that should get you through a couple of days.

You shouldn't have a problem with the pump shutting off once the chlorine is in solution in the water.
 
suziequsie2945 said:
Which proposition are you referring to? Floating chlorinator or SLAM?
CYA is 30, minimum 2, target 4, SLAM 12.
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Just adding extra liquid Chlorine if you don't want to raise your CYA, you probably don't even need to get to SLAM level.

With your low CYA and only being gone a day or two the floater works for you as well. With my CYA of 80 I can't even walk by the pool with pucks for fear of raising it even more;)
 
tim5055 said:
Just adding extra liquid Chlorine if you don't want to raise your CYA, you probably don't even need to get to SLAM level.

With your low CYA and only being gone a day or two the floater works for you as well. With my CYA of 80 I can't even walk by the pool with pucks for fear of raising it even more;)
Click to expand...

With adding the extra liquid chlorine, do I have to run the filter 24/7? I guess I want to know what level of chlorine I would need to run the filter 24/7 in fear of all of that chlorine sitting on the liner and bleaching it when the filter is off.
 
suziequsie2945 said:
With adding the extra liquid chlorine, do I have to run the filter 24/7? I guess I want to know what level of chlorine I would need to run the filter 24/7 in fear of all of that chlorine sitting on the liner and bleaching it when the filter is off.
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Once the chlorine is mixed, it's mixed. It won't separate out and settle. I wouldn't even go all the way to shock level. Just boost it a bit, raise the water level an inch in case it gets hot and windy so you don't drop too low and suck air, and go.

People who don't maintain the pool right usually complain of it looking murky, and then cloudy, and finally green. A completely trouble-free pool is not going to turn into a swamp in 3 days. Go enjoy yourself, and when you get home and rush out to check the pool as soon as you get home (we all do) turn on the pump and dump a bunch of bleach in.
 
You have plenty of room to put a few tabs in a floater. You might want to increase your fc to about 8 using your bleach too. No need to run your filter 24/7 in either case. I'm assuming you have a timer to turn your pump on and off as a regular day to day procedure?
 

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I keep my CYA around 40 (it is below 30 right now, but that's another story).

When I go away, usualy for for about a week to 10 days, I clean the pool very well the day before I leave (brush and vac), I raise the FC using bleach to about 9.0 ppm (I run around 3.0 average per day, and I lose on average about 1.0 ppm per day at that level), and then I throw in some pucks in a floater. I leave my filter on the normal 4.5 hours a day timer.

Over the course of a week, the pucks are not going to add that much CYA, and they serve as an additional souce of FC. I have used this method a number of times and always came home to a clear, sparkling, swimmable pool (with a lot of dirt of the bottom, but still, clear and swimmable)

-dave
 
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