Vacation.... I have a plan!

[gary300]

Hello all. Don’t know what sub forum this belongs in, but has to do with chemical balance. I will be taking two, one week vacations this year and do not have anyone who can add chems to my pool each day. I do not want to use pucks while I am away because my CYA is already higher than I want (60-70).

What I am thinking is to get a 5 gallon bucket with lid then run ¼” plastic tubing through the side of the bucket near the bottom using either a bulkhead connector if I can find it or JB weld to leakproof the connection. The hose now goes to a 24 VDC 2 port normally off plastic solenoid valve. Out of the valve goes more tubing which then connects to a drip system piece of tubing which has maybe 5 holes and is put into the pool water near a return.

I can now wire up the solenoid to one of my Easy Touch controller AUX connectors.

I normally add about ½ gallon of bleach per day, so putting 4 gallons of bleach in the bucket should do it.
Calibrating this system to find out how long to energize the solenoid to dispense ½ gallon should only take a little trial and error to establish how many minutes to program the Easy Touch for.

This setup would only be used when I am not home to do my daily bleach addition. I would also set my PH to a low value before leaving.

Does this sound like a plan that would work? Any suggestions to refine this?

I will measure the current draw from a normal RLYLX and make sure that the solenoid I buy draws current equal to or less than the RLYLX to avoid stressing out my Easy Touch.

Thanks for any replies!

 

[pooldv]

Yes, lower your PH to 7.2. I would also take your chlorine level up to shock level for your CYA, Chlorine CYA Chart, just as an extra precaution. Or if you have time to experiment take it up to shock level and see if FC stays above minimum for a week and just do that.

 

[pabeader]

Oh no my reply got lost in the eather!

Usually, a terminal marked RLY is just a relay. It doesn't supply power, only turns it on and off. So you would have to connect an external supply.
The solenoid would have to be chlorine safe. Along with the hoses and any other stuff that comes in contact.
Chlorine exposed to outside looses it's punch pretty quickly.

It might be easier to just find your average ppm loss and put 7X that in just before you leave. At 60-70 CYA as long as you're under 25 ppm your okay if I read the chart correctly. With your pool size that's like 11 gallons!

No vinyl liner to worry about so I would think you will be fine.

Others will be along soon, I'm sure

 

[gary300]

If I can get my little contraption to deliver the same amount of chlorine as I would normally add per day, then I would rather do that than have to dump 8.5 gallons of bleach in which is what pool calc says it would take to get my pool to shock level.

Update: I measured the current required from the AUX connector to drive the power relay at 50 Ma. Most of the cheap solenoid coils require 6 Watts (250 Ma) to operate. Therefore, I will use a spare power relay I have (RLYLX) and use that to switch the voltage from a 12 VDC wall wart I have. I will then order a solenoid with a 12 VDC coil. I checked with the solenoid maker and confirmed it would hold up to bleach as long as I cleaned it after each one week use.

The bucket I use will have a tight fitting lid, and I will drill a vent hole near the top of the bucket.