Gas can sand weights for stairs, what does everyone do? Add bleach?

[Ticojpunk]

Going to be putting my AGP stairs in in the next couple weeks, once it's warm enough to get in there.

I have Main Access Smart Stairs that have a little shelf underneath. My plan is two get two 5 gallon plastic gasoline cans, and fill them with 50 lbs of sand in each, and pea gravel to take up the extra space. Do people tend to put bleach in there as well? Or as long as it's filled up with sand and rocked and sealed tightly should it be fine. If you do add bleach, how much is bleach?

 

[Jonsstihl]

my stairs came with a small cylinder that you fill with sand and it gets dropped into a hole in the bottom step but probably a quarter of the size of a five gallon can. water cna get into the cylinder so it helps with less floating but I'm not sure about what to do about algae in that cylinder.

Kind of hoping someone adds to this thread to hear the replies.

if your cans are sealed they will have a tendancy to float more or atleast weight less than if you let them fill up with water as well as the sand and rocks.

gas cans are sealed by nature so I would just fill them with tap water after you get mostly sand and rocks in there then seal them up so they don't affect your pool water.

 

[Newdude]

Buy a 10ft pvc pipe, primer/glue and some caps. Cut small pieces that will work for you (2 ft?) and fill them with gravel / sand / cement before gluing on the caps.

Depending on the stairs they can be zip tied or laid inside.

 

[Mdragger88]

my stairs came with a small cylinder that you fill with sand and it gets dropped into a hole in the bottom step but probably a quarter of the size of a five gallon can. water cna get into the cylinder so it helps with less floating but I'm not sure about what to do about algae in that cylinder.

Kind of hoping someone adds to this thread to hear the replies.

if your cans are sealed they will have a tendancy to float more or atleast weight less than if you let them fill up with water as well as the sand and rocks.

gas cans are sealed by nature so I would just fill them with tap water after you get mostly sand and rocks in there then seal them up so they don't affect your pool water.

I have the same cylinder thing- algae city if you just dump sand or whatever in there.
My solution was country time lemonade containers filled with concrete/sand & sealed with duct tape, they fit perfectly. I also tried sand in a foodsaver bag - if you do this make sure to double bag it.
Just filling the ballast (cylinder) was not enough to weigh down my steps so I also 4 use concrete/sand filled bleach jugs. I put duct tape over the opening before capping them. I run a rope through the handles & tie it to the hole in the back of the steps (the jugs hang from the rope underneath/inside the steps). They are still movable this way & also require me to attach the handrail to the deck.

 

[Ticojpunk]

Buy a 10ft pvc pipe, primer/glue and some caps. Cut small pieces that will work for you (2 ft?) and fill them with gravel / sand / cement before gluing on the caps.

Depending on the stairs they can be zip tied or laid inside.

I thought about doing this. PVC is crazy expensive these days. All those caps add up too. Would definitely be convenient to have many smaller weights over two 50+ pound plastic gas cans though. I definitely see the advantage of the PVC pipe though.

 

[Newdude]

Which stairs do you have for inspiration ?

 

[Newdude]

Would definitely be convenient to have many smaller weights over two 50+ pound plastic gas cans though

It'd also be way easier to fill 2 or 3 inch pipes. And they'd blend in much better too. I'm I big fan of redneck engineering and all, but gas cans would look too out of place. I'd use white jugs instead if using containers.

Then again, if it looks stupid but works.....

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I would go more holding vessels for sand/gravel with less weight in each. Other than using the water that is in the ladder itself I have never needed another type of ballast. Of course the water coming out of the steps has always been not so nice looking but the shock level chlorine seemed to take care of that.

 

[Mdragger88]

Each bleach jug I have is a little heavy to lift but it’s doable - i wouldn’t want to have 1 weight that cumulative size for sure.

 

[Jonsstihl]

I will have to look into these suggestions. I did have a slight build up of green algae late in the season and when i took out the stairs there was green underneath. I brushed it around and raised FC to slam level at closing but I opened to pea soup this year so will definitely try harder to keep up with brushing this year.

my stairs are molded plastic with pvc pipe railings there are not many places to zip tye jugs to but they do have suction cups on the bottoms. I didn't have any problems with movement. they seemed to stay in place.

 

[phonedave]

I use the weights that are made for my stairs, so they attach nicely.

I filled them with pea gravel - no sand. If they crack (and they have) I do not want sand leaking into the pool.

I fill them with water and a cup of bleach at the start of each season, and dump them out at the end. Now that they leak a bit, it is a trick getting them into the pool before they spill bleach water everywhere. But, I have never had a problem with algae or other stuff.

These are the weights I have - Easy Step Weight System For Above Ground Easy Pool Steps