Heading to Long Island

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ashtonfitzgerald

ashtonfitzgerald

0
Sep 27, 2016
279
Oshawa, ON, Canada
Pool Size
9500
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
We'll be packing the minions in the Rav for a week on Long Island starting Sunday. I've been going back and forth in my head about my vacay strategy for the Intex-- pucks in a floater, auto-dosing, getting my pet sitter to take care of the big pet too....

I've thrown together a simple gravity fed dosing system controlled by an irrigation timer which I've been playing with for the last few days. So far it seems consistent in the chlorine dosing, but with so many components in the mix, if one fails (or there is a power failure of epic proportions) then it all shuts down. Granted so will the filter.[emoji854]

I will likely have the sitter look at the pool each day to monitor things, but with three dogs in her care, she'll have a lot going on already.

Pucks are a simple solution, but working out how many to add is dependant on how long it takes for the pucks to dissolve. I don't use them often. Pool math tells me how much trichlor to add to cover my 2ppm daily usage, but that doesn't guarantee 2ppm is dissolving into the pool daily. From past use, it seems it's about a week and the pucks have dissolved mostly, but not sure if temp/FC levels affect the rate they dissolve.

The forecast is calling for days in the 70s and a couple of low 80s while we're gone, so CL usage shouldn't be insane.

Q1: If I go the puck route, should I just put what would be 7 days worth of CL in trichlor form in the floater or overshoot a bit? I will be bumping the FC to near the top end of my maintenance target before leaving.

Q2: To cover or not to cover. I'm leaning towards covering to keep debris and UV from messing with things.

Thanks!
 
Take your FC to shock and float the pucks in the floater.

Covering will really drop your FC loss, in fact, if you cover, you probably would not need the pucks if you take your FC to shock first.

Take care
 
ashtonfitzgerald said:
We'll be packing the minions in the Rav for a week on Long Island starting Sunday. I've been going back and forth in my head about my vacay strategy for the Intex-- pucks in a floater, auto-dosing, getting my pet sitter to take care of the big pet too....

I've thrown together a simple gravity fed dosing system controlled by an irrigation timer which I've been playing with for the last few days. So far it seems consistent in the chlorine dosing, but with so many components in the mix, if one fails (or there is a power failure of epic proportions) then it all shuts down. Granted so will the filter.[emoji854]

I will likely have the sitter look at the pool each day to monitor things, but with three dogs in her care, she'll have a lot going on already.

Pucks are a simple solution, but working out how many to add is dependant on how long it takes for the pucks to dissolve. I don't use them often. Pool math tells me how much trichlor to add to cover my 2ppm daily usage, but that doesn't guarantee 2ppm is dissolving into the pool daily. From past use, it seems it's about a week and the pucks have dissolved mostly, but not sure if temp/FC levels affect the rate they dissolve.

The forecast is calling for days in the 70s and a couple of low 80s while we're gone, so CL usage shouldn't be insane.

Q1: If I go the puck route, should I just put what would be 7 days worth of CL in trichlor form in the floater or overshoot a bit? I will be bumping the FC to near the top end of my maintenance target before leaving.

Q2: To cover or not to cover. I'm leaning towards covering to keep debris and UV from messing with things.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Similar to you, I am leaving for a 7 day family vacay on the Jersey Shore this weekend. It will be the 4th such time away since I started following the TFPC method of pool care. Historically, I did exactly what mknauss suggested, sans cover.

I've found the following steps to work the best...
1. In the couple/few weeks leading up to departure, Bring CYA to around 30.
2. In the couple days prior, brush, vacuum, and raise water level to just below the skimmer mouth (depending on expected rain).
4. Raise FC to SLAM level.
5. Pack and drop in a floater with as much Trichlor it will hold.
6. Have fun on vacation and worry about what you may find upon your return when you return, because (even if you have someone dropping by) you cannot personally address the water from 1,000 miles away.
 
mknauss said:
Take your FC to shock and float the pucks in the floater.

Covering will really drop your FC loss, in fact, if you cover, you probably would not need the pucks if you take your FC to shock first.

Take care
Click to expand...

Agree. I just had 2 weeks. I brought to shock, put in the floater, covered the pool and came back to clear water under the cover.
 
We frequent Robert Moses as it's quite close, personally I like the rough stuff but the kids are still young. [emoji6] The in-laws' pool is just around the corner from our accommodation on Lawn-Guy Land, so there's a back up plan.
 

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Got back yesterday from our 8 day adventure. Happy to report that despite crazy storms (resulting in flooding halfway up our driveway and several garden plants destroyed) the pool was clear upon our return, but for a small amount of debris.

Temps were low when I opened it--70 degrees and FC was still within slam levels. In total, I added 10ppm of CYA with the tabs used, so minor adjustments needed.

During one of our storms we lost power and that tripped the built in GFCI on the Intex pump plug. Despite zero circulation for who knows how long, we faired well.

Now to adjust target levels, get that temp back up and start swimming again!

Thanks everyone for the feedback!
 
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