How bad is it to not run the pump for a day or two?

[Wntrequinx]

So I opened my pool a little early for the weather here, and then ended up getting very sick. As we are still figuring out the pool routine, there wasn't one for my husband to know about and take care of for me. (The old mechanical pool timer doesn't work, the clip that turns it off gets stuck and the time wheel just spins under it, so I took the clips off and just either go use the switch by the pump or the on/off at the timer if it's too cold/rainy to go out)

In any case, I'm curious how bad it was to leave the water sitting since Thursday , and if the FC is down below 4 (CYA is 50), do I automatically need to slam, or should I run it and see how the CC is after I bump the FC again?

I accidentally let it get to 3.5 last week (er... the week before, actually) and didn't slam it because it was so close and the cc level was still only 0.5.

Is it ok to not slam if the water stays perfectly clear and the CC doesn't go up?

 

[mknauss]

The signs that you need to follow the SLAM Process is cloudy water/visible algae, and/or high FC consumption, and/or fail the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test, and/or have a CC greater than 0.5.

So from what you describe, no need. Do an OCLT. That after how the water looks is the best indicator of organics in your pool.

 

[Wntrequinx]

The water had 0 CC when I tested it (the FC was down to 3, but it had the solar cover and no use since last Tuesday)

[Edits- added more]:

I think im good but with my sickness I'm not sure I can do an OCLT. I'm not a morning person when I don't have shingles...

My plan is to up the FC to 6ish, and let the fam use it and then worry about algae later. I'm probably also better than normal on algae because I stupidly added too much copper algeacide at the beginning of the year, before I discovered TFP. The water likely has 0.4ish copper, but I haven't gone back to the pool store for a copper test, so I don't know.

 

[mknauss]

Do what you can.