Hybrid TFP method

[Jschway]

Please don't stone me when I ask this! I'll give you some context first. My laws need some help with there pool. They're elderly and it's a little difficult for them to do daily maintenance. I can typically get out there once a week when we have Sunday lunch with them. Could I use a tablet a week to sustain the chlorine levels for them and then liquid bleach once a week? Or maybe I replace some water once a month as CYA gets too high...

We live just outside of Memphis so we're pretty humid and get okay rainfall during the summer.

Basically I'm asking if there's some type of hybrid system...

I'd love for them to switch over to salt...but
Honestly they are not in the best financial situation... But this is where we are.

(They currently use a pool guy who uses tablets and dumps algaecide in once every other week) I can no longer pay this guy...

 

[V___25]

It's possible if you are prepared to drain water to manage the high CYA. On Sunday, can you raise FC to SLAM level? With the TN heat/sun that will only last a few days and I don't think one tablet a week will keep their FC high enough once that SLAM level comes down to keep algae away. But you're right in that there's no reason to pay a pool guy to show up to do that exact same thing. Let's see what others have to say...

 

[Randrx2]

Figure out a way to switch to salt. If you can do the work yourself, you are looking at $1500 for the cell/power center. Maybe another $100 in miscellaneous parts for wiring power to it. The money you save from water replacement, not having a pool guy come, and your time is worth it.

You could also use liquid chlorine once a week to bring up levels to the high end based on CYA, then leave them with a pre-measured amount to dump in mid-week when you are not there. Poof...you are now a pool guy!

 

[PoolStored]

I second the Salt Water Chlorine Generator. It would make it the most trouble free.

There is no issue using pucks to chlorinate...it is not heresy. If you understand the FC/CYA relationship and you are able to maintain enough FC for your CYA using your testing (
Test Kits Compared) and this tool: Link-->FC/CYA Levels ...AND you know pucks add CYA, AND you know that you will need to replace water when CYA gets to about 60, it is a viable strategy.

A puck a week may be enough, may not. You will have to experiment and test to see how you can use pucks to maintain the FC/CYA relationship. Know there is some risk that you cannot properly maintain FC with once and week testing and pucks, which would result in a SLAM (and potential drain) at that point.

 

[woodyp]

In the end it is their/your pool. As has been said a SWCG is the best route for the situation. BUT.....if that's not an option and as long as you understand all the implications of going "hybrid"....get yourself one of our recommended test kits to know what's going on with it.

 

[jsygrls]

I'd love for them to switch over to salt...but
Honestly they are not in the best financial situation... But this is where we are.

Hopefully they can add LC once a week, if they can, this should work for you.
When I go on vacation, I bring my LC to SLAM level. I leave enough LC to add on every third day (MY NEIGHBOR DUMPS THE LC) to bring it back up. Once you know how many PPM each day you go through you can adjust amount to add. It's your call to add tablets to a floater OR NOT regarding cya levels.


you MUST HAVE A PROPER TEST SEt for this process to work!!

 

[SJPoe]

Hopefully they can add LC once a week, if they can, this should work for you.
When I go on vacation, I bring my LC to SLAM level. I leave enough LC to add on every third day (MY NEIGHBOR DUMPS THE LC) to bring it back up. Once you know how many PPM each day you go through you can adjust amount to add. It's your call to add tablets to a floater OR NOT regarding cya levels.

I just got back from a 10 day vacation, and we did exactly this. My son came up and 'maintained' the pool for us while we were gone.
Before we left, he got the 10 minute lesson in how to test the FC levels. On the day we left, we bought FC up to SLAM level (20PPM). Our pool uses about 2-3 PPM a day on average. He came up on day 4, ran the test, added enough LC to bring it back up to SLAM level. He did the same thing on day 8.

For us, that was roughly 2 gallons of LC each time - depending how big your parents pool is, your quantity might vary, but there should be no need to do 'daily' maintenance beyond swimming & skimming. My wife likes to start her daily swim by going around the pool with a small net and a boogie board catching all the 'floaties' that inevitably get in every day. Once a week, we'll brush, backwash, clean out the skimmer etc.

 

[kul]

Since you go there once a week, I think asking them to dump in some chlorine midweek is the easiest way.

 

[Newdude]

How big is the pool ? The SWG maths these days have been returning big in your favor, a minimum of 2X for the 1st cell and up to 5X long term. It would easily cover credit card interest for either of you to make payments equal to whatever they are spending at the moment, still making out in the end. Each swamp avoided is several hundred dollars as well.

Get me the gallons and I'll crunch some #s for ya later.

 

[tikoh]

I know a few people have mentioned SWCG, and I agree that's the best way...but another much much cheaper option is to get a chlorine pump. Stenner makes several models and Hayward has this Hayward pH Acid Dispense Feed System AQL-CHEM4-CHLOR - PoolSupply4Less

Once you get it dialed in, it'll definitely get them through the week. When I managed a commercial pool, this is how we did it. No CYA, auto bleach feed, testing 4 times per day with CO2 to manage pH. As long as you didn't let it run dry, it was virtually maintenance free. Since your in-laws aren't the same as 100 kids peeing in the pool, and you do have CYA it'll almost certainly be stable enough to manage.

 

[duraleigh]

Congrats to newdude for asking this all-important question............How big is the pool?

That knowledge can modify the advice.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

A long time ago I had to have a difficult conversations with my parents. They were still living in the house we grew up in and it was crazy expensive in terms of upkeep. They are not the kind of people that adapt to change easily or even want to be bothered but they were bleeding money like crazy. I finally sat down with them to show them the math and it wasn’t good. If they didn’t move out and find a more sustainable living situation, particularly one where they didn’t have to do a lot of exterior maintenance, they were going to run their retirement savings into the ground … and the last thing I needed was to have my parents living with me.

You might need to consider having that discussion with them. Just a thought …

 

[Jschway]

This is helpful!

It's a 25,000 gallon pool. Let's just say SWG is not an option. I'm sure they would be able to add bleach on Wednesday and I'll test and balance everything on Sunday. Raising FC to SLAM once a week is the way to go.

My other idea of using pucks and draining once a month or when CYA gets too high is interesting. How many inches do you think it would need to be drained?

 

[BDY]

The water bill from draining on a frequent basis would likely not be small…… be sure to take that into consideration

 

[mknauss]

My other idea of using pucks and draining once a month or when CYA gets too high is interesting. How many inches do you think it would need to be drained?

When the CYA got to 60, you would drain half the pool volume and refill.

 

[Jschway]

When the CYA got to 60, you would drain half the pool volume and refill.

Ok. That won't work.. I was thinking I could just put in a pump in the deep end and run a hose in the shallow for 30min...

 

[mknauss]

I was thinking I could just put in a pump in the deep end and run a hose in the shallow for 30min...

30 hours maybe. But 30 min would be at most a couple hundred gallons.

 

[PoolStored]

Residential spigot flow is typically 5-6 GPM.

 

[thefloatqueen]

 

[Jschway]

Residential spigot flow is typically 5-6 GPM.

So at 30 minutes a week, I would replace 150 Gallons of water.... So it would take me 167 visits to replace all the water. ha! Ill test and balance water once a week and have them add bleach in between by visits...