We are getting ready to go on a week-long vacation soon and will not be able to run the pump while we are away because our pool is surrounded by trees, we have no timer, and our pool equipment is old and problematic. I need some advice on what we can do to prevent the pool from turning in to a huge swamp while we are away since we can't run the pump.
It sounds like we have three options:
1. Get the pool up to shock level, turn off the pump and leave. (I assume that putting a floater with chlorine pucks wouldn't help much since the pump wouldn't be running.)
2. Get the pool up to shock level before we leave and ask a friend who lives across town to come over once or twice to add chlorine in front of a return and run the pump for 30 minutes or so to distribute the chemicals. I don't want to ask this friend to remove leaves or do anything else to the pool since he has a bad back. (There could potentially be a lot of leaves in the pool if there is a storm or high winds so I'm wondering if the chlorine additions will do much good.)
3. Put the mesh safety cover on the pool, get the pool up to shock level, turn the pump off, and leave. If it would be better to leave at normal chlorine levels and add polyquat, I could do that instead.
Because the cover is so hard to put on and take off, it would only be worth the effort to put the cover on if it could potentially prevent the pool from turning into a major swamp while we are gone without any chlorine additions and without running the pump. If we will likely come home to a major swamp no matter what we do because of the high temperatures and stagnant water, I think I will take my chances and do option #1 so I don't have to inconvenience my friend while we are away and won't have to mess with the cover. I've got a fiberglass pool so my pool normally clears up in 5 days or less during a SLAM but I've never done one during the heat of the summer before.
It sounds like we have three options:
1. Get the pool up to shock level, turn off the pump and leave. (I assume that putting a floater with chlorine pucks wouldn't help much since the pump wouldn't be running.)
2. Get the pool up to shock level before we leave and ask a friend who lives across town to come over once or twice to add chlorine in front of a return and run the pump for 30 minutes or so to distribute the chemicals. I don't want to ask this friend to remove leaves or do anything else to the pool since he has a bad back. (There could potentially be a lot of leaves in the pool if there is a storm or high winds so I'm wondering if the chlorine additions will do much good.)
3. Put the mesh safety cover on the pool, get the pool up to shock level, turn the pump off, and leave. If it would be better to leave at normal chlorine levels and add polyquat, I could do that instead.
Because the cover is so hard to put on and take off, it would only be worth the effort to put the cover on if it could potentially prevent the pool from turning into a major swamp while we are gone without any chlorine additions and without running the pump. If we will likely come home to a major swamp no matter what we do because of the high temperatures and stagnant water, I think I will take my chances and do option #1 so I don't have to inconvenience my friend while we are away and won't have to mess with the cover. I've got a fiberglass pool so my pool normally clears up in 5 days or less during a SLAM but I've never done one during the heat of the summer before.
