Pump off during a 4 day vacation

[poolnewbie4]

We are going on a short 4 day vacation and we don’t know anyone who can come here daily to add chlorine and dump leaves out of the skimmer. Pool is surrounded by trees so I don’t feel comfortable running the pump while we away since the trees are already shedding leaves. We were planning on getting the pool up to shock level (16) the night before we leave and turn the pump off right before we leave that morning. Since we are only losing 2 ppms of chlorine a day, could we possibly come home to a clear pool 4 days later if we get it up to shock level before leaving? I assume that it wouldn’t help to use a floater full of chlorine tablets since the pump will be off. Would it help decrease chlorine consumption some if we put the solar cover on to keep leaves from sinking to the bottom? Could the high chlorine level harm the solar cover or could it actually increase chlorine consumption because it heats up the water and there will likely be leaves sitting on top of it for 4 days?

 

[PoolStored]

We are going on a short 4 day vacation and we don’t know anyone who can come here daily to add chlorine and dump leaves out of the skimmer. Pool is surrounded by trees so I don’t feel comfortable running the pump while we away since the trees are already shedding leaves.

Might consider this: Skimmer Guards - Further Reading

We were planning on getting the pool up to shock level (16) the night before we leave and turn the pump off right before we leave that morning. Since we are only losing 2 ppms of chlorine a day, could we possibly come home to a clear pool 4 days later if we get it up to shock level before leaving?

Yep, entirely possible and likely your best option.

I assume that it wouldn’t help to use a floater full of chlorine tablets since the pump will be off.

Correct.

Would it help decrease chlorine consumption some if we put the solar cover on to keep leaves from sinking to the bottom?

Yes.

Could the high chlorine level harm the solar cover

Not up to slam level.

or could it actually increase chlorine consumption because it heats up the water and there will likely be leaves sitting on top of it for 4 days?

De Minimis impact on chlorine consumption heating the water and leaves sitting.