Vacation prep

[jasonb81]

Hi Guys, I rediscovered this forum earlier this summer after leaving town for 12 days and returning to algae in my pool. Pool was successfully SLAM'ed and rebalanced and has been great for the past 1.5 months. I'm again leaving town for 7 days and this time would like to return to an algae-free pool. My pump currently runs from 8 am - 7pm, and 12am - 2am at 70% on the SWG. I've been maintaining about 4-4.5 min FC daily with this setting. I typically take FC measurements every 1-3 days and have been holding 4-4.5 for the past month or so. I'd like to give myself some chlorine buffer in case something goes wrong while out of town. What is your recommendation to prep the pool for vacation? I will not have anyone checking on the pool while gone.

Current levels:
FC 5
CC 0
CYA 60
PH 8
CH 300
TA 80
Salt 3000

Should I add liquid chlorine, tabs, or add additional pump time/swg % before leaving? I was thinking I'd just run the pump maybe 20 hours a day to boost chlorine and add a buffer. Not sure what the best practice would be?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Mdragger88]

Hey neighbor !
You could stand to increase your cya (around 70ppm this time of year here is ideal) so a floater with some trichlor tablets wouldn’t hurt & would be extra insurance incase of power failure while you’re away. It will also help with the ph rise while you’re gone if you lower ph before u leave.
I also always raise to slam level for my cya with liquid chlorine before going on vacation & return home to no issues FC/CYA Levels. Leaving my pump runtimes the same as always.
Also check the weather to determine whether you need to lower or raise the water level to account for rain or evaporation.

 

[Mdragger88]

Do u generally get alot of debris in your pool? Usually i have a family member stop by mid week or after a storm to empty the skimmer.

 

[jasonb81]

Hey Cross Town Neighbor, my pool usually gets some leaves from the neighbors yards after a storm. Shouldn't over load the skimmer basket within a week though.

I'll see what the minimum size puck container available is at the pool store near my house. I can definitely add liquid chlorine to shock level and drop a few pucks into the skimmer before I leave. Looks like pool math says it would take 5 lbs of pucks to raise CYA to 70 which also raises FC by 15. Is that excessive? How many do you add?

I was going to bring PH down to 7.6 as I have a spill over waterfall that I assume contributes to my PH raising. However, if I go the puck route i'll probably wait until I return from vacation and re-sample after the pucks dissolve to see where PH is at.

Now I'm craving a burger and ice cream from The Dip in Hernando!

 

[Mdragger88]

A 3” floater from Walmart loaded up will get the job done (I think 4 will fit in there & they probably won’t fully dissolve). Don’t put pucks in the skimmer, they are acidic & can damage your equipment. You can test cya when u get back & then use granular stabilizer (sock method) to raise it where u wanna be. Lowering ph to 7.6 should be fine.
My go to @ the Dip is the bacon cheeseburger salad !