need to cover my pool for 6 weeks while i am away...help with chemical suggestions

[Elda125]

I will be leaving for 6 weeks and need to cover my pool. I live in NY and so it will be covered in the hight of summer. I keep getting different suggestions as to what my options are so when i come back my pool water isn't completely ruined. Thanks for any suggestions.

[waste]

For ease of installation and protection, a solid 'tarp' cover will do what you need.

If you have questions about securing it or treating the water, prior to your departure, simply ask. :)

[Elda125]

My question IS about how to treat the water. Suggestions???? It will be closed for about 6 weeks - and it is summer. Thanks.

[waste]

There are others here who could tell you exactly what and why to dose the pool - I'm not one of them:( However, if you'd kindly give us a full set of test results, even I can tell you where to get the levels before you cover the pool for 6 weeks. Basically, you're 'winterizing' the pool for 6 weeks in the summer, you need to have adequate chlorine and be sure that your other levels are good for that time period.

[Watermom]

You'll probably want to shock the pool and then let it drift down a bit and then maybe add a double dose of polyquat 60 and put your filter on circulate for a day or so. Then bring your chlorine back up a bit before covering it but not to shock level. You don't want to cover a pool that is at shock level as the fumes can damage the cover. I would also take the pH to the upper end of normal like about 7.8. Having said that, let's see what Ben recommends. He'll give you the best advice in this situation. I'm going to ask him to take a look at your thread.

[Elda125]

Thanks for your suggestions. I called a few pool companies and they said to balance & shock the pool then put in a winterizing pill as well as some long acting algeaside then two floating chlorine floaters filled with as many slow tab's as they take..probably 3 each. Does this sound okay???

[AnnaK]

We routinely leave our pool for 6 weeks in August/September. We'll in eastern PA, same weather as you in NY. We bring it to shock level the night before we leave and add polyquat 60 the next morning, then put the solar cover on. We don't have a winter cover or we'd use it. We turn the pump off.

Yes, it's green when we get back. Not a big deal. We dump in 3 large jugs (182 oz) of bleach the day we return and turn the pump on. After a couple of days of steady high concentrations of bleach the water is clean again, albeit cloudy. We keep the pump running, backwash/rinse the filter, might brush the bottom, and within 10 days the water is clear again.

Unless you can hire a pool service or someone to dump some bleach in and agitate it in the water (tough to do with a cover on) you may just have to accept you'll have a green pool. If you use BBB, that should not be an obstacle because a green pool is easy to fix.

[Watermom]

I don't know what is in the winterizing pill and wouldn't use it. I also would definitely not use any algaecide other than polyquat 60. Many of them cause a lot of other problems to clean up including foaming. We never recommend any other type of algaecide.

[Poconos]

If you can get the pump on a timer, just being able to run it for an hour, twice a day in recirculate mode, will help. With a cover, and this time of year, you shouldn't have to worry about evaporation dropping the water level and sucking air in the skimmer. I also say recirculate because you don't want the filter plugging. All you want to do is kick the water around. Of course having someone come in whenever possible and check the basic chemistry would be ideal.
Al

[Elda125]

i ordered a 90 day strength algaeside from a company online that i probably cannot name here. wondering this item has the same active ingredient as the polyquat 60 that your talking about.

[Elda125]

putting the pump on a timer is not an option.

[PoolDoc]

You can name chemicals here -- you just can't try to sell other people on them. We name chemicals and brands all the time . . . like 20 Mule Team borax ;-)

Ben

PS. I'm curious what company claims they have a "90 day algaecide", anyhow.

[Elda125]

Total Algaecide by Doheny's Water wearhouse. Destroys Resistant Algae, Extra-strength Formula, Prevents New Algae Growth for 90 Days, Non-foaming. It was recommended to me. I will certainly give it a try. I am also curious if this is the same that other product listed above with the 60 at the end of it//

[AnnaK]

The product is made by Lo-Chlor Chemicals (http://www.lo-chlor.com/product-brochures.html) and contains 11.83% copper sulphate pentahydrate and 83.17% inert ingredients. We don't recommend using any products containing copper. It is not the same as Polyquat 60.

[Watermom]

Anna's right. DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT IF IT HAS COPPER IN IT! Contrary to popular belief, it isn't chlorine that turns hair green, it is copper!

[PoolDoc]

Found it.

It's made by AllChem, and sold under a bunch of labels. HomeDepot has an MSDS available for it, here (http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/53/533b2355-5765-462d-a641-e87fa6f81ef7.pdf), under the HTH brand.
The Doheny's "Lo Chlor" label is here. (http://www.doheny.com/Pdfs/1103.pdf)
(both archived locally)

It's just a copper algaecide:
"Ingredients Found:

11.83% of COPPER SULFATE (PENTAHYDRATE) (161)
88.17% of INERT INGREDIENTS (0)"

And, no, it will not keep your pool algae free for 90 days, unless you also chlorinate, filter, and otherwise do everything necessary.

Ben

Oops. Anna, I still had this open from last night, and didn't check to see if someone else had posted. My bad.

[Elda125]

Thanks for everyone's imput and help. I will cerainly go out and by some Polyquat 60. Any suggestions as to HOW MUCH and WHEN I should put this Polyquat 60 into my pool. Should I balance the chemistry, shock and THEN put it in? Run the filter with it in or just dump it in before I close up the pool. Many thanks again!!1