RVJames: Going on Vacation for a week how do I leave my pool?

[Rvjames]

I am in the same boat I m going away for 3 weeks out of the country what am I going to do with my pool has been my concern. My neighbor is offering to help but don't want to trouble him too much so what is the minimum he could do? He has an AG pool and is very well taken care of it just feel bad and hope nothing bad happens when I am gone and he is left to handle it.

[AnnaK]

What sanitizer/method do you presently use?

[Rvjames]

I use chlorine feeder with trichlore pucks and add sodium hypochlorde 12% shock as needed my CYA is around 90.

[aylad]

How many days can you go before your chlorine drops to 8 ppm? If your neighbor can just come by and add a gallon of chlorine, say, every other day, or however often you would normally add it yourself, then you should be fine. Might have to shock the pool when you return, but that's no big deal.

A bigger concern for me would be making sure the water level is high enough, and the skimmer basket is clean, so that you don't end up burning up your pump. Can he take care of that for you, too? If so, that's the route I would go (it's what I do with my own pool!;) )

Janet

[Watermom]

And, since the trichlor tabs are very acidic and drive your pH down, make sure your pH level is 7.8 or so before you leave to give some wiggle room there.

(By the way, when you return from vacation, I'd suggest that you stop using the pucks. You don't really want that CYA level to continue to climb. It's pretty high already, and those tabs have CYA in them.)

[Rvjames]

This is very helpful thank you. It is very disappointing that the pool shops rave about the pucks without telling you any details on the long term out come I just bought 60 LB of them is there any use at all?

[AnnaK]

Yes. Use them at the beginning of the season to build up your CYA. Your inground pool in Jersey probably doesn't freeze as our AGP does, and I don't really know whether the freezing has anything to do with it, but we lose all our CYA over winter, from 60 ppm at closing in October to 0 ppm when we open at the end of April. That's when I run trichlor pucks in my inline feeder exclusively. I switch to straight bleach when I've reached my goal CYA of 50 ppm.

We also use the pucks when we go on vacation because we don't have anyone to add bleach now and then. Our vacations are always toward the end of the season and I don't care that much by that time about adding more CYA since we close the pool soon after returning home anyway.

[aylad]

If you keep the bucket tightly closed, and stored in a dry place, they will keep until next season. Just don't let them get damp, and if you see the top of the bucket bowing outward, wear safetyglasses and don't breathe when you open the lid!!

Janet

[Rvjames]

Thank you All this is the most useful information I have got.