Leaving for 16 day vacation - what to do with pool

Hi,

I am leaving for 16 days vacation and I do not have anyone to look after inground pool in the meantime (Toronto, Canada). What is the best way to leave pool? I can put enough clorine in floaters to last about 2 weeks, I can superschock it just before leaving. I'll leave pump on all time.
Q: Should I leave solar blanket on? This way there should be no grass/other debris in the water. If I put very high amount of algecide, would that work?
Without solar blanket I am afraid that water can evapourate, bellow skimmer level.
Any other recommendations on what can I do to minimize chance of green water on return. Or do you think I most likely have to hire pool company to take care while I am away?

Thanks

Hmmm no one has replied so I'll throw my 2c in.

What do you normally do for sanitation? What's your CYA level? Why consider a algecide? Do often have Algae problems?

I would add floaters and leave the cover on, and fix what happens when you get back.

The cover should reduce CL loss due to the sun so maybe you're CL will be high when you get back!

You should check your CYA when you get back, but I doubt 2-3 weeks will raise it that much.

Robert

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Originally Posted by rmeden

Hmmm no one has replied so I'll throw my 2c in.

What do you normally do for sanitation? What's your CYA level? Why consider a algecide? Do often have Algae problems?

I would add floaters and leave the cover on, and fix what happens when you get back.

The cover should reduce CL loss due to the sun so maybe you're CL will be high when you get back!

You should check your CYA when you get back, but I doubt 2-3 weeks will raise it that much.

Robert

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Normally I just use clorine tablets and once every 5-8 weeks I shock the pool. I also use algecide, as algae is a problem. I am not at experienced in pool maintenance to know what is my CYA level.

Would you run filter pump for all this time away? Someone else recommended that I just supershock pool, add algecide and turn pumps off and no cover. Is that a reasonable option?

I'd probably just shock, fill floater and leave it uncovered. It would be bad if you had very high temps while gone and it evaporated below safe skimmer line
with the pump running--pumps not designed to run dry.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by day1

I'd probably just shock, fill floater and leave it uncovered. It would be bad if you had very high temps while gone and it evaporated below safe skimmer line
with the pump running--pumps not designed to run dry.

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Thanks for reply. Just to clarify: You would not run pump? Is that right?
Sorry, its just that I am so not sure what to do...
Thanks,

On the old forum I remember PoolDoc saying that Algae is your real concern here. It is hard to give advice without knowing your current CYA level, but here goes. Your biggest concern here is that you don't want algae when you return, so adding polyquat is the best advice around.

Echoing other people's advice, and giving my advice from a shorter vacation I took last year, I would let your chlorine drift down a couple of days before you leave, then put in an "initial dose" (see the bottle for your size - could be up to a quart) of Polyquat (which is great at preventing Algae). 24 hours or so later, bring chlorine up to shock levels. For 16 days, assuming nobody can check in on the pool, I agree that leaving the pump on is risky, so I would turn it off. I think having floaters in the pool is a good idea. It's your call on the solar cover -- but if you are using floaters, 16 days of contact could hurt the cover, so I would keep it off (unless your cover is on its last legs anyway). There are people with much better advice than I have, though.

Link to further explain polyquat for you

On another thread here somewhere, someone had a great idea of taking several bottles of bleach, punching two 1/8 inch diameter holes in the bottom, and one in the top. String the bottles across the length (or width) of the pool, letting them hang below the surface of the water. The bleach will slowly leach out of the jugs. Something to do with the weight / density of bleach being different from pool water. He stated that he had done this before with no problems. The pool gets constant bleach, you get to relax knowing the algae is being taken care of. If your pool pump has a timer, let that run long enough to circulate your total gallons thru the filter about 2 times a day. Thats all you really need to run it, IMHO.

Good Luck

vim,
Sorry I didn't see your post till now. I'm not a member of the 'mod squad' here but I have some unique experience with this as my pool (33x17 ig, vinyl w/ Hayward DE filter) is at our vacation house 200 miles away. We visit there once, maybe twice a month in the summer and I like to arrive to a clean pool, and I do.

First, you need to be sure your algae is completely gone. That means, by the tenets of the Book of BBB, you use a FAS-DPD test to find out if your current chlorine levels are fighting anything. And it follows that you also need to know your current CYA level because that controls how much chlorine you need to do anything. Just adding algaecide will do nothing. And anything less than this will almost assure a healthy crop on your return when you'll then have to do this anyway.

This chlorine bottle idea has some legs, I think. I don't do this myself since my Dad, who lives near our pool, visits once a week to do gardening and I have him dump in a gallon of 12.5% chlorine. But the idea sounds good. But also, this is maintenance dosing, it assumes everything's nice to begin with.

Consequently, if you're adding chlorine, you're going to have to circulate. Besides, for reasons I can't verbalize, it just makes me more comfortable knowing the water will circulate once in a while. Something about stagnant water, I guess. So get yourself a timer and run the filter for a couple hours in the afternoon to deal with sun stress, and once more overnight for a couple hours just to stir things up.

Definitely leave the solar cover on and make sure it's tucked down around the edges so the wind doesn't get under it.

Fill your pool real high. I fill right up to just under the coping and, yes, it's over the skimmer. But that's OK because, since you have a maindrain, you should shut off the skimmer. The solar cover will be on so there won't be much to skim anyway and in case the water drops, you won't be sucking air thru the pump.

A maintenance dose of polyquat 60 is highly recommended, assuming you're sure the algae problem's been taken care of otherwise it's a waste of polyquat 60.

Backwash/ clean filter (you don't mention what kind of filter you have). Vacuum to prevent debris from blocking the main drain.

And lastly, if possible, find someone who can at least look in on the pool once in a while (need someone to water the plants?) and give them a number they can reach you at.

But first you've got to take care of your algae problem, otherwise you might as well just shut the pump off and leave.

HTH
C.

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Originally Posted by ChuckD

vim,
First, you need to be sure your algae is completely gone. That means, by the tenets of the Book of BBB, you use a FAS-DPD test to find out if your current chlorine levels are fighting anything. And it follows that you also need to know your current CYA level because that controls how much chlorine you need to do anything. Just adding algaecide will do nothing. And anything less than this will almost assure a healthy crop on your return when you'll then have to do this anyway.

Consequently, if you're adding chlorine, you're going to have to circulate. ...
...
Definitely leave the solar cover on and make sure it's tucked down around the edges so the wind doesn't get under it.

...
But first you've got to take care of your algae problem, otherwise you might as well just shut the pump off and leave.

HTH
C.

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Thanks for reply. My algae problem is taken care of now. So this will not be an issue.
My problem is - I do not have anyone to come by and check pool every few days. Even without timer, I could run pump and filter (sand) non stop, but what if water level goes way down or something else happens? Main drain will help, but what if I'll develop hole in linear (last year I did!). I just kind of affraid to leave pump running for whole 16 days.
So I am trying to figure out what to do so impact on pool after 16 days is least possible.
I was also told that if water will be non moving, I should not leave solar cover - because of algae problem. I believe I noticed myself that if solar cover is on for a few days in a row, it is much more likely that algae will start to grow. I see that you have experience differently, but you do run pump for a few hours...

So far my options are
Option 1:
Shock pool, add algecide, then REMOVE solar cover, circulate water for a few hours then SHUT everything down. Add few floaters with clorine tablets and leave.

Option 2:
Shock pool, add algecide, then DO NOT REMOVE solar cover, circulate water for a few hours then SHUT everything down. Add few floaters with clorine tablets and leave.

Option 3:
Shock pool, add algecide, then REMOVE solar cover, LEAVE PUMP ON. Add few floaters with clorine tablets and leave.

Option 4:
Shock pool, add algecide, then DO NOT REMOVE solar cover, LEAVE PUMP ON. Add few floaters with clorine tablets and leave.

Option 1&2: Pool will be green on return, but If I could (?) fix it in a few days or a week, that is good enough for me.

Option 3&4: Pool will be reasonable on return, but if something very unlikely will happens, then my pump and/or filter could be damaged.


What option would look most reasonably?
Or should I just hire pool company to come in every few days? That would be way expensive (50$ visit at least I believe).


I read other posts on this forum, but not too many people shared their experience on what really happened when they did one way or another.

I like the way you distill the options and possible outcomes down. Very efficient.

My gut tells me that as long as you've dosed with algaecide and shocked (in that order with a couple hours between; my understanding from reading here is that chlorine can diminish the algaecide, but I have no evidence for it) and absolutely can't run the pump at least an hour a day, you ought to be ok. I'd do the chemicals and let it circulate AT LEAST a couple hours, cover it and shut the pump off. No floaters though. Since there'll be no circulation I wouldn't want the build up of chemical concentrations in hot spots.

C.

I recently came back from a two week vacation and found my pool level 1.5 feet below normal with water greener than Shrek. I usually turn off my skimmers before leaving but this time I forgot.

The pump ran dry. The booster pump for my polaris went bye bye but the main pump seems ok. I don't know how it survived. It was set for 5 hours a day. Must have quickly got too hot and shut itself off.

I set my sprinkler system to dump water in the pool every other night expecting a lot of evaporation in the Texas heat but I guess it wasn't enough.

In my opinion, the most important thing to do (if you leave the pumps set to turn on) is to turn off your skimmers.

Why not use one of those automatic water levelers that hookup to a hose they run about $80...

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Originally Posted by frankcav

Why not use one of those automatic water levelers that hookup to a hose they run about $80...

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I am just affraid to put in something new and then what if it fails when I am away. What if watter keeps filling up? I am just kind of paranoid on these things :-(.

About closing skimmer. What do you mean by that? I have skimmer that has 2 holes at the bottom. One goes to pump, another to main drain. So if water level is below skimmer line, that water starts to come in from main drain. Do I have to close anything in this case?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vim

I am just affraid to put in something new and then what if it fails when I am away. What if watter keeps filling up? I am just kind of paranoid on these things :-(.

About closing skimmer. What do you mean by that? I have skimmer that has 2 holes at the bottom. One goes to pump, another to main drain. So if water level is below skimmer line, that water starts to come in from main drain. Do I have to close anything in this case?

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Skimmer: Only a concern if you decide to put your pump on a timer (I'm not recommending leaving it running 24/7). I'm talking about closing the valve to the skimmer to disable it.