Can my pool stay home alone for 10 days?

All the posts I've read dealing with pool maintenance while the owner is on vacation have included a "pool-sitter" - is this because it's impossible to go w/o? I have to go away for 10 days. I'm really not comfortable leaving the filter on a timer either. Can I just clean/vacuum really well, make sure everything tests w/in acceptable levels, dump in a bunch of chlorine and put the cover on? What would I be likely to come home to?:eek: It's an 18' Intex, gets sun about 5 hrs a day and our temps will likely be 85-95.

Thanks!!:) Amy

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Originally Posted by amyinraleigh

All the posts I've read dealing with pool maintenance while the owner is on vacation have included a "pool-sitter" - is this because it's impossible to go w/o? I have to go away for 10 days and to be honest, given my choices of people to pop in and maintain the water, I almost think the pool would be better off left alone. I'm really not comfortable leaving the filter on a timer either. Can I just clean/vacuum really well, make sure everything tests w/in acceptable levels, dump in a bunch of chlorine and put the cover on? What would I be likely to come home to?:eek: It's an 18' Intex, gets sun about 5 hrs a day and our temps will likely be 85-95.

Thanks!!:) Amy

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A cover will certainly help, but you should keep the pool pump (filter) on its timer. What is your concern with leaving the pool pump on when you are away?

And yes, dumping a lot of chlorine and keeping the pool covered *might* get you through 10 days, but this is partly dependent on your current CYA level, so can you let us know what that is? Also, is this cover you talk about opaque and prevents sunlight from getting through? Have you ever had experience using this cover and know that it in fact cuts down your chlorine loss significantly?

[EDIT]It is normally advisable to have someone pop in at least a couple of times during the week (assuming you have the cover) to add chlorine. If the cover cuts your chlorine loss to around 20% of the chlorine level per day (meaning that it loses 20% so that 80% is left after each day), then if you dump 20 ppm of chlorine it will end up with about 2 ppm after 10 days so that's why the CYA level is important to know -- if it's high, then those last days will be risky. Also, if you don't know how much your cover cuts down your chlorine loss, then you're taking a big risk since the 20% number is a guestimate. In my own pool with a cover (and the pump was running 8 hours every day), I've been able to do the dump chlorine routine for up to a week, but I've never gone longer than that and normally we have someone stay at our house and both enjoy and maintain the pool.[END-EDIT]

Richard

Well from my most recent experience,( last week) I would most definitely find someone who has a knowledge of pool care and understands the importance of chemical balance. I left for a five day vacation with the assurance from my BIL that the pool would be the same as I left it when I got home. Was it? Not in the least, I came home to a green pool on Sunday, several gallons of bleach later, it's blue again but very cloudy, I am very upset about this. So get someone you TRUST implicitly to take care of your pool!!
justmy two cents!

adding a bit of bleach to a pool daily is a very complex and intricate thing that I imagine is well beyond the grasp of some people. I am blessed to be surrounded by people who are quick to learn, the problem is, that if I ever were to go on vacation, most of those people would go with me.

Amy,

I'd like to have more confidence in telling you how much chlorine to use and whether it will work for the 10 days. Are you leaving right away or do you have time to do an experiment? If you have time, then the following would give us enough info to figure this out.

1) We definitely need your CYA level so get that measured (do you have Ben's test kit?). This will tell us the minimum final chlorine level you can have on day 10.

2) In the evening (or any time not during the heat of the day when the sun is on the pool) test your chlorine level and add enough chlorine to raise the level to at least 5 ppm, though 10 would be even better (assuming you are using a FAS-DPD drop chlorine test kit; otherwise, 5 should probably be your starting point). Then, cover your pool. If your pump is not normally running at this time, turn it on manually until step 3.

3) After an hour, measure the chlorine level in your pool. This is your starting chlorine level. You can turn off your pump back to its normal automatic mode if its normally off at this time.

4) After 24 hours, measure the chlorine level in your pool. The ratio of this amount over the amount found in step 3 gives your retention ratio. If you want, you can continue the experiment for another 24 hours (don't add any more chlorine) since that will give you more accuracy. Three days would be even better. At the end of your experiment, you can uncover your pool during the day which will breakdown a lot of the chlorine so you'll be able to swim (if you want).

The formula for figuring out how much chlorine to add is as follows.

Starting Chlorine = (Ending Chlorine) / (Retention Ratio)^10

The "^10" means raising the Retention Ratio to the 10th power (the y^x function on the calculator).

Hopefully, the ratio of chlorine from day 2 to day 1 is about the same as the ratio from day 3 to day 2. If so, then we can be reasonably sure at our prediction. If the drop is very slow, then we can use the drop over 2 or 3 days via "Retention Ratio = ( (FC at Day N)/(FC at Day 1) )^(1/(N-1))

A simple alternative is to dump a whole lot of chlorine -- 30 ppm -- as if you were shocking the pool, but because it is kept covered, it won't really be shocked well. Your cover may not like this high chlorine level, but it will just be for 10 days (no guarantees).

Richard

another advantage of a SWG I guess.

Shocking the pool and then covering it is not good for your solar cover.

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Originally Posted by Phillbo

another advantage of a SWG I guess.

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Looking better to me everyday. :D That and a timer and what else is there? So long as the Ph is somewhat stable and everything is in check then no problems.

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Originally Posted by Watermom

Shocking the pool and then covering it is not good for your solar cover.

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I was afraid of that. So that means that if she feels she has to do the chlorine dump approach, then doing the experiment to determine the minimum amount of chlorine that is needed would be a wise thing to do (rather than do shock levels).

I had also thought of the possibility of temporarily switching to Tri-Chlor tabs in a floating feeder, but I don't think they will last for the 10 days and they'll be hard on the pH (though she could start at a higher pH to start).

Richard

How much chlorine do you usually use? Is it not possible to just tell someone to add say like a half of gallon a day til you return? Even the neighbor or something. Pay them... Everyone likes money. Get some kid, tell him that you will give him $50 if you come back to a clean pool, he has to add bleach every day, if he messes it up, no money. If it is really good tell him he gets $100.

For that money you can hire a pool service to keep it in check while your gone . probably for less than 50.00.

The only cover I have is just the cheapie whatever cover that came with the pool - it definitely isn't a solar cover (I can only wish.....:) ). I'm sure the thing won't last long anyway, I'm not too worried about it losing life. It's pretty thin and so I guess it probably wouldn't keep out sun anyway, I'll have to pull it out and see but I would imagine it's main purpose is keeping debris out of the pool.

I don't have the pump on a timer, I have been just turning it on whenever, making sure it's on at least 8 hours a day. I'm a bit scared of putting it on a timer because of how the skimmer is mounted - it just hooks over the inflatable ring and depending on time of day (sunlight, temp) the ring is either very taut or pretty mushy allowing the skimmer to rise out of the water. I've tried to find a happy medium on fill of the ring and tightness of the skimmer hook so as to be stable enough to keep the skimmer submerged when it's cool out, yet not too tight to do damage to the ring during the sunlight hours. I've had to adjust the hook several times after the skimmer started sucking air soon after I turned the pump on - wouldn't want this to happen while no one is there to turn the pump off and adjust things....

The pool's only been up a week and this is my "learning" pool, so I'm still going by trial and error - and of course this site!! - on most everything. CYA is still dissolving, this morning was almost 30....I think.....still getting used to the tests, Walmart 5-way, by the way, next year I'll upgrade. Can I buy a high chlorine test at a pool store? I'm not sure how I'll measure shock levels w/o one.:confused:

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adding a bit of bleach to a pool daily is a very complex and intricate thing that I imagine is well beyond the grasp of some people.

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I hope this wasn't meant to be sarcastic:( , I can't really tell.....I live way out in the sticks and it is very inconvenient for any of my friends to drive all the way out here to mess with the pool - I would never ask them to. I have many pets that are going to be graciously well cared-for by my immediate neighbors, I don't want to dump the pool on them as well. That care and time is taken with my animals is much more important to me than overwhelming the caretakers with "a very complex and intricate" additional burden - which I myself don't even fully understand.

I really am worried about coming home to a swamp, as I understand it, the shortcomings of the underpowered Intex pump really shine while trying to clear an algae outbreak:rolleyes: , but that may be my only option. I do have time before I leave and I will try your outline Chem Geek Richard (sincere thanks for the time you put into posting your experiment!:) ) I'm just not sure if I'll be able to accomplish much since I'm still in the stabilizing stages and brand-new to boot. I'll try though because I might be able to bring myself to ask a neighbor to add a definite amount of a definite chemical on a definite day with no testing and adjusting responsibilities. Whether I get to know the water well enough by that time remains to be seen, here's crossing my fingers!!

Thanks for all the helpful replies!

Amy

If you can leave your pump on for the filter but turn off your pool sweep (is it on a separate pump or part of the main system? -- if part of the main system can you unscrew it where it attaches in the pool?). It is most important that you get circulation and not very important that you have your pool sweep running, especially if you are using a cover which should keep out much of the debris.

Even if the cover is thin, that's OK, it's more whether you can easily see through it or not -- is it clear or is it colored. Something will be better than nothing in any event. At least it's a cheap cover so it won't be horrible if it gets destroyed through this process.:(

Just so you know, I'm going on vacation starting this Thursday and through the following week (yes, we have someone staying at our house to tend to our two cats and the pool) so hopefully someone else will be able to help you out with the formulas and procedure I posted while I'm away. You've got a lot of bright, experienced and helpful people on this board so I'm sure you'll do fine. Good luck!

Richard

I was not meaning to be sarcastic towards you at all, just the unenlightened people who want to use the pool but claim that the upkeep of it is way over their heads. If you live out in the boonies then simply draining and refilling probably is not an option either is it?

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Originally Posted by sevver

How much chlorine do you usually use? Is it not possible to just tell someone to add say like a half of gallon a day til you return? Even the neighbor or something. Pay them... Everyone likes money. Get some kid, tell him that you will give him $50 if you come back to a clean pool, he has to add bleach every day, if he messes it up, no money. If it is really good tell him he gets $100.

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Damn, that's what I should have told my BIL!!!!

OK, I can't stand it anymore - WHAT IS A BIL?!?!?!

BIL = Brother-In-Law Okay, I'm gonna assume here that your skimmer attaches just like ours did on our Intex. I totally agree about the skimmer on the pool. You never know what it's gonna do. If you unhooked it from the wall. (the hose that runs from the botom of the basket to the fitting in the wall) Did your pool come with a strainer that you can screw on it if you don't want to use the skimmer? If you completely unhooked the skimmer then you wouldn't have to worry about it sucking air.

This is one of the few times I might recommend a cheep prefilled chlorine floater from walmart. Get your floater, open to the recommended dosage for your pool, and tie to a weight to keep away from the sides toss it in. Give the floater enough string to float around the pool but keep away from the sides. Remove floater when you get home. Now go have a good vacation and have a few drinks for me.:D
Steve

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Originally Posted by medvampire

This is one of the few times I might recommend a cheep prefilled chlorine floater from walmart.
Steve

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Steve,

I had thought of the Tri-Chlor 3" tablet floaters, but my recollection was that even putting in a few tablets, they might not last 10 days. I usually went through around 1 every 5 days and with more in the feeder, they might somewhat slow down erosion, but probably not by that much.

So does the prefilled chlorine floater you are talking about last longer?

Of course, I just had the thought of dialing down the Tri-Chlor feeder to slow it down -- DUH! So putting in several tablets (3-4) and dialing it down just might do the trick. Thanks for bringing up the floater idea again. Now Amy's got some options that seem easier than the route I was taking her.

If your feeder is filled with Tri-Chlor, then it will be like my feeder and will be quite acidic so if this is the route she takes, she'll want to raise the pH ahead of time and probably increase the alkalinity as well (to at least 120 if not more) to help buffer the pH swing. Since she plans to cover the pool, outgassing of CO2 is not that much of an issue. Sounds like a plan!

Richard

Here is the product I spoke of
http://www.aquachem.com/AboutFSet.shtm

Stabilized Floater

• Contains 4 lbs. of chlorinating tablets
• Contains a built-in stabilizer to protect from sunlight burn-off
• Convenient self-dispensing disposable floater
• Ideal for vacation application
• Flips on its side when empty

Steve

Cool. It does look like it might be Tri-Chlor since that's about the only thing you can get that will be that slow releasing. So putting up the pH and alkalinity is in order, then throw that sucker into the pool, and have a great vacation! Sounds good to me.

By the way, some people have been concerned about operating their pools at higher pH because of the lower effectiveness of chlorine, but in the presence of CYA this effect is reduced significantly (due to a chlorine HOCl buffering effect from CYA). Yet another graph and chart I need to produce! So this is a good example where setting the pH higher to start would make sense so that you don't have a pool of acid when you return. :p

Richard

Awesome! Thanks Steve and Richard, this is great!:) I think it's a plan too - I'm not looking to come home to a perfect pool, just would like to TRY to not come home to a disaster that my Intex pump will take a month to fix!! So:

- Raise pH (do you have a target #?)
- Raise alk (do you have a target #?)
- Get the slow release floater Steve recommends (couldn't find it using the link, but I will google and search a bit later. Should I be able to find it locally? I have a floater....can I just buy the stuff to put in it, or does the prepackaged one contain something special?)
- cover
- How bout the pump? Will I be OK leaving it off? If you don't recommend it, I will follow Karen in Tn's advice and take the skimmer off/replace with the strainer , DUH:rolleyes: , that option hadn't even crossed my mind. Thanks, Karen!!
- Anything else?

This is great, I will be worrying about my animals so much it will be awesome to not have to also worry about my blue vinyl bag of water.....:p

Thanks so much, Amy

Just reread the replies, and I see the floater Steve recommends is at Walmart.....I will go check it out. It's prefilled, you say? I bought an empty one there (before finding out about BBB:) ), can I just buy the stuff to go in it?

Thanks! Amy

Here's what I do.

Punch one ~1/8 inch hole in top and one or two in the bottom of a set of bleach bottles and string them out over my pool. I use one bleach bottle for every day I will be gone.

http://www.jreece.com/bleach1.jpg
http://www.jreece.com/bleach2.jpg

The density of bleach is 1.09 (slightly heavier than water) so it slowly leaches out of the bottles. My experience is that it takes 5-7 days to totally get out of the bottle with 1/8 inch holes. I also run my pool pump using a timer.

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Originally Posted by amyinraleigh

- Raise pH (do you have a target #?)
- Raise alk (do you have a target #?)

- How bout the pump? Will I be OK leaving it off?
This is great, I will be worrying about my animals so much it will be awesome to not have to also worry about my blue vinyl bag of water.....:p
Thanks so much, Amy

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Answering the question of how much to raise the pH and alkalinity gets back to the chlorine demand of your pool, which we do not know. Let's assume that your pool will consume 0.5-1 ppm of chlorine per day (lower than normal due to the pool cover). You didn't say how large your pool was and that will determine how many pucks you would need.

My calculations show that the 0.5-1 ppm per day chlorine introduction by Trichlor and consumption (usage) by your pool would lower the pH by 0.3-0.6 (starting from 7.5) and would lower the alkalinity by 5-10 (starting from 100). Since the alkalinity helps to buffer the pH swing, I would suggest increasing it to 120. As for the pH, I would suggest increasing it to 7.7

Some might be concerned of the lower chlorine effectiveness at a pH of 7.7, but due to the CYA buffering effect on chlorine (HOCl specifically), you only lower your disinfecting chlorine amount by 10% by being at 7.7 instead of 7.4 pH and we want to avoid having you come back to a pool that is too far on the acidic side.

As for the pump, I would recommend keeping it on, even if that means you need to do some work to take the skimmer off and replace with the strainer.

Just out of curiosity, are your animals staying at a shelter or someone else's home? What kind of animals are they? I can't imagine what sort of pet you could leave for 10 days without needing fresh food or water.

Richard

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Originally Posted by jereece

Here's what I do.

Punch one ~1/8 inch hole in top and one or two in the bottom of a set of bleach bottles and string them out over my pool. I use one bleach bottle for every day I will be gone.

http://www.jreece.com/bleach1.jpg
http://www.jreece.com/bleach2.jpg

The density of bleach is 1.09 (slightly heavier than water) so it slowly leaches out of the bottles. My experience is that it takes 5-7 days to totally get out of the bottle with 1/8 inch holes. I also run my pool pump using a timer.

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Thank you for sharing this!I wish I had seen it a week ago!

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Just out of curiosity, are your animals staying at a shelter or someone else's home? What kind of animals are they? I can't imagine what sort of pet you could leave for 10 days without needing fresh food or water.

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OH MY GOODNESS! Most of my pets have never been alone for 10 HOURS!:rolleyes: Here's what I wrote a couple posts back:

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I have many pets that are going to be graciously well cared-for by my immediate neighbors, I don't want to dump the pool on them as well. That care and time is taken with my animals is much more important to me than overwhelming the caretakers with "a very complex and intricate" additional burden - which I myself don't even fully understand.

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This is the problem, so many people are doing so much for us already I don't feel comfortable loading one more thing on anyone that isn't absolutely necessary....

Between the floater and stringing up bleach bottles though, I think it'll be covered. I'm leaning toward the floater (the bleach bottle string-up is a great idea tho, I'm just too new at this and still don't fully feel comfortable leaving 10 bottles of bleach in my pool, I've only gone through 3 bottles since filling my pool 10 days ago....) - my CYA is still only just at 20, so more probably won't hurt. Is there any way of telling just how much stabilizer is in a floater?

Thanks again!! Amy

With a start point of 20 CYA and the amount of time you will be gone I don’t think you should have too much of a problem. The release rate from the chlorine floater with an 18 ft intex should be very low so I am sure the amount you build in CYA will not too great. With out a starting point of your pH and ALK it would be hard to really pinpoint your need to preadjust your ranges but if you are on the high side of normal on both I think you will be alright due to the low release from the floater. So what I would do.
Check your chemistry.
If ALK is normal on the high end leave it alone. If low adjust up slightly.
If pH is low adjust up but stay with normals.
I don’t know the settings on the specific floater but check the instructions and set for maintance dose
Tie the floater like I posted previously.
Pack up and go on vacation. Have fun and enjoy a margarita for us.
Steve

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/5253/margitacl9.jpg

No one's mentioned it, so I will:
A maintenance dose of poly60 would be good insurance as well.

There, I said it.

C.

ChuckD - Are you saying I should expect the worst?!? :eek: :eek: :eek:

How many 3" pucks should I use? Can I put too many, and if so besides raising CYA what would too many do to my pool?

Thanks!! Amy

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Originally Posted by amyinraleigh

How many 3" pucks should I use? Can I put too many, and if so besides raising CYA what would too many do to my pool?

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Amy,

Chuck's advice is a good "better safe than sorry". I'm glad he mentioned it though I don't think you'll be running out of chlorine nor getting algae.

I can't find in any of your posts where you said how many gallons of water you have in your pool. I'd need to know that to tell you how many pucks to use and what the effect would be. As an example, one 3" Tri-Chlor puck adds 2.54 ppm of chlorine and 2.1 ppm of CYA into my 16,000 gallon pool and lowers the pH by 0.07 (when the TA is 110). If you use too many pucks, you will have more chlorine (not a problem), lower your pH more (could be a problem if it drops too much), and add CYA into your pool (only a problem if this were a lot). I wouldn't worry at all about the amount of chlorine and even CYA you will be adding to your pool. It's really only an issue if you use pucks all summer long. I'd be more worried about the effect on pH which is why we recommend beefing up your alkalinity level (TA) and starting with a higher pH to somewhat reduce that effect.

I wouldn't worry too much about this. For 10 days, just throw in 3 pucks in a slow flow feeder and I think you'll be fine unless your pool is much larger than mine. Just start out with your pH at 7.7 to play it safe.

Richard

I routinely leave my pool for a couple weeks at a time with only someone to add a bit of chlorine once a week. I leave it with a solar cover on that's been cut to fit the water surface and the pump runs twice a day for four hours at a time. No pucks for me, thank you.

I added a maintenance dose poly60 (one quart for my 22,000 gals.) at the beginning of the season in May, and two weeks ago when I discovered a small bit of algae appearing in areas where the water didn't get much circulation. My water's always crystal clear.

As I've said before, I think the Poly60 is a CYA (the other kind) and good insurance.

If your CYA (the real one) is at 20, I agree with the others, three pucks in a floater, cover it and have a holiday. If your CYA was high I'd say the punctured Clorox bottles would be the way to go.

C.

i just got back from 8 days away with temps in the mid to high 20's everyday i was away. pool was covered with a solar cover for the whole period, timer was set for 2 -6 hour cycles each day,my normal. what i did was dumped in a full jug of chlorine night before i left then 2 pucks that morning (big round ones) when i came back saturday, i was very pleased how clean the pool was. i had some leaves on the bottom that came in around the edge of the cover, but the water was very clear. pucks were completely dissolved (so maybe 3 would have worked a touch better) and 2 very small streaks of algae. i vacuumed the pool, checked the chlorine and it was at a marginal level. dumped in a full jug of chlorine and the levels are great on all chems today. my cya level runs about 40ppm.

What an interesting thread and applicable to many of us. Like Amy in Raleigh, we live out in the boonies and couldn't possibly ask anyone to come and care for the pool during our absence. My husband, also named Richard and also a chemist, likes Richard's scientific approach, of course. I like the strung up bleach bottles, an elegant and inventive fix.

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Originally Posted by tenax

i just got back from 8 days away with temps in the mid to high 20's everyday i was away.

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That would be Centigrade, yes? Because if it's Farenheit you're keeping your pool open even longer than we do :)

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Originally Posted by tenax

pool was covered with a solar cover for the whole period, timer was set for 2 -6 hour cycles each day,my normal. what i did was dumped in a full jug of chlorine night before i left then 2 pucks that morning (big round ones)

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Question about using the pucks in the floating dispenser with a solar pool cover. Our solar cover is also cut to fit the water surface. I liked the suggestion of tieing the floater to a string to keep it from touching the sides of the pool, but won't the solar cover prevent the floater from floating?

We're going to be gone for several days and we cannot leave the pump running, and we don't have a timer. Hence, either the floater or the suspended bleach bottles sound like a decent solution.

Anna, is your pump 110V? Mine is and I use a <$20 timer from ACE Hardware. I feel strongly that some circulation is important and even if you only run it for a couple hours a day it can help.

I think you could get away with pushing the floater out away from the side of the pool before lowering the cover on it.

Chuck

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Originally Posted by ChuckD

Anna, is your pump 110V? Mine is and I use a <$20 timer from ACE Hardware. I feel strongly that some circulation is important and even if you only run it for a couple hours a day it can help.

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Yes, it's a 110V but it's hard wired. There's no way of plugging in a timer. Eventually, we'll hire an electrician to either wire in a timer or to change the setup to a plug-in, but for now, things are as they are :(

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Originally Posted by ChuckD

I think you could get away with pushing the floater out away from the side of the pool before lowering the cover on it.

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Ok, thanks. A load off my mind.

10 days can be a long time, despite the best laid plans, etc., you can easily be looking at a discoloured or green pool. Lots of variable, including hot spells. What I do is buy the regular sized bleach containers and have whoever is feeding the cats while I'm away put in a jug every two days. Mark dates on them with marker if you want. The idea is to keep it really quick and easy for them, and I know the chlorine level is good. For this period of time I figure keeping the Chlorine high enough to prevent a bloom is the #1 thing, and I can balance out PH, etc. after I'm back.

This is for an inground 32x16, so if yours is smaller, space the jug to 3 days or whatever you need. I also invite them to use the pool as much as they want, as I like to have it stirred up. My pump is on 24/7 since I don't have a timer. It's cheaper and easier than having to shock, filter and vacum a pool back from a mess.