Hello, Doug, and welcome to the forum!!

You've got a pretty tricky situation on your hands, to be able to maintain the pool without being there, and it's compounded by the blasted heat that we're having. In order to clear up the algae bloom, you're really going to have to maintain the chlorine at shock levels until it's gone. If you don't go up to shock levels, you may be able to keep the algae from getting any worse, but you've got to get ahead of it in order to kill it off. Unfortunately, if there's algae in the pool, then the chlorine is busy fighting that and not fighting viruses, bacteria, etc. so it's really not safe to swim in. (Maybe pointing that out would make your relative a little more consistent with the adding of the chlorine?). If it's possible to get it to shock level and maintain it until the algae is dead, then you might be able to keep it under control by using Polyquat 60 (the only algaecide we recommend here, and is much better at preventing algae outbreaks than helping once the algae is actually active) along with intermittent doses of chlorine by the relative. Honestly, though, as hot as it is here (I live near Shreveport), it's going to be tough to maintain it long-distance. I have to keep my CYA much higher than other folks do (80 ppm--on purpose!!) in order to keep chlorine in my pool, since it's in the humid climate and in full sun all day. You might find that upping your CYA, say to 50 or so, will help you keep more of your chlorine in the pool.

Janet